Wahconah Snaps Mount Greylock Winning Streak
 The Warriors brought the Mounties' record winning streak to end on Friday night with 20-8 victory on John T. Allen Field. |
And, despite the two-score final spread, it well may have been the game of the year in Berkshire County high school football.
Lane Grogan threw for 187 yards and ran for 89 to lead Wahconah to a 20-8 victory over Mount Greylock on Friday night to end the Mounties' historic winning streak at 33.
Although there still is one week left in the regular season, Week 8 ended with Wahconah coach Gary Campbell receiving a Gatorade shower on the middle of John T. Allen Field.
As the cheers continued to ring out from the visiting stands, Grogan acknowledged that this was far from being just another win for the 6-2 Warriors (6-1 Berkshire County).
"They had the streak going, and it was just great to be the team ... 33 wins, good for them, they're a great team," Grogan said. "But it felt really good. We played good. Close game all night, fun game. I enjoyed it. I think there was a lot of energy at the start of the game, which was great."
The game was far from flawless. It featured 65 yards in penalties, a muffed punt and six turnovers.
But it also had enough twists and turns to keep the fans on the edge of their seats and enough heroes on both sides to whet those fans' appetites for a possible rematch down the road.
Mount Greylock (7-1, 7-1) took just three plays to score the game's first points. But they ended up being all the points a stingy Wahconah defense would allow.
Twice in the second half, the visitors had the ball and a four-point lead, but Mount Greylock's Daivon Clement came up with a pair of interceptions on tipped passes — once off the hands of Tyrell Thomas and once off Tyler Picard.
The Mounties had a first-half drive stall when Jordan Fiske's sack knocked quarterback Hank Barrett out of the game. But a freshman came off the bench to not only keep the Mounties in the game but even mount a miracle fourth-quarter comeback drive.
And, oh yeah, the longest winning streak in the history of the county is now history itself.
From the opening possession, it was clear that this was going to be a different kind of night for Mount Greylock, and for a while, that seemed like a good thing.
After running all over opponents for two months, the Mounties used a pass to set up their first score. Thomas turned a short completion in the flat into a 45-yard scamper down the left sideline to set up Ethan Ryan for a 1-yard run just 1 minute, 1 second into the game.
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Wahconah immediately responded with a drive that showed its ballance offensively. Grogan and Eli Pease took turns running the ball, and Grogan completed four passes, including a 16-yard scoring strike to Darrow Brown that capped a 14-play, 70-yard march to make it 8-6.
The Mounties misfired on their second possession, but went 32 yards on their second before Fiske drove Barrett into the ground near midfield.
Mount Greylock lost 13 yards on the play, but it probably lost a whole lot more.
"I think his collarbone is broken," Mounties coach Shawn Flaherty said of his senior QB. "Unfortunately, I think Hank's football career is over right now."
Freshman Brodie Altiere came on in relief and compelted three passes for 61 yards. He also got more effective distributing the ball to Ryan and Clement in the backfield as the game went on.
"He did a great job," Flaherty said. "He doesn't get a lot of snaps in practice, and he really did do a nice job. He's our guy now, and he's going to get a lot of looks. He's just going to get better and better.
"He's a good athlete, and we're excited to work with him. He's going lead this team."
It was Grogan who led his team to the winning score on the opening possession of the second half. After an errant kick gave Wahconah a short field, Grogan and Pease ran for 45 yards before Grogan found Ryan Washburn on a crossing pattern at the front of the end zone to make it 12-8.
Greylock did nothing on consecutive possessions, but Clement's second INT of the second half got Altiere the ball at the Mounties' 46 with 8:31 left.
Moments later on third-and-15, Altiere threw a deep ball down the left side for Thomas, who hauled it in for a 32-yard gain to the Wahconah 27. Ryan and Clement then ran it deep into the red zone.
But Fiske stopped Ryan short on third-and-5 at the 10, and Pease tackled Ryan on fourth down to get Wahconah the ball with 3:24 left in the game.
Some teams would have been content to grind it out and make Greylock use its timeouts, but Campbell had other ideas.
Wahconah went 94 yards in nine plays to get the insurance touchdown. The drive was punctuated by two deep balls — one down the left side to Brown for 62 yards and one down the middle to Joe Dimassimo for 25 yards that put the ball on the 1 and set up Grogan's TD plunge.
"All the coaches, they know I can throw it," Grogan said. "They trust me. They trust everyone on this team. Everyone trusts each other. We just come together and play as a team."
Mount Greylock closes the regular season Saturday in a non-league game at McCann. Wahconah finishes its schedule on Saturday at Taconic.