PITTSFIELD Mass. – The Pittsfield football team needed just 18 minutes to put 42 points on the scoreboard on Thursday night at BCC.
But the first thing on coach Brian Jezewski’s mind after a 42-14 over Belchertown was not his offense.
“You know, I’ve got to give credit to my defensive coaches: Coach Marchbanks, Coach Weeks, Coach Ziter,” Jezewski said. “They did a tremendous job this week. … We played in the right spots defensively. And I can’t give enough credit to our guys and how well they executed the game plan.”
Pittsfield allowed Belchertown just one first down until its final drive of the second quarter, which came with the Orioles down, 42-0.
In fact, the visitors had just 15 yards of offense in their first five possessions.
Meanwhile, the Generals were generally doing whatever they wanted when they had the ball in their hands.
Marcus Jubrey ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another touchdown.
Freddy Conyers had a 77-yard punt return for a score and ran 40 yards on a reverse for another TD.
Elias Robinson ran for 46 yards on six touches.
And Rodellio Mack caught a ball down the right sideline and raced into the end zone for a 41-yard score.
All by the midway point of the third quarter.
At times, it looked like the Belchertown defense was standing still as Pittsfield exploited its speed to put the game away early and turn things over to its junior varsity for a second half played entirely under running time.
“We’re pretty dynamic, obviously,” Jezewski said. “I’m doing a bad job if I’m not getting the ball to multiple guys. And these guys are making the most of their opportunities when they have the ball in their hands. That’s all we could ask.
“They get a lot of credit for the speed we have on the perimeter. But the offensive line is doing a really good job. The defensive line, we’re starting a freshman at nose, a sophomore at defensive tackle, and you couldn’t tell. They looked like they belonged. And that’s a big thing for the future of our program.”
The game started with a short kickoff by the Orioles, and Pittsfield needed just 1 minute, 18 seconds to go 52 yards for the game’s first score, a 10-yard dash by Jubrey.
After Belchertown was forced to punt, PHS (2-0) went 65 yards for its second touchdown; again it was Jubrey doing the honors and going in from the 10.
The next time Jubrey touched the ball, he threw it to Mack streaking down the sideline for the third touchdown of the first quarter. Caden Boehm’s conversion run made it 22-0 with 1:12 left in the first.
The first play of the second quarter was a Belchertown punt, and Conyers took it the other way for a score and a 28-0 lead.
Mack’s interception gave Pittsfield’s potent offense possession at the plus-42, and five plays later, Jubrey was in the end zone on another 10-yard run to put his team up by five scores.
Another Orioles punt gave the Generals possession on the plus-40. And for the second time in the half, they scored on the first play of the possession. This time, it was Conyers on a reverse to the left for Pittsfield’s final points of the night and a 42-0 lead.
Belchertown then mounted its best drive of the half, going from its 31 to the Pittsfield 12 in a march that ate up about seven minutes. But on first-and-10 at the 12, Robinson picked off a pass near the goalline to keep the visitors scoreless at intermission.
Belchertown did get a couple of drives in mop-up time – both helped by numerous Pittsfield penalties that will give Jezewski and his staff something to focus on in practice.
But those were mere footnotes on a night when Pittsfield started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2016 … if you don’t count the “Fall 2” campaign of April 2021, when the Generals went 3-0.
Starting 3-0 this year would mean beating Wahconah next Friday at BCC.
That was not the first thing on Jezewski’s mind as his team celebrated Thursday night’s rout.
“We’ll enjoy this,” he said. “We’ll get back to work tomorrow. That’s always a battle. They are who they are for a reason.”
