CHESHIRE, Mass. -- The Hoosac Valley football team inched out an 8-0 victory over Taconic Saturday afternoon.
If you look up the definition of a defensive battle this game would be the perfect fit for an example. Both of these teams came into the game with the mindset of shutting the other team down. Fortunately for the Hurricanes (2-2), they were able to grind out a long series on the first drive of the game for a touchdown.
The drive took most of the first quarter and consisted of 15 plays. Hoosac Valley converted on three fourth down plays and didn’t throw the ball once. Liam Feeley got the the touchdown on 12-yard run. Feeley ended the day with 74 yards rushing.
“Converting fourth downs early on was huge," Hoosac Valley coach Dayne Poirot said. "It was a good statement for us and a big difference in the game."
Poirot went on to praise the offensive line for the work throughout the game really setting the tempo.
In the first half, Taconic was held to only two first downs and was unable to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Coming out of the break, Taconic had one of its only sustained drives, and much of it was thanks to a pass interference call on first down to set the visitors up in Hoosac territory. They were unable to get anything out of this as Hoosac’s stout defense forced them into a turnover on downs.
Late in the game, Taconic had its best chance to score, driving to the 18 yard line before Liam Feeley stripped the ball lose forcing a turnover.
“We did a good job defensively," Poirot said. "Liam made a great play late in the game and it was all the difference, then we made some key stops at the end.”
Hoosac did look to add another touchdown and put the game out of reach, but Taconic matched the defensive intensity and got the goal line stop it needed to make one last push for a tie. It was unable to do so and had to punt allow Hoosac to run the clock out.
Taconic will turn around and face Commerce on the road in a short week on Thursday, while Hoosac will look to get back above .500 with a matchup against Chicopee High next Friday.
