Westford Academy welcomed back quarterback Troy Faretra with a quality 27-12 road win over Malden Catholic on Friday,  bouncing back from what could have been an upset in the making at halftime.

If not for a knee injury that knocked him out of the contest, Malden’s Axel Kabeye might have been able to build on the 98 yards and two touchdowns he grabbed in the first half that gave the Lancers an early 12-7 lead.

Despite the loss of Kabeye in the second half, Malden Catholic head coach Jeff Smith felt that the outcome hinged on more than just one player.

“We showed a lot of effort and stuck together as team, (but) we made a lot of mistakes on defense that we need to fix on Monday,” said Smith. “We were driving and I was proud of how the kids stuck in there and fought all the way until the end.”

In past games, Kabeye’s stats might have been matched yard for yard by Westford phenom Justin Mount, who had scored all seven of Westford’s touchdowns in their first two games,. On this night though, the senior star was happy to step aside and focus just on the roles of cornerback, tailback, wildcatback, wide receiver and head cheerleader for the return of Faretra, who was seriously injured last year against Groton-Dunstable.

“I don’t I’ll be doing anymore passing this year, you’ve seen my percentage,” said Mount, who played with Faretra during the basketball season. “All I can say is I’m glad to have this guy back.”

On top of the three straight scoring drives in the second half, Ghost fans also had reason to be encouraged by a strong performance a defense that held solid through most of the contest.

Although the game was already out of reach, the Ghosts took home a red zone interception on the last drive of the game to help seal a defensive performance led by captains Alex Antes and Nate Tashjy.

“You’re not going to get a shutout every week, but as long as you’re playing good base defense (you’ll do okay),” said Westford head coach Rich McKenna.

In addition to Kabeye, McKenna also thought two key turnovers coming from the team’s option offense played a role in the Lancers early lead.

“We went in the locker room and said ‘we know who we are,” we just gotta settle down,” said McKenna. “We went out of the half knowing we can score, we’re a potent team, we just had to settle down and click and play football.”

Malden Catholic drops to 0-3 and will play Silver Lake next Saturday while Westford climbs to 2-1 and will travel to Groton-Dunstable on Friday before beginning their Dual County League schedule a week later with a trip to Newton South.