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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A 30-yard touchdown run by Zach Archambault was enough for Wahconah to defeat Taconic in a defensive battle, Friday night, at Berkshire Community College, 6-0.
If defense wins championships, both of these teams are on the right track early in the season. This game was a classic battle in the trenches and neither team looked like they were going to give an inch, literally.
The game started with a few three-and-outs before we had any real excitement. After a Taconic (0-2) punt, Wahconah fumbled the ball on the first play giving the home team some good field position to finally put a score on the board. A few runs and a couple nice completions found Taconic driving until a costly penalty that stunted the drive forcing a punt. Penalties were an issue all game long for Taconic, and they came at the worst times.
“Offensively we need to clean up the penalties and get back at it. Taconic coach Jim Ziter said. “Discipline is the main takeaway but these guys played with heart and I’m proud of everything they did, they never ever gave up.”
These two teams ended the first quarter scoreless, and it wasn’t until midway through the second quarter for fans to see the first and only score of the game. Zach Archambault broke open a nice run outside for 30 yards to give Wahconah a 6-0 lead. he finished the game with 46 yards showing how tough the Taconic defense really was to break down. It was a different story for this young Wahconah team from last weeks 42-12 win and it showed some gusto to see what these kids had to prove in a tight ballgame all the way through.
“Sometimes when you’re used to winning and winning big as a young team you have to learn to just win.” Wahconah coach Gary Campbell Jr. said. "These kids are young and still learning. Last week we were on top of the world but today it was ut oh what can happen and the kids pulled it out.”
Throughout the game, Taconic looked like the more likely to score putting together some impressive long drives, but it was that Wahconah defense that had the bend but don’t break mentality and got some big stops when they needed it. Haywood Eurquehart led the game for both teams in rushing with 89 yards but was unable to turn any of that into points for Taconic. On multiple occasions Taconic was able to get deep into Wahconah’s territory but was unable to come away with anything. The last drive of the game for Taconic it came down to a 4th down attempt inside the 30 that Wahconah snuffed up with a sack putting them in victory formation and holding on to that one score win.
“They ran about two or three plays to our one. I did not think that [30 yard touchdown by Archambault] was going to be the final score just like at the end I didn’t know what was going to happen with our defense,” Campbell said. "Our kids when they needed it they made a play, they stood tall and I’m really happy for them.”
Wahconah will head on the road to Longmeadow next Friday While Taconic will look to get its first win of the season against Commerce on the road Friday as well.
