One West Lynn Pop Warner team Florida-bound; the other one’s close

LYNN ? One down and one to go.
The West Lynn Pop Warner A squad qualified for the national championships with a 32-0 win over the Boston Bengals Sunday in Billerica.
The West Lynn Pop Warner D team moved a step closer to doing the same with a 31-6 win over Blackstone Valley. The D squad Rams need two more wins to earn a spot in the nationals, which are held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The A squad led, 12-0, at the half with Ishmael Bangura scoring both touchdowns, the first one from one yard out and the second on a 10-yard run. Once the Rams were warmed up, it was all downhill for the Bengals. Alphonso Robinson scored the third West Lynn touchdown on a 12-yard run and Melvin Nieves followed with a 20-yard touchdown run. Robinson added one more, from 22 yards out, to wrap up the Lynn scoring.
As productive as the offense was, the defense was even more impressive.
?I thought it was our best defensive game of the year,” coach Maurice Cordy said. “The whole defensive unit was outstanding.”
Cordy said Darwin Meija, who plays middle linebacker on defense and tight end on offense, played his best game of the year.
This is the fourth year in a row that a West Lynn A team has qualified for the nationals. Last year the Rams lost in the final, 6-0, to the Palm Bay Rockets from Florida. The year before, Lynn lost to the same team in the semifinals. In 2011, West Lynn made the trip to Florida three players short and then lost several more to injuries in the first six minutes of the first game. They didn’t win a game.
The next step for the A squad is the fund raising. The team held a “Night Out” on Friday and will be canning and soliciting donations over the next few weeks. Cordy said the team probably won’t play its first game until Dec. 7.
The West Lynn Rams D squad made easy work of Blackstone Valley and, like their A team counterparts, they were impressive on both sides of the ball.
Tahj Purter had a monster game offensively, scoring three touchdowns. His first came on a 40-yard run in the first quarter followed by a 10-yard run in the second quarter. Quarterback Jeffrey Hill found Purter with a swing pass that Purter turned into a 50-yard touchdown play, his third of the day.
The fourth West Lynn touchdown came on a Hill 10-yard pass to Malik Purter and fullback P.J. Tucker wrapped up the scoring with a nine-yard touchdown run. Adam Peterson, Tucker, Hill, Lance Williams and Tahj Purter are all captains.
On the defensive side, Hill had two interceptions, running one back 60 yards to the three-yard line.
?The defense was just tremendous with its tackling and pursuit of the ball. It was the best defense we’ve played all year. We just shut them right down,” Hill said.
Hill said Williams went in as tailback in the third quarter, a position he hasn’t played, and rushed for approximately 80 yards.
The D squad will play Portsmouth, N.H., Saturday at noon at Bedford (N.H.) High School in a New England regional semifinal. If West Lynn wins, it will play the winner of Connecticut-Hyde Park in the final. The winner of that game will qualify for the nationals.
?The kids are really excited about this,” Hill said. “They having a lot of fun.”