Westfield Wolverines senior Nate Culbreth (11) drives towards the basket during Friday’s playoff game against Salamanca at Westfield Academy. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

WESTFIELD — All year long, the narrative of the CCAA West 2 Champion Westfield Wolverines was the chemistry between all five senior starters. One of the most accomplished senior classes in program history after back-to-back league titles did not lose a home game all regular season.

In the postseason, it was a different story.

Just as the Wolverines won a league title and earned a home playoff game as the 4-seed in Class C2 in back-to-back seasons, the final result mirrored itself, as well. The 4-seed Wolverines were upset in the first round of the Section VI, Class C2 playoffs by the 5-seed, the Salamanca Warriors, 69-46 in Friday’s boys basketball quarterfinal at Westfield Academy.

Westfield (17-4) was forced to play without senior starting center Andrew Baribeau. His absence was non-injury related. Without Baribeau, Westfield started five guards, as sophomore Darien Swanson joined Nate Culbreth, Mike Johnson, Ryan Jafarjian and Dylan Scriven in the starting lineup.

“Three days notice wasn’t enough notice for us to play a five-guard offense. Most of our offense all year was with four out and one in,” said Westfield coach Bob North. “We saw a mirror of our team all year. They could throw it in to the big guy, then kick it out and make outside shots.”

Salamanca (15-6) scored seven of the first nine points of the game, including a 3-pointer by senior Aaron George. Westfield answered with a 3-pointer from Johnson to make the score 7-5 Salamanca with 5:13 left in the opening quarter.

For the visiting Warriors, the 3-pointers kept coming. George had four of Salamanca’s nine 3-pointers in the game and finished with a game-high 18 points. Only six players scored for Salamanca, but all had at least seven points, including four in double digits – George (18), Isaac Brown (13), Lucus Brown (12), and Jarrett McKenna (10).

Westfield only trailed by four points after the first quarter, as Jafarjian finished the opening period with a pair of field goals.

In the second quarter, the Wolverines remained close, but trailed the entire period. Junior forward Brayden Kneer contributed six straight points for the Wolverines in the frame. Salamanca had a six-point lead at the break, 28-22, after scoring the final two buckets of the first half.

While the Wolverines looked out of rhythm in the first half, the first minute of the second half couldn’t have looked much better for the boys in white and blue. Swanson hit a 3-pointer, then Johnson and Jafarjian hit shots from inside the arc for a 7-0 run over the first minute of the third quarter. The Wolverines led 29-28 and the crowd was as energized as it had been all season long.

But Salamanca wasn’t intimidated. The Warriors answered with a pair of 3-pointers to grab the lead right back and never trailed again. From the time Westfield took its lead, Salamanca went on a 16-2 run to lead 44-31. The Warriors led 47-37 after the third quarter.

Salamanca put the nail in Westfield’s coffin with an 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter, including three more 3-pointers, over the first 3:15 of the final period. The entire fourth quarter, the Wolverines trailed by double digits, with the final score as the game’s largest discrepancy in total.

Johnson led the Wolverines with 15 points, along with four steals. Culbreth had nine rebounds and six assists, while Jafarjian had 12 points and six rebounds. Westfield had 15 turnovers, with just 12 assists.

“It was a tough one for us tonight,” said North. “They deserved to win tonight.”

The loss ends the career of Westfield’s six seniors, four of which were pulled off the floor before the final minute. In the end, like in many of Westfield’s games this year, it was another senior, Zachary Roache, who was on the floor for the final buzzer.

“I can’t take anything away from these kids. We were 17-4 this year. I’ll take 17 wins any year,” said North. “It was a great year, I just hate the way it ended, but my kids never quit playing.”