NORTHAMPTON — A cold Friday night in Northampton was even colder for the Smith Vocational football team, which fell 47-0 to Palmer.
The first half started off well for the Vikings (0-4). They recovered a loose ball on their first defensive stand after Palmer botched a snap and were within two scores for most of the first half. After that, however, the Panthers (1-3) took control.
Smith Vocational plays a run-heavy offense that results in the Vikings taking up a lot of time. Palmer only had four possessions in the first half, but it scored on three of those possessions to take control.
“I thought it was the tale of two halves,” Smith Vocational coach Keith Lebeau said. “I thought we played our best half of football (this year) in the first half. The score didn’t show it but we worked hard, we drove the ball and we did what we wanted to do out there. We couldn’t put the ball in the end zone and we gave up too many big plays.”
The game really took a turn in Palmer’s favor after its last score of the first half. Quarterback Jack Letendre threw a fade pass to receiver Tyler Placanico, who was draped by the safety in the corner of the end zone yet came away with a remarkable reception.
“The end of that first half when they scored that touchdown on that fade ball or whatever that was for 30 yards hurt us,” Lebeau said. “Our safety was right there and the kid made a great catch and it was a touchdown. It goes from 13-0 to 19-0 right there before the half.”
In the second half, the wheels came off for the Vikings. Placanico ran 64 yards for a touchdown to make it 26-0 after the extra point.
When the Vikings received the ball, they fumbled it on the first play. One play later, Palmer scored to extend its lead.
Smith Vocational fumbled the ball three times, including twice in the second half. Each time they fumbled, Palmer recover the ball and eventually scored.
On the first fumble, Palmer scored two plays later. On the final fumble, the Panthers’ defender returned it for the touchdown.
“Our center, who is a freshman, snaps the ball fantastic, but he’s very new to blitzes so he doesn’t recognize the blitz and he’s having a hard time with it,” Lebeau said. “Also, Chevron (Wall) being so new at playing quarterback, he needs to change up his snap count because he was very repetitive and as soon as they heard ‘hike’, that’s it, they were coming.”