HOLYOKE — It may not have been playing its most disciplined football, but the Holyoke football team capitalized on a gift from Pittsfield in the second quarter of its season opener at the Roberts Complex on Thursday night.

Trailing 18-6 in the second quarter, Generals quarterback Marcus Jubrey swung a pass out wide that was dropped. The pass was ruled backward, and therefore was still a live ball.

Purple Knights cornerback Jayderson Lugo scooped it up and darted 60 yards the other way for a score, making it 18-12 just before the halftime break.

But Holyoke’s mistakes – penalties, bad snaps and big losses – were too much to overcome, as the Purple Knights went scoreless in the second half despite moving the ball into Pittsfield territory on each of their drives. The Generals walked out of Holyoke with a 36-12 independent win.

“I loved our fight, and we stayed in the game and took their best shot,” Purple Knights head coach David Guzman said. “We were in it for quite awhile, but we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and false starts. Things like that took our momentum away. We were driving the ball and running the ball beautifully. But then we’d run into a penalty or a bad snap that put us in third-and-long situations. There aren’t many plays you can run on third-and-20 and be successful.”

Pittsfield opened the contest asserting its dominance, as the visitors trotted down the field in 11 plays, going 68 yards in 4 minutes, 26 seconds capped off by a 19-yard screen pass from Jubrey to Freddy Conyers – who went untouched on his way to the end zone.

Although Holyoke went three-and-out on its first drive, its defense came up with a key fourth-down stop to get the ball back to quarterback Devin Velez & Co.

And after a 15-yard facemask penalty gave the Purple Knights a fresh set of downs at the Pittsfield 37, Velez let fly a perfect spiral down the right sideline. Running under it was Jayden Guzman, who sprawled out to make an incredible diving catch in the end zone to tie the game, 6-6.

“That fired us up, man,” David Guzman said of Jayden, his son. “Especially when a kid makes a catch like that. That was a great throw and an unbelievable catch on the sideline. When you make a play like that, you start believing. We just didn’t believe long enough.”

The buzz on the sideline was taken away immediately, as on the ensuing kickoff, Jubrey picked up a rolling ball that barely stayed in bounds around the 22-yard line.

Jubrey made one swift juke move that left a pair of Holyoke defenders fooled, and darted down the left sideline 78 yards for a touchdown.

On Pittsfield’s next possession after one of Holyoke’s four turnovers on the night, Generals running back Elias Robinson busted a long run of his own – this one going 76 yards to double Pittsfield’s lead from six to a dozen in a blink.

“We didn’t do a good job protecting the football, and good teams are gonna take advantage of that,” Guzman said. “They scored pretty much every time we turned it over. That killed us.”

After Robinson’s score, Holyoke senior Isaias Roman fielded the ensuing kick. Roman cut it outside and had space toward midfield before he was brought down.

When players got off the pile, Roman remained down. He was taken off in an ambulance with a severe right leg injury. The game was paused for about 20 minutes, with both teams taking a knee in silence. Every player went over to Roman – who also missed his sophomore year with a season-ending injury – to wish him well before he was taken off.

“The kids were emotional,” Guzman said. “This is a close-knit crew, and they lost one of their brothers. That’s how they looked at it. They were emotional for awhile, and it took a bit to get over… I feel bad for Isaias. He’s a great kid that’s just been very unlucky.”

Holyoke was able to bounce back and get within one score thanks to Lugo’s scoop and score, but that was the closest it would come.

Jubrey scampered in from 30 yards out on Pittsfield’s first drive of the third quarter, then Lugo returned a Velez interception 98 yards the other direction for a pick-six – making it 30-14. Jubrey tossed another touchdown with two minutes to go, finding Lugo once again for a 32-yard score.

Holyoke, a team that went 2-8 in 2023, showed signs of growth in defeat on Thursday.

“All of our problems tonight were fixable,” Guzman said. “I like our fight, and we can work with that. I see a lot of improvement in this group.”

The Purple Knights (0-1) next host Agawam at 7 p.m. on Sept. 20.