Pittsfield-Lanesborough, Adams-Cheshire Claim Super Bowl Titles
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Big plays were the order of the night at the Berkshire County Youth Football League Super Bowls.
The Lanesborough-Pittsfield Tiger-Saints used them to roll over Adams-Cheshire in the Junior Division title game.
Adams-Cheshire then scored on runs of 48, 49 and 50 yards to earn a one-score win over Lee in the Senior Division season finale at Berkshire Community College's Gene Dellea Field.
Junior Division
Lilyana Ferris and Benjamin Sykes drove the Tiger-Saints' offense, which scored 26 straight points to secure a 40-6 win.
Sykes scored on a 59-yard touchdown to help his team take a 14-0 lead and ran back a kickoff 55 yards to answer Adams-Cheshire's lone score.
"We run some good sweeps, we run a few good passes, and luckily we've got a great group of kids," Pittsfield-Lanesborough coach Ed Ferris said.
Sykes finished with three scores. He also went in from the 5 on the Tiger-Saints' first possession.
Ferris' daughter, Lilyana Ferris, had an 18-yard run on that opening drive and also completed a 15-yard pass to Sykes.
The QB later scored on a 7-yard run to open the second half after Pittsfield-Lanesborough recoverd a fumble on the kickoff.
"She's very tough," Ed Ferris said. "She's probably one of the toughest players on my team. ... We're very proud of her. She's definitely a great baller.
"She's moving up next year, so she should be fun to watch."
The Tiger-Saints capped their scoring with the second unit on the field late in the fourth quarter. Amari Vanderpool busted open a run to the right side to go 73 yards on a fourth-and-15 play. Lanesborough-Pittsfield ran in its fifth successful two-point conversion of the evening to cap the scoring.
Adams-Cheshire's scoring drive went 49 yards to make it a one-score game in the second quarter.
Shane Faucher got things going with a 16-yard run to convert a third-and-1 and bring the ball to the 24.
After Brayden Durant ran a couple of times to get the ball to the 11, Adams-Cheshire's momentum stalled and it faced a fourth-and-7 from the 8. Again, Faucher got the call, and he went to the house to make it 14-6.
But that was all that the Lanesborough-Pittsfield team would allow as it capped a successful campaign in the first year of a merger between the two programs.
"This group was excellent," Ed Ferris said. "We had our worries at the beginning, but we've merged together very well. As you can see, we did well."
Senior Division
Explosive offense from Qwanell Bradley plus stifling defense equaled a county championship for the Senior Division Hurricanes from Adams-Cheshire.
Bradley scored all three touchdowns for the Canes, who scored the game's last 14 points in a 20-14 win.
Adams-Cheshire needed just two snaps to score twice in the first half as Bradley went to the end zone from midfield on his team's first two offensive plays.
"They were telling me plays to run, and we probably ran six plays the entire first half," joked Adams-Cheshire coach Dayne Poirot. Qwanell broke out and did some really good things.
"He had some great runs, and we had some great blocking on it. We had a lot of big plays from a lot of guys, which was awesome."
Lee got on the board first in a back-and-forth first half.
The Cougars took the opening kickoff and marched 52 yards. Zavien Siok capped the drive by scoring from the 9.
Adams-Cheshire answered right away with a 48-yard run by Bradley to tie the game, 6-6.
The next time Lee touched the ball, it drove 58 yards to set up a 2-yard run by Dawson Reber. Kodie Mendoza ran in the two-point conversion to put the Cougars up, 14-6.
Adams-Cheshire came right back with a 49-yard Bradley run. Its pass attempt for the conversion was no good, and Lee maintained a two-point lead.
After scoring on their first four attempts, the teams traded empty possessions to finish the half with Lee ahead, 14-6.
The defenses traded stops on the first two possessions of the second half as well.
But on Lee's second possession, Bradley raced 50 yards to the end zone on the final play of the third quarter. He then ran in the two-point conversion to give the Hurricanes a six-point advantage.
Adams-Cheshire's defense then stopped Lee on fourth-and-3 on the Cougars' first possession of the third quarter. After Lee returned the favor by stopping the Hurricanes on fourth down at the Cougars' 30, Adams-Cheshire's Kamarion Kastner picked off a Lee pass with 1 minute, 31 seconds left in the game to put it away.
"They're very good," Poirot said of the Cougars. "They're much improved from when we played them the first time. Hats off to Lee. They were very solid. We stepped up defensively. We had some good stops.
"This is one of the most fun groups I've ever coached. They're very intelligent football players."
