Hornets' Postseason Hopes Snatched by Eagles
 McCann couldn't block Easthampton from winning 38-18 on Saturday. |
The problem was that the visiting team did not drop enough of them.
Three Easthampton interceptions helped the Eagles to a 38-18 victory in the Hornets Nest that dropped McCann to 1-4 this fall (1-3 Tri-County).
The home team committed four turnovers and could not overcome a 20-0 deficit after the first quarter or contain Easthampton's Shane Andrews, who ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns.
Turnovers led directly to three Easthampton scores and ended a 53-yard drive for McCann at the end of the first half.
Cote finished with 209 yards passing and a team-high 147 yards rushing, but McCann's miscues were too much to overcome.
"We're going to turn it over," McCann coach Bob LeClair said. "That's been a problem we've had all season long. We'll come up them, it seems, at the worst ... eh, when are turnovers ever good? You can't say there's a good time for a turnover."
McCann's first turnover was an interception returned 40 yards by Lucious Burrell to the Hornets' 20 midway through the first quarter with the Eagles (3-0, 3-2) already ahead, 8-0.
Easthampton cashed in on the short field with a four-play drive that ended with Burrell scoring from the 6 on a pitchout to the left to make it 14-0.
McCann fumbled the ball away on its ensuing possession, and Andrews and Burrell rushed for 30 and 39 yards, respectively, in a three-play drive that took just 50 seconds to make it 20-0 after one quarter.
Burrell ended up with 90 yards on just five carries before sitting out most of the game with an injury. As a team, the Eagles amassed 339 yards on the ground.
"We hit the hole quick," Easthampton coach Joe Kocut said. "We hit the hole quick, and both backs are really good. [Burrell] got a little nicked up there, and we put in [Sam] Brouder. He did a sufficient job.
"But it's all based on good quick backs, and the line assignments are complicated, believe it or not. When you hit it right, there's no one there to tackle the guy."
Burrell was not the only player "nicked up" for the Eagles. Easthampton started second-string sophomore quarterback Nathan Laplante for injured junior Kyle Sullivan.
Laplante not only completed three of four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown, he also handled Easthampton's shell-game style running attack with aplomb.
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"But, yeah, Nate did a good job. It's all footwork with the misdirection plays, and they did well."
Cote got McCann on the board with a 57-yard run down the right sideline to open the second quarter, but Easthampton answered with a 50-yard scamper by Andrews to push its lead to 26-6.
McCann marched 56 yards in 12 plays to chew up most of the quarter, and it paid off when Cote hooked up with T.J. Therrien for a 27-yard scoring strike that got the home team within a pair of touchdowns.
The Hornets nearly made it a one-score game before the half.
After Therrien stuffed a fourth-and-5 play near midfield, the Hornets went 53 yards to the Easthampton 7 with 11 seconds left. But Andrews picked off a Cote pass in the end zone to send his team to the locker room with a 26-12 lead.
The Eagles took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 55 yards to stretch their lead to 20, but McCann answered with a Cote-to-Therrien TD to make it 32-18 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, McCann had a big defensive stand deep in its end of the field with tackles by Cody Laframboise and Eli Holland, but it could not convert on fourth-and-2 at its 23.
The Hornets made another defensive stand, forcing Easthampton to punt from the McCann 29 with more than three minutes left, but Brouder's interception gave his team possession at the plus-33 moments later. And Andrews scored his third TD with 48 seconds left to provide the final margin.
McCann goes to Dean Tech next Saturday to begin a new phase of its season. With postseason hopes all but extinguished, the Hornets will be playing for pride and — with just six seniors on the roster — to build momentum for 2013.
"We knew we needed this one ... to stay in contention for the playoffs," LeClair said.
"We're playing a lot of kids, already, who will be here next year. We play an awful lot of young kids. Two starting linebackers are freshmen. We have lots of sophomores. It's the growing pains that we're going through — a lot of the mistakes we've made. Experience will make a difference."