Game of the Week: Wahconah, Hoosac Set to Collide

CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Tyler Mach has gotten a lot of "ink" -- virtual and otherwise -- this fall, and every last drop -- or pixel -- is deserved.

 

But Wahconah football coach Gary Campbell knows there is more to the Hoosac Valley Hurricanes than its leading rusher and receiver and more to Saturday's clash of unbeatens than figuring out a way to control one of the most dangerous players in Western Massachusetts.

 

"Obviously, Tyler Mach is an unbelievable player," Campbell said this week. "Dayne [Poirot] and his staff use him in every position -- as a receiver, in the backfield, returning kicks. They're always finding ways to get him the ball.

 

"But then you have the emergence of [Avery] Hall and [Brenden] Ellsworth. And [quarterback Matt] Koperniak can run the ball. They're a very dangerous offense.

 

"If you just say, 'Tyler Mach, Tyler Mach,' there are other guys who can hurt you. That's what impresses me."

 

Both Hoosac and Wahconah have been impressive to say the least. Neither has missed a beat after winning their respective Western Mass titles last fall. Both are unbeaten at 4-0 going into Saturday's showdown at Hoosac Valley.

 

Thanks to schools' efforts to avoid conflict with Yom Kippur, a busy Berkshire football weekend gets under way early this week with a Thursday night game between Lee and Pittsfield at Wahconah Park. The only Friday game on the schedule is a 5 p.m. start between Drury and Mount Greylock in Williamstown. And the weekend won't end until late afternoon on Sunday, when Monument Mountain and Taconic wrap up their 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Valentine Road.

 

The only "normal" starts are Ware at McCann Tech and Wahconah at Hoosac Valley at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Going into this weekend, the Berkshire County League boasts four unbeaten teams and five ranked in the top four of their respective divisions according to the MIAA's regional power rankings. Wahconah leads Division 4; Pittsfield (3-0), Hoosac and Taconic (2-2) are Nos. 1, 3 and 4, respectively in D5; McCann (3-0) is tied for first in D6, where Ware (2-1) is on the postseason bubble with a No. 5 ranking.

 

Lee (2-2) and Monument (1-3) are on the outside looking in in D6 at No. 6 and No. 9, respectively, but each could pick up a couple of wins the next few weeks to make their Oct. 25 showdown in Great Barrington very interesting.

 

Mount Greylock (1-3) and Drury (1-2) are eighth and 10th, respectively, in D5, and if either wants to have any hope for the postseason, it has to get a win on Friday evening at John T. Allen Field.

 

One thing we know: The county will have one fewer unbeaten when the dust settles on Saturday afternoon in Cheshire.

 

Last year, Wahconah was one-point better in an 8-7 affair in Dalton. It is unlikely both defenses will keep the two high-powered offenses bottled up again this year, but while the two have combined for 326 points (166 for Hoosac, 160 for Wahconah) or 41 points per game, neither has allowed an opponent to score more than twice all season.

 

Hoosac has yet to face a test like the versatile Wahconah offense poses. With Quinn Caesar rushing for nearly 400 yards in four games and Nick Clayton throwing for more than 700 yards, Campbell's team has been making their opponents pick their poison.

 

The Hurricanes have not thrown the ball nearly as much as Wahconah, but then again, they haven't had to. And when Koperniak has gone to the air, he has been accurate and Mach, his favorite target, has been deadly.

 

Hoosac opened the year with laughers in independent games against Athol and Mahar. It pulled away late for a 36-0 win over Mount Greylock in a game that was closer than the score indicated. And it got a serious threat last week from Monument, which was within one score until Hoosac marched 79 yards in the fourth quarter to get a 28-14 win.

 

"It's something we haven't had to do yet, and it's good to come down here and have a tough game with these guys and be able to [establish the run] and improve with that," Poirot said after last week's win over the Spartans.

 

While Hoosac was handling business in Great Barrington, Wahconah got all it could handle in the first half at Lee, where the Wildcats were down just 6-0 at half-time before the visitors rolled up a 28-0 win.

 

Like Poirot, Campbell was glad to see his team respond to a challenge.

 

"When you come out on top of those games, it is a good teaching moment," Campbell said. "This was our best film of the year to teach from.

 

"We have to learn the lessons that maybe we didn't execute last Friday as well as we were doign before. Give credit to Lee, but certainly going into Hoosac this week, I have their attention."

 

As for the county's showing in the MIAA Western Mass power rankings, Campbell could not be more pleased.

 

"It's great to have us all there," he said. "We always say that Berkshire County can play with anyone, and I don't know how many of us truly believe it. Last year, when Wahconah and Hoosac Valley won Western Mass championships, it felt phenomenal. And if they had let Lee in last year, they would have been dangerous, too.

 

"We can compete with anyone in our size schools. Granted, we're not going to play Brockton or Sutton, but for our size, we can compete. It's just a credit to everything we do here. We have great competitive balance and great rivalries."