BELCHERTOWN-LEE FOOTBALL (REFRESH FOR UPDATES)

This is Michael Wilkinson at Westfield state University for tonight's Western Mass. Division 3 football semifinal between Belchertown and Lee.
Both teams enter the game at 9-2 on the season. It should be a good one.
Check back for updates throughout the evening.

We're just about set for kickoff. The winner will face Mt. Greylock in the Super Bowl Saturday at 10 a.m.

First Quarter
9:11 - Orioles 3-and-out on first possession. Lee takes over on own 43.

6:35 - Both teams shaky on offense early on. Lee's fumbles on Belchertown 40, but the O's go 3-and-out again.

2:31 - Both teams trying to throw, but both teams having trouble catching the ball. Ladd punts for 53 yards to pin Lee back at their 12.

End of the first - Wildcats on the move. They've gone more to their power running game. First-and-10 on Orioles 37.

Second Quarter
8:52 - Key third-and-10 stop for the Orioles defense at their own 12. Keenan rolled to the right, chased by Ladd. He threw across his body toward an open receiver, but Jake Loughman breaks it up. Then Lee missed a field goal off the right upright.

7:35 - Belchertown's had four possessions with zero first downs. Lee takes over at Orioles 40.

7:14 - After Lee's first-down play, the lights in the stadium went completely black. Thankfully, we still have light here in the press box.

4:55 - After about a 15-minute delay, Lee finishes off its drive to score first. Jake Kelley goes 23 yards around the right side for the touchdown. 7-0 Wildcats.

4:02 - James Ryan gets a rare carry and weaves his way for 35 yards to the Wildcats 43. Orioles 1st first-down.

2:50 - Ladd to Nick Leduc for 26 yards as the Orioles are in the red zone at the Lee 15.

1:45 - After Steve Boudreau reels in a key 8-yard reception on third-and-6, Ladd keeps around the right side for a 3-yard score. Lee is called for roughing the kicker on the point after, so coach Mayo elects to go for 2. Ladd's pass is broken up. 7-6 Lee.

0:15 - Wildcats respond immediately with 5-play, 62-yard TD drive. Keenan keeps on an option for 30 yards, then Kelley caps with a 14-yard score. 14-6 Lee.

HALFTIME - Lee leads Belchertown 14-6. I'll have some leading stats in just a few.

Some halftime stats. For the Orioles, Ladd has 14 yards rushing on six carries and a 3-yard touchdown. He's 4-for-11 passing with 37 yards.
Summing up the first-half frustrations, James Ryan is their leading ball-carrier with 35 yards on a single attempt.

Jake Kelley is the star thus far for the Wildcats with exactly 100 yards on the ground on 14 carries and both Lee scores. Keenan's rushed for 62 on three carries.

Just about ready for the second-half kickoff here at Westfield State with the Lee Wildcats leading the Belchertown Orioles 14-6. Lee gets the ball first.

9:30 - A botched snap on the first play from scrimmage leads to a Belchertown recovery by Tony Pellerin at the Lee 39.

8:03 - Orioles move the ball to the Lee 26 before turning it over on downs. Chris Ladd has only completed 4-of-13 passes.

5:30 - Another lengthy delay with an injury on the field.

4:00 - A break for the Orioles as another bad snap is recovered at theie own 9. Lee misses a chance to put it away.

End of third quarter - Lee still leading 14-6. Nick Leduc in at QB for an injured Chris Ladd. But after a poor Lee punt, Belchertown takes over at own 49.

6:41 - Orioles handed another gift on another botched snap, but Leduc throws a pick on an attempted screen. Lee has it at the Belchertown 31.

4:51 - Orioles D with a huge stop on third down from the 14, and Castro misses again from 32. Belchertown needs to get moving on this possession.

3:00 - Ryan runs for 10 and a first down, but a sack causes a Belchertown punt. Lee with the ball at their own 29.

2:00 - Keenan a 57-yard keeper to the Btown 12. O's need a turnover at this point.

END OF FOURTH - 14-6 Lee FINAL. Wildcats able to run out clock to advance to Super Bowl Saturday. Belchertown ends season at 9-3.

