“This is our game; plain and simple,” said Westborough Head Football Coach Mark Ellis beneath the flickering light of a crowded locker room.

This year’s season opener took place at Worcester’s Foley Stadium, one of the area’s elite athletic venues. It was a perfect night for football with clear weather and cool temperatures for the seven o’clock kickoff under the bright stadium lights.

The Westborough Rangers team entered this game following a 7-5 season last year that ultimately resulted in their first Division I Central playoff berth since 2002.

However, losing a great deal of their seniors and team leaders to graduation lead to a general apprehension regarding the legacy of this year’s team, escalating the importance of its Friday night contest.

As the sun set behind the Worcester landscape, fans seeped through the stadium entrance and began to fill the vacant seats. The team performed its usual pregame activities before meeting in an anxious huddle to recite the fifth law of the United States navy:

“On the strength of one link in the cable

Dependeth the might of the chain.

Who knows when thou may’st be tested,

So live as thou bearest the strain,”

This is a new team ritual and philosophy that the program has adopted. They congregated in an adrenal mass for a final cheer, and then scattered, with the special teams unit wading through the thick fog of anticipation that had settled over the shimmering field.

The kickoff ensued, accompanied by the roars of fans and the musical cries of the school marching band, and the game’s intensity followed quickly thereafter.

Burncoat scored on their opening drive after only a minute and fifty seconds of play with a dazzling pass completion, silencing Westborough fans and players alike. The Rangers, however, were able to block the point-after-attempt to limit Burncoat to a six-point advantage. More importantly, they responded with an impressive scoring drive of their own, lead by star senior quarterback, Andrew Grant, whom ran for the touchdown that would secure an early lead for Westborough and revive its sideline and cheering section.

Unfortunately, sloppy play and poor defense lead to a second Burncoat touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion, resulting in a 14-7 score favoring Burncoat.

The Rangers were able to maintain a continued success in their running game, lead by senior captains, Brian Orlando and Sam Nichols, in order to drive themselves into the red zone with under a minute remaining in the first half. From here, Grant was able to throw a perfect strike to a wide open tight end, junior Aidan Moffat, for the tying touchdown with only twenty-seven seconds left in the half. The score propelled the Rangers team, as well its fans, into frenzy as the buzzer sounded for halftime. The second half commenced and the intensity certainly hadn’t dissipated with the break. The third quarter proved to be the most heavily contested quarter, and Burncoat was able to regain its lead with another touchdown, instituting a 20-14 score.

However, great play from the Rangers special teams and defense pinned Burncoat within their own five-yard line. Westborough’s defensive pressure was able to take down Burncoat’s quarterback in the end zone for a safety, closing the deficit to four points as the third quarter drew to a close.

The fourth quarter became the quarter in which Westborough’s offensive and defensive teams would be determined dominant.

Westborough held Burncoat scoreless while Grant ran for his second rushing touchdown of the night to obtain a 23-20 lead with just under four minutes to play. Then, with less than two and a half minutes remaining in the game, senior wide receiver Jake Holmes, whom also exhibited an excellent performance as the team’s placekicker, returned an interception for a touchdown for a final score of 29-20.

This score would remain plastered across the Foley Stadium scoreboard as the Westborough fans exploded in jubilation. The buzzer sounded once more, signaling the end of the first game of Westborough’s 2010-2011 season, and its first victory as well. The heroes of the game trotted through the gauntlet of rowdy spectators basking in the glory of triumph. The coaches smiled with a relieved contentment and the junior varsity players shouted with childish glee.