CHESHIRE, Mass. – More than 100 yards in penalties, a turnover on the second play of the game and 19 second-half yards on offense do not exactly add up to a formula for success.
The Hoosac Valley football team was able to overcome all of that and the Monument Mountain Spartans on Saturday for a 12-6 win.
Kamarion Kastner threw for 91 yards and a touchdown, and the Hurricanes’ defense came up with some big stops late to improve to 2-1 this fall.
But Hoosac Valley coach Marshall Maxwell said his team is going to have to improve if it wants to play to its potential.
“We’re going to watch this tape, and we’re going to see a team that was undisciplined, a team that was fatigued,” Maxwell said. “We’re going to see a team that, at critical moments, did not respond the way that a Hoosac Valley football team should.
“I just told them: This coaching staff is not going anywhere. We will be here long after them. We are establishing a standard of what you’re accountable for here. And that accountability is, instead of criticizing a teammate, you’re going to say to your teammate, ‘Maybe do this next time. We can be successful.’ “
Just as troubling as the finger-pointing for Maxwell was the breakdown in discipline on the sideline.
“One of our captains, one of our starters, one of our best players did not play the entire third quarter,” he said. “The reason being, he talked back to a coach. There’s accountability in this program, and I will not tolerate it.”
Both teams did all their offensive damage in the first half.
The Hurricanes coughed up the ball on their first touch but got it back with a fourth-down stop near midfield.
Hoosac then went 54 yards in 10 plays, overcoming 20 yards in penalties, including one that erased a 36-yard TD run.
Kastner completed four passes for 36 yards on the drive, which ended in a 7-yard run by Qwanell Bradley to make it 6-0.
The point-after kick was no good, and it stayed a six-point margin.
Another fourth-down stop on the Spartans’ next possession gave Hoosac Valley the ball on Monument Mountain’s 26 on the first play of the second quarter.
The Hurricanes then mounted their best drive of the game, going 74 yards – 49 of them came through the air, capped by Kastner’s completion to Ben Payton in the back of the end zone to make it 12-0.
After that score midway through the second quarter, Monument Mountain’s defense pitched a shutout.
“I’ve got to take that on me,” Monument Mountain coach Chris Tucci said of the early scores. “I was late on adjustments. So they took advantage of us on those outside plays in the beginning.
“Once we wised up and made the proper adjustments, we were able to hang with them and hold them.”
Tucci was quick to point out that the loss of running back Griffin Mucci in the first quarter took away a big part of Hoocac Valley’s attack.
Maxwell, too, acknowledged that Mucci’s absence impacted the Hurricanes’ approach offensively – especially in the second half when it threw the ball six times and picked up just one first down in a one-score game.
“We have 25 kids on our team,” Maxwell said. “[Mucci’s] backup is a sophomore who didn’t play high school football last year. His backup on defense is a senior who really hasn’t played a lot this year and didn’t play a lot last year, other than on special teams.
“So that really takes your game plan – even though we were looking to throw the ball a lot today – in a tight game like this, had we had Mucci, we would have gone with our safety blanket, we probably would have put seven offensive linemen on the ball and pounded the ball.”
The game got tight thanks to a 75-yard drive by Monument Mountain late in the first half.
The Spartans got the ball on their own 25 with 1 minute, 37 seconds until half-time.
Dominic Calautti (137 passing yards) hit Griffin Touponce for a 15-yard gain to start the drive.
Then, after an incompletion, Calautti completed back-to-back passes, the second for 26 yards to Touponce for a score that made it 12-6.
Monument Mountain’s try for two points failed, and the teams went into the break with the score 12-6, which is where it stayed until the final whistle.
The Spartans got the opening kickoff of the second half and went from their 24 to the plus-43, but the drive stalled, and they were forced to punt with 8:29 left in the third quarter.
The Spartans got the ball back about a minute later on their 32 and went all the way to the Hurricanes’ 13.
But Jacob Borawski made a tackle for a 3-yard loss on third-and-7, and Isaiah Keefner made a great leaping try on a pass in the end zone on fourth down but was not able to maintain control going to the ground, giving Hoosac the ball on downs with 1:32 left in the third.
Monument Mountain got three possessions in the fourth quarter.
The first one ended in a punt. The second two ended in sacks by Hoosac Valley’s Noah Rehill on fourth-down plays.
Both teams start league play next weekend.
Monument Mountain (1-2) hosts Drury on Friday night.
Hoosac Valley entertains Belchertown at Renfrew Park on Friday.