Final football power rankings / playoff schedule

Final MIAA Western Mass. Football Power Rankings
Division 1
Place Team    Ranking
1. Central     15.45
2. Longmeadow     14.90
3. West Springfield     12.55
4. Minnechaug     12.36
5. Chicopee     9.00
6. Westfield     7.20
7. Holyoke     5.45
8. Northampton     2.36
9. Agawam     0.00
9. Chicopee Comp     0.00

Division 2
Place Team    Ranking
1. Putnam     15.81
2. Hoosac Valley     14.60
3. Commerce     10.73
4. Wahconah     10.20
5. East Longmeadow     8.00
6. South Hadley     6.00
7. Amherst     5.80
8. Taconic     5.60
9. Pittsfield     4.40
10. Ludlow     4.18
11. Sci-tech     2.55

Division 3
Place Team    Ranking
1. Mount Greylock     21.40
2. Belchertown     16.18
3. Lee     15.45
4. Mahar     13.81
5. Frontier     9.80
6. Drury     9.40
7. Athol     7.82
8. St. Joseph     7.27
9. Monument Mountain     3.55
10. Cathedral     3.45
11. Greenfield     1.33

Division 4
Place Team    Ranking
1. Mccann Tech     16.20
2. Palmer     14.60
3. Pioneer Valley     12.40
4. Turners Falls     9.09
5. Pathfinder     7.82
6. Easthampton     7.27
7. Mohawk     4.44
8. Ware     3.64
9. Franklin Tech     3.64
10. Dean Tech     0.00

Western Mass. Playoffs
Tuesday, Nov. 29
Division 2
At Chicopee Comp
No. 2. Longmeadow vs. No. 3 West Springfield, 5
No. 1 Central vs. No. 4 Minnechaug, 7:30
Division 2
At Holyoke High School
No. 2 Hoosac Valley vs. No. 3 Commerce, 5
No. 1 Putnam vs. No. 4 Wahconah, 7:30
Division 3
At Mahar
No. 1 Mount Greylock vs. No. 4 Mahar, 5
At Westfield State University
No. 2 Lee vs. No. 3 Belchertown, 7:30
Division 4
At Westfield State University
No. 2 Palmer vs. No. 3 Pioneer, 5
At Mahar
No. 1 McCann Tech vs. No. 4 Turners Falls, 7:30

Super Bowls
Saturday, Dec. 3
At Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
Division 1
Semifinal winners, TBA
At Westfield State University
Division 3
Semifinal winners, 10 a.m.
Division 2
Semifinal winners, 12:30
Division 4
Semifinal winners, 3

Northampton sports complex to be dedicated to the late Frank Tudryn

Northampton will be dedicating the sport complex in honor of the late Frank Tudryn during halftime of the Thanksgiving Day football game.

Northampton plays Amherst Regional at 10 a.m.

Jim's Week 8 HS Football Picks

Here are this week's picks. Home teams are in CAPS:

Friday
PUTNAM over Amherst
SOUTH HADLEY over Cathedral
Belchertown over FRONTIER
Pioneer over EASTHAMPTON
CENTRAL over Agawam
Minnechaug over HOLYOKE
LONGMEADOW over Westfield
WEST SPRINGFIELD over Chicopee Comp
MOHAWK over Turners
ATHOL over Greenfield
MAHAR over Commerce
McCann over LUDLOW
PATHFINDER over Ware

Saturday
EAST LONGMEADOW over Northampton
FRANKLIN TECH over Dean Tech
Sci-Tech over PITTSFIELD

Last week: 13-4 (.765)
Season: 81-38 (.681)

Jim's Week 7 HS Football Picks

Last week was just brutal. Another sub-.667 week, another week of teams either coming out of nowhere or going from looking like playoff teams one week to looking like goats the next. I'm so puzzled, I'm not even sure if the previous sentence makes sense. This has been a dizzying season so far and, really, it's becoming borderline embarrasing to be at just .667 for the season when, in reality, you'd like to be at least .750.

And here we are at Week 7, with time running out to make a real turnaround unless something incredible happens. ... Fingers crossed.

