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Ghosts and goblins roaming through your neighborhood means its Halloween, but it also means the high school football season is winding down and the few remaining games have huge Super Bowl implications for conference leaders.

Last weekend’s action saw Chelmsford basically eliminate Andover from the MVC title race, knocking off the Warriors 43-29 in Andover. Coach Bruce Rich’s Lions remain atop the conference with a 5-0 record, 7-1 overall.

In other league action, Billerica remained a game behind Chelmsford after a 31-7 victory over winless Haverhill. The Indians face Chelmsford on Thanksgiving Day, which looms as a huge matchup…Lowell took another one on the chin, suffering a 43-0 knockout at the hands of Central Catholic. Making matters worse, the Raiders leader, Matt Welch, will miss the rest of the season with a hand injury…and Tewksbury sank the Middies, 28-20, in a game at Dracut.

(Conference standings after the jump)

In the Dual County League, conference leading Wayland was too much for Tyngsboro, taking a 48-23 decision…Westford, on the other hand, continued to roll, trouncing Concord-Carlisle 34-7…Acton-Boxboro was also victorious, topping Bedford 30-14…There are four teams with only one loss in the conference, setting up a wild finish.

Elsewhere, Wilmington kept its Cape Ann hopes alive with a 41-12 “W” over Ipswich…Greater Lowell eked out a 21-20 victory over defending Commonwealth champ Whittier…Melrose was too much for Burlington to handle, 32-21…Ayer romped past Hudson, 42-21…and Nashoba Tech stunned Keefe Tech, 33-26.

Finally, across state lines Bishop Guertin trounced Spaulding, 54-14…Alvirne fell in double overtime to visiting Keene, 31-28…and Pelham continued its stampede through Division 5, beating Newport 28-12 to improve to 8-0.

Our Monday Night Lights Game of the Week preview on SportsTalk Live focused on Shawsheen’s upcoming contest against Lynn Tech. Click on this link to hear head coach Al Costabile and quarterback Joe Gore discuss the big conference matchup.

-The Game of the week saw Westford down Tyngsboro, 27-12, in a Dual County League showdown. The win keeps the Grey Ghosts alive in the DCL title hunt. Westford is in a 3-way tie for second place with a 3-1 conference record, a half game behind 4-1 Wayland.

-Acton-Boxboro, also 3-1 in the DCL, was knocked out of first place thanks to a 14-13 overtime home loss against Lincoln-Sudbury (3-1). The Colonials could have tied the game in OT with a PAT, but went for the 2-point conversion and were stuffed…a gutsy call by head coach Bill Maver that backfired.

-In games involving MVC teams, Billerica rebounded from a tough loss in Dracut by upending St. John’s Prep. The Indians (3-1) sit in 3rd place behind Chelmsford (4-0) and Andover (4-1).

(Conference Standings after the jump)

-The Warriors destroyed Lowell, 34-0 in a game that saw Red Raiders QB Matt Welch go down with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand.

-In other MVC action, it was Tewksbury over Central Catholic (30-27)…Dracut in a much closer than anticipated final (20-14) over Haverhill…and Chelmsford in a romp over Methuen (28-0)

-Dracut tackles Tewksbury this weekend, and Middies Head Coach Patrick Murphy joined us for the opening segment of SportsTalk Live last night to discuss the contest. (Listen here)

-Shawsheen Tech continued to roll, 20-0 over defending CAC Large School Champion Whittier. The Rams are now 6-1 on the season.

-Other local winners included Greater Lowell over Lynn Tech (28-21)…Austin Prep over Cardinal Spellman (38-8)…Bedford over Newton-South (6-0)…Littleton over Maynard (46-6)…Concord-Carlisle over Boston Latin (14-0)…Wilmington over Triton Regional (7-3)…Burlington over Belmont (47-21)…Ayer over Narragansett Regional (28-20).

