Published: 11/20/2019 9:13:15 PM
BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown football team put on one of its best defensive performances of the season, defeating Palmer 23-6 on Wednesday night.
The Orioles (5-5) were supposed to play the Panthers Nov. 9, but weather and field conditions postponed the game. Belchertown sent a statement to their neighbors with big first half.
“Its like a rivalry,” Belchertown coach Ed Wyzik said. “They’re the next town over. It got cancelled a couple of weeks ago, but we were able to come back and play it again and had one hell of a game.”
The game started well for the Panthers (4-6), who received the ball first and drove down the field. When they were in scoring position, however, running back Jacob Mastalerz fumbled the ball, and the Orioles recovered.
On the ensuing Belchertown drive, it was the Cameron Otto show. The senior quarterback hit receiver Hunter Klingensmith for a 43-yard completion before running the ball in for the touchdown. Klingensmith hit the post on the extra point attempt, so Belchertown went up 6-0 with 2 minutes, 55 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
After forcing back-to-back Palmer punts, Otto connected with Klingensmith for a 75-yard touchdown with under 10 minutes remaining to halftime. The Orioles attempted to go for two points but were stopped short, leaving the lead at 12-0.
On Palmer’s next drive, the Orioles forced a five-yard loss, an incompletion and sacked quarterback Jack Letendre for a loss of 12 yards. That set up a punt that the Orioles blocked and recovered at the Palmer 7-yard line.
From there, Otto ran the ball into the end zone for the score. Belchertown ran it in for two points to extend its lead to 20 with just over seven minutes remaining in the half.
At the end of the third quarter, the Orioles faced a fourth down just 23 yards from the end zone. They elected to go for a field goal. Klingensmith drilled the 33-yard kick to push Belchertown up 23-0.
Palmer did get a score of their own with 7:17 remaining in the game when Letendre connected with Tyler Placanico for a 55-yard touchdown. The two-point attempt was stopped short, and the score was 23-6 Belchertown.
Otto finished with 220 passing yards and either ran in or threw on all three touchdowns.
“I thought Cam Otto did good,” Wyzik said. “He’s basically hit 1,000 yards on the season, which is a nice achievement for him as a senior.”