Home team is in CAPS.

Friday
Central over NORTHAMPTON
Belchertown over SCI-TECH
COMMERCE over Frontier Regional
AMHERST over South Hadley
Longmeadow over AGAWAM
East Longmeadow over HOLYOKE
MINNECHAUG over Westfield
West Springfield over CATHEDRAL
HOOSAC VALLEY over Chicopee Comp
ATHOL over Turners Falls
Mohawk over MAHAR
Pioneer over PATHFINDER
MINUTEMAN over Ware
Saturday
EASTHAMPTON over Franklin Tech
Putnam over CHICOPEE
Ludlow over DEAN TECH
McCANN over PALMER

Last week: 10-6 (.625)
Season: 68-34 (.667)

Jim's Week 6 FB Picks

I'll be honest, this year's picks have been a relative struggle as there are so many teams I'm having trouble getting a handle on. Teams look good one week and then follow that up by losing in a game that seemed like a sure thing.

We are all the way to Week 6 at this point, so I'm hoping the second half can be a march toward at least a .750 winning percentage by the end of the season and last week was at least a step in the right direction.

Here goes (home team in CAPS):

Friday
NORTHAMPTON over Holyoke
Amherst over CHICOPEE COMP
Easthampton over LUDLOW
BELCHERTOWN over Mahar
SOUTH HADLEY over Chicopee
East Longmeadow over WESTFIELD
Longmeadow over CENTRAL
MINNECHAUG over Agawam
Athol over SCI-TECH
Franklin Tech over WARE
Mohawk over GREENFIELD
Pathfinder over PALMER

Saturday
Frontier over TURNERS
Commerce over TACONIC
McCANN over Dean Tech
Putnam over CATHEDRAL

Last week: 12-4 (.750)
Overall: 58-28 (.674)

Jim's HS Football Picks

Crazy week means I'm just going to throw up my picks in order to get them on the record. Home team in CAPS:

Thursday
GREENFIELD over Monument
Friday
MINNECHAUG over Northampton
McCann Tech over EASTHAMPTON
Belchertown over COMMERCE
FRONTIER over Mahar
South Hadley over LUDLOW
WEST SPRINGFIELD over Chicopee
LONGMEADOW over Holyoke
Mohawk over ATHOL
Palmer over DEAN TECH
Putnam over CHICOPEE COMP
SCI-TECH over Turners Falls
WESTFIELD over Agawam
Saturday
Amherst over CATHEDRAL
Central over EAST LONGMEADOW
Pathfinder over FRANKLIN TECH
PIONEER REGIONAL over Ware

Jim's Week 4 HS Football Picks

Things returned to close to normal in Week 3 with a 12-5 record, including a loss in double overtime. A few more weeks like that - and a little more distance from Wednesday's Red Sox finale - and I'll be feeling quite a bit better.

Here are the Week 4 picks home team is in CAPS:

Northampton over WAHCONAH
Holyoke over AMHERST
Easthampton over WARE
EAST LONGMEADOW over South Hadley
BELCHERTOWN over Turners Falls
Sci-Tech over FRONTIER
AGAWAM over Cathedral
Athol over COMMERCE
Central over CHICOPEE
LONGMEADOW over West Springfield
MAHAR over Greenfield
MINNECHAUG over Randolph
Monty Tech over DEAN TECH
Pioneer Regional over PALMER
Putnam over WESTFIELD
McCann Tech over FRANKLIN TECH

Week 3: 12-5 (.706)
Overall: 35-19 (.648)

Jim's Week 3 Football Picks

Instead of getting better in Week 2, things got worse. Great, now I have a true hole to start trying to dig my way out of.

Here are this week's picks (home team in CAPS):

NORTHAMPTON over Cathedral
AMHERST over Belchertown
Easthampton over St. JOSEPH'S
Frontier over WARE
Longmeadow over SOUTH HADLEY
CENTRAL over Chicopee Comp
Minnechaug over CHICOPEE
PUTNAM over Agawam
East Longmeadow over WEST SPRINGFIELD

Westfield over HOLYOKE
ATHOL over Palmer
Commerce over LUDLOW
McCann over GREENFIELD
MOHAWK over Franklin Tech
PATHFINDER over Sci-Tech
Pioneer over MAHAR
TURNERS FALLS over Dean Tech

Last week: 11-8 (.579)
Overall: 23-14 (.622)

Jim's Week 2 FB Picks

Week 1 wasn't an epic disaster, but it still gets things off in the hole, as you'd like to pick between 75 and 80 percent of the games right for the season.

