Tigers can't halt Hoosac Valley
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WESTFIELD - In rolling through its Berkshire County schedule undefeated, the Hoosac Valley football team had never trailed all season.
So when South Hadley took a five-point lead late in the second quarter of Tuesday's game, there was some question about how the Hurricanes would respond.
Hoosac and star senior running back Austin Alibozek responded with a vengeance.
Before the Tigers took the lead on a Connor Fenton interception return with 1 minute, 11 seconds left in the first half, Alibozek had totaled 81 yards on nine carries.
After that lead change, he ran for 197 yards and four touchdowns on nine carries and led the Hurricanes to a 35-18 win in the western Massachusetts Division 2 semifinals at Westfield State College.
"When you don't tackle well, that means the other team is executing well. They've got running backs with power, speed, they move well," South Hadley coach Ray Ferro said.
"Our kids lose confidence in their tackling ability so you stand up and don't tackle with aggression because you are trying to tackle a guy who is very good," he added. "So a good running team makes your tackling poorer."
Top-seeded Hoosac (11-0) will play No. 2 East Longmeadow (10-1) in the Super Bowl at 3 p.m. Saturday at Westfield State. The Spartans defeated No. 3 Wahconah 34-0 in Tuesday's other semifinal.
Fenton's return gave the No. 4 Tigers (6-6) a 12-7 lead and the chance to take the momentum into halftime of their semifinal.
But Alibozek exploded for a 55-yard run down the right sideline on the first play of Hoosac's ensuing drive, taking the ball to the South Hadley 8, and then burst through the line for an 8-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds left in the second quarter.
"Their offensive line stayed low and drove their legs. They are a hard-working team," Tigers senior lineman Mike Chieco said. "They weren't the biggest team, but they drove their legs as well as anyone I've ever played against."
South Hadley received the opening kickoff of the second half and again threatened to take control of the game with a 15-play, 58-yard drive down to the Hurricane's 10-yard line. But the offense was called for a holding penalty on second-and-goal and never recovered, eventually turning the ball over on downs.
"It hurts any time a penalty hinders a great drive," Chieco said. "That really set the tone for the rest of the half for us."
Alibozek took advantage again, breaking through on the first Hoosac play of the half for a 77-yard touchdown run with 2:50 left in the quarter.
"That was the one that hurt. That kind of took the wind out of our sails," Ferro said.
The Tigers never completely recovered from the shift in momentum, as Alibozek added his third touchdown of the game with 7:45 remaining in the fourth before quarterback Jason Bourque completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Fenton with 5:09 left.
The score cut the deficit to 28-18 and the Tigers went for two, but Hoosac sniffed out Bourque's swing pass to Connor Doran before he could cross the goal line.
Alibozek capped the game with his fourth score on a 13-yard run with 27 seconds left.
"When you've got a team that drives that well, that long and that consistently, it's tough to stop when you don't have veteran defensive players," Ferro said.
The Tigers struggled all season with injuries and illness. They were without three starting linemen on Tuesday in a year filled with missing key players in big games.
Ferro hopes the experience gained by plugging those holes, especially in the last-second 24-22 win on Thanksgiving Day over Chicopee Comp, will pay off for his returning players in the future.
"When the disease and injury hit us and hit us heavy, we started to become a patchwork team. I think we knew then that it was going to take a gallant effort to make it to the playoffs," Ferro said. We "knew back then when we were starting to patch it together that to be a strong contender for the Super Bowl was maybe a reach. We played big and solid right up to the last second on Thanksgiving morning and to get here is just an honor. "I think our underclassmen are looking forward to improving themselves," he added. "I think they learned a lot from the Hoosac team about how it should be played and they'll come back and try to imitate those guys."
Hoosac controlled the game early with a pair of long first-quarter drives. But Justin Pelczynski fumbled into the end zone at the end of the first drive and Angel Colon recovered for South Hadley.
Bourque was then intercepted by Alibozek to set up the Hurricanes' first touchdown, which was scored by Travis Manning on a 1-yard run with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
South Hadley responded, however, in the second quarter. The Tigers' defense forced a fumble on third down at the Hoosac 32-yard line and the chase for the ball went backward 21 yards before the Hurricanes finally fell on it to set up a punt.
South Hadley took possession on the Hoosac 39 and put together a nine-play scoring drive capped by a 5-yard run by Connor Doran (11 carries, 82 yards) up the middle. A missed two-point conversion try left the score at 7-6 Hurricanes with 2:48 left in the half.
Fenton's big play came on the third play of Hoosac's next possession, intercepting Nick Bourdon's pass over the middle and taking it back 39 yards for a score and a 12-7 lead before Alibozek took over.
The loss marked the final high school game for South Hadley seniors Matt Roy, Kyle Grumoli, Brian Caisse, Sean Mulveyhill, Joe Brousseau, Joe Kelly, John Hart, Andrew Larrier, Cory Whelihan, Nick Wanat, Travis Headlee, Colon, Sullivan, Bourque and Chieco.
"For our seniors, I'm thrilled that they finished with a winning (regular) season and made it to the playoffs," Ferro said. "Our kids fought hard. I'm proud of them to make it this far and I think they are proud of themselves to make it this far. We are proud of what we did this year."
Chieco said the excitement of the Thanksgiving Day win overshadowed the disappointment of Tuesday's loss. "That Thanksgiving game was something I'll never forget for the rest of my life," he said. "That win outweighs losing in the playoffs. We hung in until the very end of that game."
On Tuesday, "we did the best we could, we just ran into a good program."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com. Get updates delivered directly to your Facebook newsfeed at www.facebook.com/gazette.hs.
