GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley football team Friday night showed that its offense can hurt you in multiple ways.
Its defense? All it did was post its first shutout of the season in a 43-0 win over a banged up Monument Mountain squad to close non-league play with a 3-0 record.
Kamarion Kastner threw for 133 yards and three touchdowns, and Qwanell Bradley scored four times as the Hurricanes matched their win total from the 2022 season.
The sophomore teammates were in the middle of things all night, as was their classmate, Jayquan Vazquez, who made a number of big stops on defense.
“This young group of kids, they’re not playing like sophomores,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Bostwick said. “It’s really nice to see, and we hope to see more of it in coming weeks and hope to progress them.
“Because I think the sky’s the limit for a lot of these guys that truly are raw. They don’t really even understand what’s going on out there half the time, and we’re just trying to point them in the right direction and slowly, slowly carve things out the way we want it to be done.”
The visitors started the night by taking the opening kickoff and driving 50 yards on seven plays – all on the ground.
The capper was a 22-yard run by senior Kadan Tatro.
The Hurricanes went on to score on their next four offensive possessions. Only a fourth-quarter possession with the clock running and the substitutes in the game saw Hoosac Valley not score, and even that possession picked up a couple of first downs and moved the ball 28 yards.
After sticking to the running game on its first possession, Hoosac Valley opted to air it out the next time it got the ball, after an interception and 36-yard return by sophomore Adan Wicks to the plus-44.
After penalties led to a third-and-15 at the 49, Kastner hooked up with Bradley for a score, and Bradley ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 14-0 late in the first quarter.
“That’s my guy,” Bradley said of his QB. “Known him since third grade. We’ve been playing since sixth, my first year at a receiving position. Love the connection. He always gets the ball where it needs to be.”
Monument Mountain’s next possession went 37 yards to the plus-30 before it ended on a fourth-and-5.
Kastner and Bradley then hooked up on a 34-yard pass to get the Hurricanes across midfield, and Tatro broke loose for a 43-yard run to make it 20-0; Griffin Mucci ran in the conversion.
After a short possession for the Spartans, Hoosac Valley needed just one play to go up by four scores when Kastner and Bradley hooked up for a 35-yard TD.
Monument Mountain, which was without several key contributors due to injury, showed its fight on the ensuing possession, going from its 22 to the Hoosac Valley 4.
Shaun Frank (79 yards rushing) and Jack Bissaillon (33 yards) had some key runs, and Dominic Calautti completed three passes for 38 yards in the drive. But on fourth-and-4 at the 13 with seven seconds on the clock, Hoosac Valley got a sack to end the half.
Any hope for a big comeback for the Spartans ended early in the second quarter. After picking up a first down, Monument Mountain fumbled the ball directly to Bradley, who ran 42 yards for a score, and another Mucci conversion made it 36-0.
“I was just right place, right time,” Bradley said. “The ball bounced off a lineman’s back right into my hands. You get really lucky sometimes. It’s one of those ones you just have to count your blessings on.”
The game’s final score came on a 15-yard completion from Kastner to Bradley. After a 5-yard penalty on the conversion, Wicks kicked an extra-long extra point to provide the final margin.
With it, Hoosac Valley completed a three-week span when it outscored opponents by a combined margin of 115-13. But Bostwick sent a message that those numbers won’t mean much when the Hurricanes open play in the Intercounty South on Friday at Belchertown, the first of five league games to finish the regular season.
“They’re going to have their hands full this week,” Bostwick said. “This is the next big test for these guys. I’m interested to see how they approach it and how the coaches approach it.
“I know my game plan, but we ‘re all going to put our heads together and see what happens.”
