LEE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley football team scored the first three times it touched the ball and never looked back in a 46-7 win over Lee on Friday night.
Avery Hall ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns as the Hurricanes ran their record to 2-0 heading into Thursday's showdown against Pittsfield (2-0), a 14-0 winner over Mount Greylock on Friday.
Hall's running mate, Brendan Ellsworth, ran for 67 yards and a pair of scores as the Hurricanes built a 38-0 lead midway through the third before Lee got on the scoreboard.
The Hurricanes' defense held the Wildcats by the tail for most of the night -- allowing just one first down (by penalty) until midway through the third quarter and giving up just 23 yards in the first half.
"I thought we played pretty decently aggressive on defense," Hoosac Valley coach Dayne Poirot said. "I thought our kids adjusted. They started to realize what was going on, what they were trying to do, and I thought they adjusted pretty well.
"And I thought we played pretty well. We tackled well. We lined up correctly, and we moved and got to the ball."
Often, the ball was being carried or thrown by Lee QB Cam Abderhalden, a big focus of the Hurricanes' preparation this week.
"We had to contain him," Hoosac senior linebacker Jameson Coughlan said. "That was our No. 1 goal: Contain Abderhalden, and we'll be fine.
"We knew they were going screen. We knew they had some athletic kids on the outside, but, hey, we just played Chicopee Comp, and that's all they are. So we were ready."
Abderhalden (79 yards rushing, 40 yards passing) scored from 10 yards out to account for the Wildcats' score with just less than four minutes left in the third quarter.
He later broke a 44-yard run late in the fourth to get Lee (1-1) to the Hoosac 25, but Joe Degere picked off Abderhalden on the ensuing play, and Hoosac ran the last 2 minutes, 36 seconds off the clock without gaining a first down.
Hoosac did not face its first third down until its third possession of the game, after the 'Canes had scored on droves of 61, 50 and 51 yards.
Ellsworth had the first TD, sprinting to paydirt from 19 yards out. Four minutes later, Hall ran in from the 21; he then tacked on the 2-point conversion to make it 16-0.
After Hall ran back a punt 35 yards to get to midfield on the first play of the second quarter, Hoosac went 49 yards in six plays, the last a 13-yard run by Hall.
The Hurricanes added one more before halftime. After another Hall punt return set up Hoosac at the plus-45, senior quarterback Matt Koperniak hit Hall for a 13-yard completion. And then Donald Monsees took it 32 yards for the TD. Koperniak's 2-pointer made it 32-0 at half-time.
Hall scampered 69 yards on Hoosac's first play of the third quarter to set up a 5-yard TD run by Ellsworth that got the lead to 38-0.
Abderhalden then returned the ensuing kickoff 23 yards to the Lee 39 and directed a six-play scoring drive from there. He completed two passes for 24 yards and ran the last 10 yards himself. Nick Wood's point-after made it 38-7.
In the fourth quarter, Nicholas Waterman's interception gave Hoosac a short field at the Lee 31, and Maxwell Shafer scored at the end of a six-play drive to provide the final margin.
Lee coach Keith Thomson said that he looks forward to seeing how his Wildcats (1-1) will respond next week at Greenfield and hinted there is no shame in losing to Hoosac Valley.
"That's a good football team," Thomson said. "They bust their ass in the weight room. That program has been on top for a while now, for a reason. We got humbled tonight. It will be a learning experience.
"It wasn't a great warmup last week. We tried this week to take 'em down a few notches and let them realize they were facing a different kind of team tonight. And they found out the hard way."