I feel like we learned some things last week, but there are still a few tough games in Week 2, especially the local games, which I easily could have picked all our GazetteLand teams to win in.

Here are this week's picks (home team in CAPS):

Friday
AGAWAM over Northampton
Belchertown over MOHAWK
WESTFIELD over Amherst
South Hadley over WEST SPRINGFIELD
Commerce over TURNERS FALLS
EVERETT over Central
MAHAR over Lee
MINNECHAUG over Chicopee Comp
NARRAGANSETT over Athol
PUTNAM over Holyoke
Sci-Tech over GREENFIELD
St. John's over LONGMEADOW
Ware over LUDLOW

Saturday
EASTHAMPTON over Palmer
Chicopee over CATHEDRAL
FRANKLIN TECH over Nashoba
McCANN TECH over Pathfinder
Naugatuck over EAST LONGMEADOW
PIONEER REGIONAL over Dean Tech

Week 1 results: 12-6 (.667)

Jim's Week 1 HS FB Picks

I enjoyed a pretty nice season in my first year picking all the western Mass. football games each week. I'm convinced there's no way I can match that percentage at the bottom of the page, so let's just move along and hope for a strong first week.

Here's a look at the Week 1 games. Home team is in CAPS:

Thursday
LYNN CLASSICAL over East Longmeadow

Friday
BELCHERTOWN over Easthampton
CENTRAL over Putnam
Pioneer over FRONTIER
South Hadley over HOLYOKE
Longmeadow over CHICOPEE COMP
McCann Tech over WARE
NARRAGANSETT over Mahar
PALMER over Turners Falls
Pathfinder over QUABOAG
SCI-TECH over Mohawk
WEST SPRINGFIELD over Northampton

Saturday
CHICOPEE over Agawam
Athol over DRURY
CATHEDRAL over Ludlow
COMMERCE over Greenfield
FRANKLIN TECH over Monty Tech
SILVER LAKE over Minnechaug

Last season: 154-38 (.846)

Football All-Star Team

The football all-star team will appear in tomorrow's paper. This is the finall all-star team from the fall season.

Easthampton, South Hadley win Super Bowls

At Westfield State today, Easthampton won the Division 4 Super Bowl, while South Hadley took home Division 2.

Stay tuned for full coverage.

Jim's FB Semifinal Picks

Here we go. These were surprisingly easy to pick, so I'm obviously expecting a 4-4 record here:

Division 1

Central over West Side
Longmeadow over Holyoke

Division 2

East Longmeadow over Putnam
South Hadley over Hoosac

Division 3

Athol over Belchertown
Mount Greylock over Mahar

Division 4

Easthampton over Pathfinder
Pioneer over McCann

Last week: 11-3
Season: 147-37

Jim's Thanksgiving HS FB Picks

Thursday marks one of the great high school sports traditions in the state. Here are my picks for Thanksgiving Day (and Eve) football. Projected winner is in CAPS:

Northampton at AMHERST
SOUTH HADLEY at Chicopee Comp
Dean Tech at EASTHAMPTON
FRONTIER at Mohawk
Pathfinder at BELCHERTOWN
Longmeadow at EAST LONGMEADOW
CENTRAL at Minnechaug
Turners Falls at GREENFIELD
Chicopee at HOLYOKE
MAHAR at Athol
Ludlow at PALMER
PIONEER REGIONAL at Franklin Tech
Cathedral at WESTFIELD
Agawam at WEST SPRINGFIELD

Season: 136-34 (.800)

Jim's HS FB Picks

Quick post before heading out to more soccer:
Here are my winners, I'll expand post late tonight. I'll be honest, none of these made me scratch my head, so that must mean that I'll have four of five losses (or worse!) this week.

