EASTHAMPTON — The Belchertown football team had a chance to erase its previous mistakes with under four minutes to play, as the Orioles trailed Easthampton 20-19 but had possession of the ball and hopes to drive down the field for the win.

After two clutch third-down conversions where quarterback Jack Beals tossed a pair of throws to Max Bressette, who made acrobatic catches on each play, Belchertown was in business with one minute, 30 seconds remaining and the ball near midfield.

But the Eagles’ defense clamped down, forcing the Orioles to a 4th-and-8 situation at the 49-yard line. Beals handed the ball to Adam O’Rourke on an end around, and O’Rourke tried his best to heave a throw with a relentless Easthampton pass rush in his face.

Eagles freshman Patrick Larson jumped in front of the throw and snatched it as he fell to the grass field at Mountain View School, sealing his team’s first win of the season in dramatic fashion. Easthampton followed up Larson’s pick by taking two kneels to cap off its 20-19 victory over Belchertown on Thursday night.

Victory formation is a coach’s favorite play call, and Eagles head coach Kyle Dragon was pleased to be able to run it for the first time in 2024.

“It feels good, but I think it feels even better for those boys right now,” Dragon said after the win. “It was definitely a sigh of relief, but I knew these kids could do it. Pat Larson, a freshman out there, to make that game-saving interception was awesome. They’re excited. We had a whole different approach to the week this week, and they really seemed to become a new team and play with a lot more momentum and aggression. It was a grind, it was a battle, and that’s a good way to pick up your first win.”

The Easthampton sideline erupted when Larson snagged the interception. And after the clock hit zero, the Eagles stormed the field filled with jubilation. For Belchertown, it was the second time this season it lost by three points or less and had a chance to come out on top.

“I’m very proud of them,” Orioles head coach Keith LeBeau said. “The last couple games have been very difficult for us, and we’ve been struggling with some injuries here and there. Today was the healthiest we’ve been since the first game. It stinks to lose, it really does. If we can get over that hump and just get that first win, we’ll be fine. It’s just getting that first one. Winning is hard.”

Considering both teams were without a victory (each 0-4) entering Thursday, it was essentially a must-win either way. And Belchertown and Easthampton both played desperate.

Trailing 20-13 early in the fourth, the Orioles struck in a heartbeat. They started their drive with a 20-yard pass play from Beals to Brian Fuller, and tacked on 15 more yards due to a roughing the passer call on the Eagles. That set them up on the Easthampton 20 in just one play.

On the ensuing snap, do-it-all halfback Avery Cote took a hand off and raced 20 yards for the touchdown, making it 20-19 in favor of Easthampton.

LeBeau was faced with a decision: kick the extra point to tie it or go for two and take the lead.

Belchertown kicker Brian Carlin had already made one extra point, but the Orioles also had a field goal attempt blocked and another extra point attempt go south due to a bad snap. Because of that, LeBeau decided to go for two.

His team came up just short, but he didn’t regret the decision.

“There was eight minutes left on the clock, so my thought was that even if we don’t get it, we still have a lot of time to score,” LeBeau said. “And if we do get it, we put a lot of pressure on them. And we did have a field goal blocked and had a bad snap on a previous extra point, so going for two felt like the best option right there.”

The two teams traded touchdowns on their opening possessions, Easthampton scoring in just three plays capped by a 42-yard touchdown scamper from Vynce Carr and Belchertown using an 8-play drive to get a 17-yard scoring run out of Fuller.

The Orioles took the lead when O’Rourke punched in a touchdown from five yards out to make it 13-6 in favor of the visitors.

Easthampton responded with a 34-yard Jake Kostek touchdown run to put the Eagles up 14-13. It looked as if that would be the halftime score, but a botched Belchertown punt set Easthampton up in plus territory late in the second quarter. The Eagles capitalized with a Colin Hogan touchdown pass to Kostek with just six seconds left, giving the hosts a 20-13 edge heading into the locker rooms.

“Having our full complement of players back finally, we’re scratching the surface with this team,” Dragon said. “Tonight gave us a little feel for what we really are.”

That full complement of players includes Carr, Kostek and a plethora of other playmakers on offense. Dragon didn’t always lean on those two, but he did on Thursday, and their combined 221 scrimmage yards and all three touchdowns validated his choice to move them into the backfield.

“We’ve made some moves these last few weeks and found that those are the guys we need to put back there,” Dragon said. “Vynce is more of our speedster on the sweeps, and Kostek is more of our power runner. They worked hard. And we’ve struggled with the running game the last four weeks. So we came in with the mindset that we were going to run the ball, and we did.”

The only score of the second half was Cote’s fourth-quarter touchdown that put the Orioles behind by one. At the end of the night, it was the costly mistakes that plagued Belchertown, and they were too much to overcome.

And the Larson interception of O’Rourke added to the laundry list of miscues.

“They blocked our field goal, we dropped a punt, missed the snap on an extra point – it was just the little things that added up and came back to bite us tonight,” LeBeau said.

Belchertown (0-5) is back at it in two weeks after a bye next Friday. The Orioles host Frontier on Oct. 25.

Easthampton’s (1-4) next opponent is also Frontier, with the Eagles hosting the Redhawks next Friday at 7 p.m.