CHESHIRE, Mass. – Early on, it looked like the Hoosac Valley football team would run away Saturday’s Division 8 State Tournament opener.
But Athol’s passing game made things competitive late.
When the Hurricanes needed it most, their defense made the stop it had to in order to preserve a 34-18 win.
The Bears threw for 225 yards in the second half – all after Hoosac Valley took a 28-0 lead on the second half’s first play from scrimmage.
Midway through the third quarter, 14th-seeded Athol (5-4) got the ball after a punt at its own 35 needing two scores to tie it.
Dominic Curtis and Aidan Melanson, who took turns under center for the Bears, drove their team to the Hoosac Valley 12 with five completions, including a conversion on fourth-and-2.
First down from the 12 was an incompletion.
Second down was the defensive play of the game.
Hoosac Valley junior Matthew Witek came around the right side of the Athol line and wrapped up Melanson for a 12-yard loss.
“That was big,” Witek said. “I just saw an opportunity on it, so I came up and made it.”
Curtis’ third-down pass into the end zone was then broken up by Hoosac Valley sophomore Qwanell Bradley.
And on fourth down, pressure from Jayquan Vazquez and Kadan Tatro forced Melanson to throw the ball away.
The third-seeded Hurricanes (9-0) got the ball back with 3 minutes, 17 seconds on the clock. And runs by Will Hakes and Tatro (195 yards rushing) gave Hoosac Valley a couple of first downs and the opportunity to end the game by taking a knee.
Despite allowing touchdowns on three straight Athol possessions in the second half, Hoosac Valley coach Mike Bostwick said it was his defense that made the difference.
“I thought the defense really played well and kind of made up for the offense in a lot of ways today,” Bostwick said. “With the looks that [the Bears] give, the quads looks, this look that look – and our guys adjusting and improving throughout the game and getting better at handling those looks and that alignment, which is key. If they get you in a misalignment, they expose us.
“And we got better as the game went on. We just couldn’t make some plays late against these guys that we need to make.”
Early on, Hoosac Valley’s offense made all the right plays.
Tatro went around the end for 39 yards and a touchdown on the Hurricanes’ first possession of the game.
After a three-and-out for Athol and the first of its two muffed punts, Hoosac’s offense got the ball on the plus-7, and two plays later, Griffin Mucci was in the end zone to make it 12-0. His two-point conversion put the Hurricanes up by 14.
At the start of the second quarter, Athol’s second muffed punt led to a Hurricane tackle in the end zone for a safety.
A combination of 15 yards in penalties and a sack on third and long ended Hoosac Valley’s next possession, but it got the ball back at the plus-46 after an Athol punt.
The Hurricanes went the distance with a time-consuming drive that ate up more than four minutes and ended with Kamarion Kastner scoring from the 1 to give his team a 22-0 lead at half-time.
The rout appeared to be on when a fumbled snap on Athol’s first play of the second half was recovered by Logan O’Connell in the end zone for a Hoosac Valley touchdown and a four-score lead.
But Athol drove 96 yards on its next possession, using a 30-yard run by Hayden Barrieau and two completed passes – the second a 10-yard hookup from Curtis to Aaron Ouellet for the Bears’ first score.
Hoosac Valley answered with a 70-yard drive of its own – 61 on runs by Tatro, who scored from the 1 to make it 34-6 with 4:21 left in the third.
Athol then scored on its next two possessions on throws of 55 and 51 yards by Melanson, to make it a two-score game early in the fourth.
Bostwick said he expected Athol to present a challenge with its passing game.
“It’s tough, you don’t see ‘em play,” Bostwick said. “We played a couple of like opponents. We anticipated that. At the same time, we were there to make the plays. We just have to make the plays. One time, they ran by us. We just need to make the plays. We need to be slightly better positioned, and we’ll get better at that.
“These guys are raw. It’s his second year ever playing football, the kid who was in coverage. That’s just something we have to grow and look at.”
Next week, Hoosac Valley will be home in the state quarter-finals against No. 6 Old Colony Regional Vocational Tech, a 28-6 winner on Friday against Naragansett.
Bostwick said he did not know how starting QB Kastner will figure into those plans. Kastner left the field after taking a hard hit on a sack on the final play of the third quarter.
“I’m going to check on ‘Mar and I love ‘Mar,” Bostwick said. “He’s a great kid, great quarterback. We’ll see if we have him next week or not. … I think we’ll have him in one capacity or another. I’ve got to follow up and check on him, honestly. But he was in good spirits.”
