PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Pittsfield senior Anthony Johnson rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown on Saturday as the Generals earned a Senior Day win and city championship with a 40-3 win over Taconic at Berkshire Community College.
Patrick Rindfuss ran for 90 yards and threw for 86 yards and a pair of TDs as Pittsfield improved to 2-0 heading into Friday’s showdown at unbeaten Wahconah.
Johnson gave a lot of the credit to Pittsfield’s offensive lines.
“There were nice holes,” he said. “They did their job opening it up, and we did a good job running the ball and passing, especially passing.
“The holes were amazing, wide open. They did their job moving out the defensive linemen.”
Pittsfield scored on four straight possessions to answer a 30-yard field goal by Taconic’s Frank Boua to open the scoring.
Taconic (0-2) scored by taking advantage of the game’s first turnover in the opening moments.
Pittsfield gained 24 yards on four carries on its first possession, but a fumble in the backfield at midfield was returned 28 yards by Taconic’s Xavier Nichols to get the ball to the 12.
Three plays, and 1 yard lost on a rushing play, later Boua gave his team a 3-0 lead.
It was the high-water mark for Taconic.
Pittsfield took the ensuing kickoff 70 yards on 10 plays with Johnson and Rindfuss taking turns going through those gaping holes courtesy of their offensive line.
Rindfuss capped the drive with a 6-yard run and took in the two-point conversion to make it 8-3.
After a three-and-out for Taconic on its next possession, Pittsfield needed just two plays to get in the end zone from the 50: an 8-yard pass from Rindfuss to Sincere Moorer and a 42-yard scamper by Johnson that gave him a score an 96 yards on the ground before the end of the first quarter.
The next time PHS got the ball, it kept it on the ground and went 49 yards, the last one on a Rindfuss plunge to make it 20-3.
After Taconic fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Rindfuss cashed in with a 35-yard touchdown throw deep to the right to Bryson Jezewski, the first of his two TD catches.
It stayed 26-3 until half-time.
In the third quarter, Rindfuss tossed a 14-yard strike to Jezewski in the back of the end zone. In the fourth, Michael Charles (35 yards rushing) ran it in from the 27 to finish the scoring.
“Our guys had this one circled,” Pittsfield head coach Brian Jezewski said. “We worked really, really hard in the off-season. Our kids worked really, really hard in the weight room.
“It was sloppy early. I think we’ve had 14 turnovers in this game the last two years -- way too many. Two today, which is two two many for me. But our offensive line, Anthony Johnson, Patrick Rindfuss, those guys got it done again.”
Defensively, Pittsfield held Taconic to 42 yards rushing and 18 yards passing.
Now, the Generals have a short week to get ready for Wahconah (3-0), which has outscored its opponents by an average of 39-16.
“We’ll enjoy this one, and then I’ll get the film and we’ll break it down,” Jezewski said. “All we can do is play our game and see what happens from there.”
