High school football: Amherst’s offense and defense click in convincing 41-0 victory over Greenfield (PHOTOS)

GREENFIELD — The first two games of Jack Putala’s football coaching career at Amherst couldn’t have played out much better.

The Hurricanes jumped on Greenfield for a touchdown less than 100 seconds into Friday night’s game and didn’t let up from there, posting a decisive 41-0 whitewash in nonleague action at Veterans Memorial Field.

Travis Isabelle threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for a third, while Brady Klaes ran 21 times for 166 yards and another score. Liam McKinnon ran a punt back for a touchdown for the Hurricanes (2-0), who coasted after a 20-0 halftime lead. Through its two shutout wins to begin the season, Amherst has now outscored the opposition 51-0.

“The guys come out every week and they’re bought in,” said Putala, the former Turners Falls standout who knows his way around a rivalry with Greenfield. “The big thing is we’re flying around to the football, 11 heads swarming. We’re not big enough to have a lot of guys making tackles on their own. That’s how we have to play defense.”

Klaes carried all five times on Amherst’s opening drive, good for 68 yards and capped off by a 4-yard scoring run. McKinnon’s extra point made it 7-0 after only 1:38 of action in the first quarter.

After an exchange of series, with Greenfield punting and Amherst failing on fourth down, the Hurricanes’ Raymond Colon recovered a fumble and returned it to the Green Wave 40. Isabelle hit Taylor Alfaro Leiva on a wheel route for 22 yards and a score, putting the visitors up 14-0 with 2:02 to play.

Greenfield (0-2) then had its best drive of the night, moving from its own 20 down to the Amherst 15, helped along by a 22-yard gain by Angel Politis and a 17-yard throw from Gavin Arsenault to Bodie Burke. The drive bogged down and Greenfield faced fourth-and-20 from the 25. Arsenault and Burke combined on another 17-yard completion down to the 8, but the Wave turned it over there on downs.

That launched the Hurricanes on a 10-play, 92-yard drive with runs of 13, 20 and 10 yards by Klaes and a 22-yard catch by Alfaro Leiva. Isabelle hit Colon in the left flat for a 12-yard score as Amherst went up 20-0 with 2:34 remaining in the half, after a missed extra point.

Amherst held a 237-83 advantage in total yardage through the first two quarters.

The visitors then made the game safe with two touchdowns in the span of 21 seconds late in the third. McKinnon ran a punt back 47 yards to make it 26-0, then Malachi Charvis recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return, giving the Hurricanes the ball at the Greenfield 17. Isabelle needed one play to find the end zone on a scramble around the right side, enabling Amherst to lead 33-0 after three.

From there, the game entered running time and Amherst finished it off with a 7-yard TD run by Kaelen Worgess and a two-point conversion run from Jonathan Aviles-Roman.

Isabelle completed 5-of-7 passes for 113 yards, with Colon grabbing four receptions for 103 yards. In all, the Hurricanes amassed 348 yards of total offense.

“We knew it was going to take some time with the offense, but it’s good to see 41 points. That’s what we’re striving for,” said Putala. “I’m super happy with how we performed, but there’s still a lot to clean up.”

Politis picked up 60 yards on 13 carries for the Green Wave, which ended Friday with 109 yards of offense and only four first downs, none after halftime.

“We have to look ourselves in the mirror and see how we’re going to make a commitment to play the game, and be a team,” said Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski. “We’re gonna see who steps up next week. Right now, we’ve gotta get some people to become leaders.”

Amherst has a multi-hour Cape Cod road trip next Saturday to face Barnstable, while Greenfield heads to Frontier Friday night.