-Billerica and Chelmsford remain tied atop the MVC following impressive wins over Central Catholic and Lowell respectively

-Al Pare’s Red Raiders really struggled without Matt Welch (concussion). They’ve now lost 4-in a row and travel to Methuen this coming Friday

-Dracut may have had the most impressive victory of the week, knocking off #7 ranked St. John’s Prep

-Pelham improved to 6-0 after steamrolling Epping 55-13

-Bishop Guertin tuned up for its annual grudge match against Exeter by beating Merrimack 28-2. Cardinals head coach Tony Johnson, along with star players Ryan Burgess and Matt Cyr joined us Monday during the second half-hour of SportsTalk Live (listen to the audio here)

-Tyngsboro and Westford also came up with “W’s” last weekend. The teams square off October 19th, and we’ll preview that matchup during our Monday Night Lights segment this coming Monday

-Wilmington suffered a heartbreaking loss to Masconomet during in a crucial Cape Ann Conference showdown

The conference standings follow after the jump…as always, feel free to leave your thoughts on these notes or anything else of importance I may have missed.

Another great week of high school football is in the books; plenty of great individual performances, some interesting results, and lots of reasons to be proud of your local schools. Here are some of the highlights:

*Peter Flynn’s Billerica Indians (4-0) prove they’re for real with a 34-27 victory over Andover

*Lowell’s struggles continue during a 13-7 overtime loss at Westford. The concussion suffered by star QB Ryan Welch didn’t help the cause, but what’s wrong with the Red Raiders?

*Chelmsford sends notice that they’ll have to be reckoned with after a convincing 28-6 win over previously unbeaten Tewksbury. The Lions (2-0 conference record) are tied with Billerica atop the MVC. Central Catholic (1-0) is ½ game behind.

*A late game TD pass from Colin Halloran to Tom Sullivan followed by Halloran's 2-pt. conversion toss to Mike DePasquale gives Tyngsboro its first ever Dual County League victory, 29-28 over Concord-Carlisle

*Wilmington, Shawsheen and Greater Lawrence remain undefeated at 4-0. Wilmington coach Bob Almeida joined in to SunTalk Live last night to preview the upcoming against powerhouse Masconomet (4-0). Click here to listen to the show audio

*The Bishop Guertin Express rolls on, 41-14 over Alvirne. Can Tony Johnson’s Cardinals be stopped?

*Get all your box scores here and statistics here

*Sun Stars of the Week showcases the top performers

Conference standings can be found by clicking the “View Full Entry” link…as always, your comments and trash-talking are encouraged!

In our never-ending quest to bring you the best local sports coverage, here’s the debut of our newest feature…TheSunBlog Pigskin Party.

Each week, we’ll post some items about the previous weekend’s high school football games, a picture here or there, highlight outstanding performances, you know, stuff like that. You’ll also be able to see how your team is doing by visiting the standings page (to see them, just click on the “view full entry” link below.

But most of all, this is just another vehicle for you to show your school pride, boast about your team’s big victory, or just rag on your biggest rival. I expect those comments to fill up!

Stars of the week:
Ernie "The Fantasy Football Machine" Mello (Wilmington): In a 47-33 victory over Lawrence, Mello rushed the ball 41-times for 375-yards and 7...yes, I said 7...touchdowns. As if that wasn't enough of a workload, the senior running back also hauled in 2-receptions and returned two kicks. He now has 14-TD's on the season as Wilmington is off to a 3-0 start.

Derek "Catch this Sinkerball" Lowe (Tewksbury): A week after returning two kicks for touchdowns, Lowe broke loose for TD runs of 55 & 73 to lead Tewksbury to a big 23-3 win over Lowell. On the day, Lowe ran the ball 6-times for 156-yards and also caught 3-passes for 28-yards.

Questions of the week:
Can anyone stop the Bishop Guertin machine?
Is Billerica for real?
Can Tewksbury keep it going against Chelmsford?