PITTSFIELD — The Pittsfield football team didn’t play with its food against Belchertown.

The Generals didn’t punt throughout the entire first half, a half that saw PHS score on all five of its offensive possessions and get an extra score on a punt return for good measure.

Pittsfield won handily, 42-14 against an overmatched Orioles squad to move to 2-0 for the first time since the Fall II season in 2021.

“I gotta give credit to my defensive coaches, Coach Marchbanks, Coach Weeks, Coach Ryan Ziter, they did a tremendous job,” said PHS head coach Brian Jezewski after the game. “Coach Wilcox and Coach Milnee, they did our scout team offense and we were in the right spots today. I can’t give enough credit to our guys and how well they executed the game plan.”

Pittsfield’s defense did its part, Belchertown got one first down on its first drive of the game, a drive that ended in a punt with around seven minutes to go in the first quarter. The Orioles didn’t record a first down on any of their next four drives. They only broke through when there was less than seven minutes to go in the second quarter.

That drive got inside the PHS 10-yard line, but was ended by an interception from Elias Robinson at the goal line with less than 10 seconds left in the half. Robinson also had a tackle for loss and was part of a defense that gave up no points and just 45 rushing yards and 60 total in the first half.

Jackson Almeida had a TFL and was everywhere at linebacker for Pittsfield, getting through the line and wrapping up Belchertown backs. Even when the Orioles had some room to run, Almeida was there to prevent anything more than a 4-yard gain. He also combined with Jack Reed for another TFL. Reed had 2.5 TFLs on his own while Seth Aitken and Jude Wojtkowski combined for one.

“First year football player, it’s been a learning process for [Almeida] for sure. He’s been tremendous, we moved him, he was playing both sides of the ball,” Jezewski said. “Now he’s concentrating on the defensive side of the ball and it’s made tremendous dividends. He’s a wonderful kid.

“He’s tough as nails and he’s becoming a football player and we love having him.”

Of course, the defense had plenty of cushion thanks to the offense. Marcus Jubrey only played the first half and still had 11 carries for 115 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns, as well as a 41-yard completion to Rodellio Mack for another score. That helped stake PHS to a 42-0 lead at half and allowed the second unit to play most of the second half.

The lone completion came on the heels of a Belchertown turnover on downs. On fourth-and-1, half the PHS defensive line broke through and Robinson got his aforementioned TFL to give PHS the ball at the Belchertown 41-yard line.

On the first play, Freddy Conyers and Mack were streaking down the field with about 7 yards of space from the nearest defender and Jubrey lofted the ball to Mack, who caught it and jogged the remaining 15-ish yards for a 41-yard touchdown.

Conyers had two drops, but he made up for them in other ways. In the second quarter, the Orioles were quickly in a hole thanks to Jubrey sacking the quarterback on first down to make it second-and-17. That led to a punt which Conyers caught at the 25-yard line on the right hash mark.

He sprinted left, turned up field, got to the Belchertown 40 and cut right, sidestepped past two Orioles and dashed towards the right sideline for a 75-yard punt return touchdown, just 32 seconds into the second quarter.

Five minutes later, on first down at the Oriole 40-yard line, Robinson went in motion from the left side of the formation, heading right, and caught the handoff from Jubrey. But Conyers, on the right side of the formation, going left, took the double reverse from Robinson, turned the corner and took off for a 40-yard housecall to make it 42-0.

“I think we’re pretty dynamic. Obviously we want to spread the ball. I’m doing a bad job if I”m not getting the ball to multiple guys. These guys are making the most of their opportunities when they have the ball in their hands and that’s all we can ask,” said Jezewski. “They get a lot of credit for the speed we have. But offensive line is doing a really good job, defensive line, we’re starting a freshman at nose, a sophomore at defensive tackle, and you couldn’t tell, they look like they belong.

“That’s a big thing for the future of the program and us moving forward.”

Belchertown’s first scoring drive took up almost the entire third quarter. A methodical drive that was punctuated by a 2-yard touchdown plunge from Max Bressette. Brian Carlin kicked the PAT. Belchertown’s defense managed to force a punt and then get the ball back with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Orioles used the hard count well, getting Pittsfield to jump several times, including on multiple third downs. Nicholas Larock ran the ball in from 10 yards out and Carlin hit another PAT to provide the final score.

Perhaps the biggest bright spot for Belchertown was Brogan Bottari. PHS exclusively kicked off to Bottari and he made the most of the opportunities. He averaged almost 20 yards on kickoffs, getting the Orioles to the 35-yard line or better every time.

“We were playing with 3 or 4 freshmen for starters… Our future’s really good, they’re working their butt of, trying, giving effort,” said Belchertown first year head coach Keith LeBeau. “This week, they’re better than us, bottom line… I’m glad that we just worked hard.

“[Bottari’s] a freshman and we just said, ‘catch the ball. Get to the out of bounds best you can, get what you can out of it’… Great hands, to be able to do that and gain yards. He was proud, he was excited for himself and I’m proud of him.”

Pittsfield is 2-0 with two blowout wins but its toughest test of the season is coming up next Friday. The Generals will host longtime rival Wahconah at BCC, a game Wahconah won in Dalton 46-8 last year and 32-12 at BCC in 2022. Wahconah won in 2021, 36-26, and it was only in the Fall II season that PHS last won, 34-28.

“We’ll enjoy this, we’ll go back to work tomorrow,” Jezewski said. “That’s always a battle, they are who they are for a reason.”