BELCHERTOWN — After trailing all game, Belchertown found itself right back in the thick of things with just under three minutes to play on Friday night.
Trailing Greenfield 14-6 with the clock ticking down in the final quarter, Chris Daskam broke free and sprinted 35 yards to score the Orioles’ second touchdown, bringing them within two points in their home opener.
They needed a two-point conversion to tie it up. Greenfield was determined to stop them.
The Green Wave’s defensive line prevailed, capitalizing on a Belchertown miscue shortly after the snap to keep the Orioles grounded. Greenfield pushed up the field and ran out the clock for a 14-12 win, its first of the season.
“We wanted everybody to get fired up, get in the hole and stop the play. That was huge, that was game right there,” Greenfield’s Ryan Pulizari said. “For me, I may have stopped a little early to celebrate. But my team continued to take the guy down.”
Pulizari was a critical part of Greenfield’s bounce-back victory, rushing 57 yards to score the team’s first touchdown seven minutes into the first quarter. Though they failed to convert their two-point attempt, getting on the board was a major momentum swing for the visitors early.
“He’s worked hard to get where he’s at. He runs hard north and south. That helped us out, gets a little momentum,” Greenfield head coach Mike Kuchieski said on Pulizari’s TD. “When you’re dealing with these guys, you’ve got to get the momentum because if something bad happens, it’s awful hard to get back out of your pocket.”
Momentum swings between the two opponents was the story for most of the game. After Greenfield’s first touchdown, Belchertown responded on its very next possession. Joshua Grillo ran back a long punt return for the Orioles to put them at the Greenfield 29, and they needed just four snaps to make it into the end zone. Starting quarterback Landon Andre ran four yards to score the Orioles’ first TD, knotting the score at 6 apiece after they also failed to convert on their two-point chance.
The tides turned back in Greenfield’s favor late in the third quarter. With Greenfield up 14-6 thanks to a 5-yard Joey White touchdown and the ball in Belchertown’s possession, Andre took a hard tackle and stayed down on the ground, halting the game while trainers went out to assess his injury. His fellow captains carried him off the field without putting any weight on his right leg. He remained on the sidelines for the rest of the game.
With their starting quarterback out, Belchertown head coach Dan McCarthy put in Nico St. George. He played the rest of the game as QB, commanding the field as the Orioles scored the go-ahead touchdown and came within inches of tying the game.
“There is nothing more I can say, but Nico St. George is a hell of a player, hell of an athlete and he’s a hell of a leader. How composed he was on that field just shows his character,” McCarthy said. “He doesn’t get that many reps at practice for quarterbacks, because we’re low on numbers and he has to go with the RBs… but I have nothing but positive things to say about Nico St. George.”
While St. George shined in his unexpected season debut at quarterback, the home squad struggled with penalties all night long. The Orioles finished with five false starts, and a number of other penalties put them behind the eight-ball in the close contest. That’s something that McCarthy is planning on addressing ahead of Week 3.
“I think we had some drives going and then penalties shot us in the foot,” McCarthy said. “That’s on me as a coach, we should work on that more in practice. I’m holding myself accountable.”
And while Greenfield’s defensive line was rock-solid and the team walked away with a win, Kuchieski said he wasn’t quite happy with his team’s overall play. Mental mistakes, he said, were far too prevalent in the contest.
“I can handle physical mistakes, you know – we are where we are. But mentally, we practice all week and then we need to carry it out onto the field,” Kuchieski said. “And I’ll eat that, I think that has a lot to do with me, and my coaching has to be a lot better to be able to get these guys to understand how to get the game done.”