Smith Leads Wildcats in Season Opener

LEE, Mass. – Omari Smith ran for two touchdowns and threw for 84 yards Friday as the Lee football team opened its season with a 24-6 win over Monument Mountain on John J. Consolati Field.

 

Devin Schwab ran for 84 yards, and Zack Nicotra kicked a pair of extra points and a 30-yard field goal as the Wildcats avenged last year’s 14-13 loss in Great Barrington.

 

Lee got all the points it would need with a 40-yard drive that spanned the first and second quarters.

 

The key play was a fourth-and-9 pickup at the 29 after a delay of game call. Smith rolled to his right and found Schwab for a 14-yard pickup to get into the red zone.

 

Five plays later, Dawson Reber went in from the 1 on second-and-goal to make it 6-0. Nicotra’s first conversion of the night gave Lee a seven-point lead.

 

The Wildcats finished the first half with a 63-yard drive that ended in Nicotra’s field goal.

 

Smith got the drive started with a swing pass to Thomas Lucy on the left side that went for 15 yards and took Lee to its 40 yard line.

 

Schwab carried the ball twice for 29 yards in the drive, which took the game down to the 4-second mark in the quarter and left Lee ahead, 10-0 at half-time.

 

That’s where it stayed until early in the fourth quarter.

 

Smith started a 46-yard drive with a 22-yard pass to Lucy late in the third, and on the second play of the fourth, Smith scored from the 16 to make it a three-score game at 17-0.

 

Monument answered with its best offensive play of the night, but it needed a special teams play to get on the scoreboard.

 

Dominic Calautti hit Kamren Boino in stride for a passing play that went for 40 yards and took the Spartans to the plus-25.

 

But Lee’s defense stiffened from there, and a pass breakup by Schwab got the Wildcats the ball with 9 minutes, 7 seconds on the clock and a 17-0 lead.

 

This time, it was Monument Mountain’s turn to make a stand on defense, holding Lee without a first down and forcing a punt from the Wildcats’ 23. 

 

Shaun Frank blocked the punt, made the recovery and scored to make it 17-6 with 6:26 remaining.

 

A 39-yard return by Schwab on the ensuing kickoff gave Lee possession at the plus-36, and it needed seven plays to reach the end zone. Smith had a 12-yard pass to Dawson Reber to pick up a third-and-4 conversion and ended the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the night with 1:51 on the clock.

 

Any hopes of a Monument Mountain miracle were dashed when the Spartans fumbled on their second play of the following possession, allowing Lee to run out the clock.

 

Lee (1-0) is at Drury on Saturday.

 

Monument Mountain (0-1) hosts Easthampton on Friday.