Last week: 13-3 (.813)
Season: 119-33 (.783)

Amherst
Athol
Belchertown
Central
East Longmeadow
Longmeadow
Mahar
Pathfinder
Sci-Tech

South Hadley
West Springfield
Commerce
Pioneer Regional
McCann
Palmer
Chicopee Comp

Jim's HS FB Picks

We're already into November and should have a decent handle on where teams stand. Here are my picks for this week. The projected winners are in CAPS:

BELCHERTOWN at Athol
CHICOPEE COMP at Amherst
Ludlow at SOUTH HADLEY
Pathfinder at EASTHAMPTON
Greenfield at FRONTIER
Commerce at WEST SPRINGFIELD
FRANKLIN TECH at Palmer
Holyoke at CENTRAL
LONGMEADOW at Westfield
MINNECHAUG at Agawam
Mohawk at SCI-TECH
PIONEER at Dean
Putnam at EAST LONGMEADOW
Turners Falls at MAHAR
Cathedral at CHICOPEE
MOUNT GREYLOCK at McCann

Last week: 14-3 (.824)
Season: 106-30 (.779)

Jim's FB Picks/Top 10

It's been a few great weeks in a row, but I've got to admit that this looks like a much harder tilt, especially with a handful of games featuring programs outside the region. Here are the picks for Week 8. As always, the projected winners are in CAPS.

South Hadley at PUTNAM
Frontier at BELCHERTOWN
Commerce at AMHERST
Northampton at WESTFIELD
St. Joseph's at EASTHAMPTON
ATHOL at Turners Falls
Central at NAUSET
Holyoke at EAST LONGMEADOW
Agawam at LONGMEADOW
Dean Tech at MONTACHUSETT
MAHAR at Mohawk
McCANN at Palmer
SCI-TECH at Greenfield
WEST SPRINGFIELD at Ludlow
CHICOPEE COMP at Cathedral
Ware at FRANKLIN TECH
Pathfinder at PIONEER

Last week: 14-2 (.875)
This year: 92-27 (.773)

This week's Top 10:

4. South Hadley
5. Mount Greylock
6. Mahar
7. Hoosac Valley
8. Westfield
9. Minnechaug
10. Central

Jim's Week 6 FB Picks

Here are my picks for Week 6. This feels like a really tough week. I had
trouble with the Agawam-Northampton, Belchertown-Mahar,
Holyoke-Minnechaug, Ludlow-Commerce, Turners-Frontier and McCann-Pioneer
games. Feels like a lot. Here we go, picks are teams in CAPS:

Agawam at NORTHAMPTON
BELCHERTOWN at Mahar
Cathedral at WEST SPRINGFIELD
Central at LONGMEADOW
Chicopee Comp at PUTNAM
Franklin Tech at PATHFINDER
Greenfield at MOHAWK
Holyoke at MINNECHAUG
HOOSAC VALLEY at Amherst
Ludlow at COMMERCE
PALMER at Dean Tech
Sci-Tech at ATHOL
Turners Falls at FRONTIER
Westfield at EAST LONGMEADOW
McCann at PIONEER REGIONAL
Ware at EASTHAMPTON
SOUTH HADLEY at Chicopee
Last week: 12-4 (.750)
Season: 63-23 (.733)

Jim's Week 5 HS FB Picks

Here are my Week 5 picks. The team in CAPS is the chosen winner.

Amherst at WEST SPRINGFIELD
Northampton at HOLYOKE
EASTHAMPTON at Franklin
Sci-Tech at BELCHERTOWN
SOUTH HADLEY at Cathedral
ATHOL at Greenfield
CENTRAL at Agawam
Chicopee at PUTNAM
CHICOPEE COMP at Ludlow
Dean Tech at MCCANN TECH
EAST LONGMEADOW at Commerce
Longmeadow at CATHOLIC MEMORIAL
MAHAR at Monument Mountain
MINNECHAUG at Westfield
Pioneer Regional at PALMER
TURNERS FALLS at Mohawk Trail

Last Week: 14-4 (.778)
Season: 51-19 (.729)