WEST SPRINGFIELD — The West Springfield football team needed just 12 minutes to rack up 20 points against visiting Amherst, and the rest of the game went downhill from there for the Hurricanes.

West Springfield’s offense ran rampant against Amherst, propelling the Terriers to a 42-14 win on Friday night.

It was just Amherst’s second loss of the season, and the win also gave West Springfield the Suburban League South title. The ’Canes dropped to 6-2 overall.

“The better team won tonight. That quarterback they have, (Nate) Stone and Jonny (Gingeruha), both of them are legitimate quarterbacks, really next-level type of kids. We were in great coverage most of the night and it was just great throws,” Amherst head coach Vinnie Guiel said. “It is what it is. It's one of those games where, as much as I hate it, we weren't the better team tonight.” 

Stone was on another level Friday, taking over most of the quarterback duties that he shares with Gingeruha. The Terriers relied mostly on Stone for his arm, which threw more than half a dozen 20-plus yard passes that connected with his receivers. He finished the game with over 200 yards passing, highlighted by a 47-yard touchdown pass that he lobbed to Anthony Curran to give the Terriers a 42-6 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Though Amherst star Jameson Dion did see time on the field, he rarely had the ball in his hands. Instead, the ‘Canes relied on players like Junior Ramsey and Matt Hockman. 

“Jameson's dealing with an injury. And with that, I don't want to put him in a position where he can hurt himself further. It's my responsibility to ensure that he walks when he's 40,” Guiel said. “I look long term with those kinds of things. And we'll grow and will continue to grow.” 

West Springfield scored three times in the first quarter on touchdowns from Caleb Bradley (10 TD catch), Gingeruha (three yard TD catch) and Timothy Horizon (1 yard run). Amherst was able to stop a pair of two-point conversion attempts on the first two touchdowns, but Gingeruha managed to convert on a third try to give the home team a couple extra points. 

After fumbling a punt of their own that gave West Springfield its third touchdown of the game, the ‘Canes got even when the Terriers dropped a punt of their own, setting the ‘Canes up at the 14 yard line near the tail end of the second quarter. The ‘Canes offense was able to get across the goal line on a 3-yard carry from Ramsey to make the score 35-6, though their two-point conversion attempt was no good. 

Ramsey and Hockman carried the majority of the offensive load for the Hurricanes against West Springfield, along with quarterback Gavier Fernandez. 

“They’re both dogs, man. They both played well. They both played really good football. Junior's a load to carry,” Guiel said. “But it's one of those things – the offense we run is a double wing and it's designed to kill the clock, it's designed to methodically drive down the field. When the score is 35-0 before I can blink, that kind of offense kind of goes out the window.” 

Fernandez got Amherst’s second touchdown of the night, a 1-yard carry scored in the fourth quarter with about 2:30 left on a running clock. The ‘Canes got the two-point conversion to make it 42-14, but at that point a win was too far out of reach for the visitors.

Dion’s injury has hurt the ‘Canes against two tough opponents, and the loss to West Springfield handed the team its first back-to-back losses of the year. Guiel spoke to his players after the game and encouraged them to keep showing up for the rest of the season – the team still has two games left against undetermined opponents, along with its Thanksgiving Day game against Westfield. 

“We just got to keep playing ball. We got to keep playing football. We got three games left,” Guiel said. “We got to make sure everyone's healthy and we got to keep these guys motivated and 8-2 isn’t a bad record moving forward, so we’ll see who we play.”

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.