Pittsfield Takes First Loss in Shootout with Putnam
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Putnam Voc football team Thursday rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to earn a 52-50 win over Pittsfield in the regular season finale for both teams.
The Beavers (6-1) claimed the Suburban North league championship with a 5-0 record in the conference.
Pittsfield (7-1, 4-1) lost even outside shot of getting into next week's Division 6 State Tournament. Going into Thursday night, the Generals were No. 19 in the latest in-season power rankings. The top 16 teams in the state after Saturday go to the playoffs.
"Congratulations to Putnam, what a turnaround coach [John] Charles and his staff has done," Pittsfield coach Brian Jezewski said, referring to the Beavers' 2-6 record last fall. "They're a good football team. And we went toe-to-toe with them as long as we could. They had the ball last, and they scored.
"And that's unfortunate for our guys. I told our guys how much I love them and how proud I am of them."
Pittsfield showed it had the heart to come back from a deficit themselves.
Putnam struck first with a touchdown on its opening possession and answered Pittsfield's first two scores to take a 20-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Generals answered with a strong second quarter to go into the half-time break ahead, 42-26.
First, Marcus Jubrey, who threw for two TDs in the first half, ran 23 yards for a score and ran in the two-point conversion to tie it.
Jubrey ended the night with 268 yards and four touchdowns passing, 103 yards and two touchdowns rushing and a 76-yard kickoff return to have a hand in all seven PHS touchdowns.
"He's a stud," Jezewski said. "He's always been a stud. He was a stud when he was a freshman. He's a tremendous kid.
"He took some serious shots. He took a shot, helmet to head. But he gets right back in there. He fights."
Putnam's Isaiah Lumpkin (247 yards rushing) ripped off a 65-yard touchdown on the Beavers' next play from scrimmage to take a 26-20 lead.
But Pittsfield went 71 yards on its ensuing possession, getting a 32-yard completion from Jubrey to Freddy Conyers to bring it to the 1 and a 1-yard plunge by Jubrey to tie it, 26-26.
Pittsfield's defense then made its first stand of the game, holding the Beavers to a three-and-out when Dominque Billups broke up a third-down pass attempt.
Putnam's first punt put Pittsfield at its 25, but on second-and-11, Jubrey and Elias Robinson connected for a 76-yard completion. Jubrey's conversion run made it 34-26 with 3 minutes, 43 seconds left in the half.
Pittsfield's defense again held firm, this time stopping Putnam on fourth-and-13 at the plus-38 with 56 seconds left.
A 15-yard defensive pass interference call against Putnam got Pittsfield across midfield. And Jubrey completed three passes in the 62-yard drive, which ended in a 35-yard completion to Robinson for a score on the final play of the half. Jubrey again ran in the two-point play to give his team a 16-point lead with 24 minutes left to play.
The second half got off to a promising start for the Generals.
First, Pittsfield made yet another defensive stop -- its third in a row -- to stall a Putnam drive in the red zone. First, Jackson Almeida and Jack Reed combined on a sack to force a fourth-and-16 at the 25. Then, Jubrey and Robinson combined to break up a pass to get the ball for Pittsfield with 6:35 left in the third.
Pittsfield picked up a couple of first downs to get to the Beavers' 38 but gave up the ball on downs. A 52-yard scamper by Lumpkin made it a 10-point game at 42-32.
But Jubrey ran back the ensuing kickoff 76 yards, and the two-point conversion gave the Generals the biggest lead of the game for either team, 50-32, with 2:02 left in the third.
That was the last time Pittsfield scored.
Putnam's Karter Dickerson (309 yards passing) threw for a score before the end of the third quarter, and the Beavers scored twice on just seven plays in the fourth quarter to go ahead, 52-50 with 5:46 left to play.
After an failed onside kick attempt, Pittsfield got the ball at the plus-47.
It picked up one first down to get to the 35, but the Beavers clamped down defensively. Pittsfield ran the ball three times for just 4 yards before a fourth-down pass was incomplete with 2:28 left.
Putnam converted a third-and-15 with a 34-yard run by Dom Sobers that allowed it to run out the clock and start its celebration.
It was the fourth time in eight games this fall that the Generals scored at least 50 points, but the first time a Pittsfield game was decided by fewer than 24 points.
That also means it was the first time Pittsfield's starters had to put in a full 48 minutes. But Jezewski was not willing to use that as an excuse for getting outscored, 20-0, down the stretch.
"They beat us," Jezewski said. "It's that simple. "They did a great job. Yeah, we haven't played a full game. We try to condition our guys in practice. And we didn't tackle, we didn't block when we needed to, and they did.
"I'm not going to take anything away from my guys. They played their asses off, and so did Putnam. They just happened to be on top at the end. It's disappointing for the seniors. It's really dissapointing for all the work the guys put in.
"This 100 percent on me, and the job I did today. The kids did a great job."