Carver Too Much for Hoosac Valley in State Semis
DUDLEY, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley football team knew it would face a battle from a deep, talented and senior-laden Carver squad in Friday’s Division 8 State Semi-Final.
When the Hurricanes lost their starting quarterback on their opening possession, their task became exponentially more difficult.
In the end, the Crusaders were just too tall an order as Carver emerged with a 44-0 win and a trip to next month’s state title game at Gillette Stadium.
Tyler Lennox threw for 163 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Jameson Helms ran for 88 yards and three scores as Carver improved to 11-0.
Hoosac Valley finished its season with a record of 10-1 and without the services of two of its options under center.
After losing its starter for most of the year, Kamarion Kastner, in the first round of the state playoffs, Hoosac Valley went with ninth-grader Ben Payton to start Friday night’s game.
But on the Hurricanes’ fourth play from scrimmage, Payton was taken down hard on a sack and never re-entered the game.
“Unfortunately, I’ve got to check on [Payton] and see where he’s at with everything, but that’s super tough,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Bostwick said. “And it alters our game plan a little bit. The kids hung in there, and they played as hard as they could.
“As you can see, we had a few pass breakups and caused a few incompletions and put some pressure on them, but these guys executed. They’re pretty good. Pretty dynamic.”
Carver set the tone on its first possession.
After a 20-yard return by Patrick Attaya on the opening kickoff, the Crusaders went 55 yards in 12 plays – eight rushes and four throws – ending in a 3-yard run by Helms to make it 6-0. Derek Lopes ran in the conversion, the Carver had an eight-point lead midway through the first quarter.
Hoosac Valley then got a lift from Adam Wicks, who ran back the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to the plus-38.
And runs by Griffin Mucci for eight yards and Will Hakes for three put the ball on the 26 with a first down. But on second-and-3, Payton was sacked and had to leave the game.
Two plays later, Hakes was picked off at the 8-yard line by Carver’s Dylan Hurney.
The Crusaders went 92 yards for their second score on the final play of the first quarter when Lennox found Lopes deep on the left side for a 25-yard score. Lopes’ 2-pointer put the Crusaders up, 16-0.
Once again, the Hurricanes answered, this time going from their 33 to the Carver 10 with an 11-play drive that featured a couple of completions by Hakes.
But that drive ended at the 9 with a failed fourth-down conversion, and Carver marched 91 yards to go up, 22-0.
A Hoosac Valley turnover on the first play of its ensuing possession gave the Crusaders possession at the plus-40 with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in the half. And Lennox completions of 19 and 21 yards put his team in the end zone one more time to take a 28-0 lead into half-time.
The Crusaders’ defense turned over Hoosac Valley on its opening possession in the second half, and Carver’s offense took advantage of the short field to go up, 36-0, early in the the third. The game’s final score came on a scoop-and-score fumble recovery by Jack Balzarini, who rumbled 20 yards to make it a 42-0 game. Lopes’ final 2-point conversion provided the final margin of victory.
Hakes finished with 29 yards on the ground, and Griffin Mucci and Qwanell Bradley ran for 25 and 20, respectively.
Hoosac Valley’s lone senior, Kadan Tatro, ran for 60 yards.
“Not to take anything away from Kadan being the senior on the team, but at the same time – they didn’t do a trophy presentation here, but if they did, I wanted to make sure [all of the Hurricane underclassmen] looked at it,” Bostwick said. “I wanted to make sure they all see it, they feel it, they confront it.
“And I want them, I want their parents, I want everyone who supports them to confront it and be like, ‘What do we need to do to get there?’ That’s what we have to understand. … It’s tough, and it’s not easy, and it needs to start with discipline and consistency. They know they need to spend a lot more time with me in the off-season.”
But as the curtain fell on the 2023 season, the Hurricanes could take pride in what they did accomplish, going undefeated and winning a league title in the regular season and reaching the Final Four in the state.
“That was a big discussion, too,” Bostwick said. “Don’t be unhappy. I get it. The emotions are high. But what you guys did was special. There aren’t many teams with one senior who are coming down here and playing tonight. I asked them, ‘How many teams from Berkshire County are still playing right now?’ Just to put it into perspective. And we’ve got some good teams in Berkshire County. But right now, we’re the only ones still playing.
“On the other side of that, I don’t want people coming in thinking next year, ‘Here’s what we did, and we only lost one senior, so it’s going to be gifted to us.’ They have to earn everything – every yard, every handoff, every touchdown, every tackle. So I hope they come in with the right mentality. That’s the only way we’re going to improve on this year.”