Big plays lift Amherst football over Northampton on Thanksgiving Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
NORTHAMPTON - Thanks to big plays on offense and defense, the Battle of the Bridge trophy is staying in Amherst for a second straight season.
The Amherst Regional football team scored on a pair of long touchdown passes from Justin Carey to Taj-Amir Torres and the defense forced seven turnovers to hold off Northampton 14-12 in the seventh Thanksgiving Day version of the rivalry game.
"It's nice. These guys deserve more wins than we got this season," said Hurricanes coach Glenn Jackson, whose team finished 4-6. "To cap the season with a win against your rival team on their home field is important, not just for the seniors, but also for the guys coming back next year."
The Blue Devils (2-9), who lead the all-time series 37-28-3, including 4-3 on Thanksgiving, concentrated their defense on stopping Amherst senior running back Zack Jackson (19 carries, 53 yards), which left room for Carey, who was accurate all day.
The junior quarterback completed 10-of-17 passes for 213 yards, one interception and both scores for Amherst. He also had a handful of catchable balls dropped.
"I had plenty of games where I had a lot of yards," said Zack Jackson, who finished the year with more than 1,200 combined rushing and receiving yards. "They were (focused) on me, so the guys had to step up. I'm just happy that other guys had a chance to shine."
The biggest plays came on connections from Carey to freshman speedster Torres, who scored the first touchdown of the game on a 52-yard burst down the left sideline midway through the first quarter. He added a second score with 6 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third when he caught a deep pass from Carey on the left sideline, juked a defender and pulled away from the defense.
"They did what they had to do," O'Brien said of Amherst's offense. "We took away their running game and they had (Torres), he's faster than anyone I have on my team. They got him the ball. Good for them."
Northampton had its chances, however, despite its struggles to protect the ball.
The Blue Devils trailed 14-6 after Torres' second score, but sustained a long drive in the fourth quarter, going 72 yards on 11 plays capped by an RJ Ramsden run into the end zone.
That made the score 14-12 with 3:24 left in the game. The Blue Devils looked to tie it up on a two-point conversion try, but the Amherst defense stuffed the run to hold the lead for the eventual win.
"You can't have seven turnovers in a game and expect to win," O'Brien said. "That's it. That's all you have to say about this one."
For Amherst, the win marked the final game for seniors Joe Worthley, Dominick DeJesus, Jay Fonseca, Tyler Catlin, Kyle Miller, John Clark, Brandon Johnson and Jackson.
It was also the final contest for Northampton seniors Alex Stokowski, Jack Lyford, Willy Vazquez, Jake Griffin, Dan Musante, Andy Kuon, Alex Subocz, Tony Boutiette, Evan Taylor-Washington and Hamza Butt.
Ramsden (offense) and Lyford (defense) were honored as the Northampton players of the game, while Carey and Kieran Pressley (defense) were named for Amherst.
Lyford scored the Blue Devils' first touchdown on a heads-up play.
Carey tossed a swing pass out to right flat, but the ball was tipped by Musante and fell to the ground on the right side. Most of the players reacted as if it was an incomplete pass, but there was no whistle and Lyford snatched it up and ran down the left sideline 60 yards for a touchdown with 2:03 left in the second quarter.
Players and coaches from both teams said after the game that it looked like a forward pass.
Pressley, meanwhile, had two interceptions off Ramsden, while Torres had the third.
Zack Jackson didn't practice this week because of a high ankle sprain suffered in the loss to Chicopee last week and his status was up in the air entering Thursday's game. The injury did limit him to playing only on offense, instead of also lining up both as a linebacker on defense and a returner on special teams.
"It hurt real bad to play, but I had to play my last game in my last year," he said. "There was nothing that was going to keep me from playing in this game.
"It's awesome winning my last game in my last year. I have to thank my teammates so much for playing so well. I was really happy to have them on my team."
Amherst's young defense impressed throughout the morning, despite not having Jackson on that side of the ball.
"The young guys are certainly going to be some building blocks for years to come," Glenn Jackson said. "They did a really good job, and some of them played well beyond their years."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
