SOUTH HADLEY — With temperatures lingering in the 80s and the stands full of supporters in their shirtsleeves, it didn’t feel like fall football at all leading up to kickoff.
But even with the weather suggesting it’s not quite peak football season, the South Hadley ground attack appeared to be in midseason form.
The Tigers rumbled past a slower and undersized Ludlow defense to the tune of 365 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground to get the season off on the right foot, 54-0 in their home opener.
“That was the result of three weeks of great effort,” South Hadley coach Scott Taylor said. “We go one play at a time and try to make it the perfect effort and that’s what happens.”
Quarterback Ryan Mooney paced an offense that needed 15 plays to jump out to a 34-0 first-half lead, compiling 113 yards and three touchdowns on the ground while also completing a 50-yard strike to Chance Almonte.
Running back Sean O’Grady showcased his speed while picking up 88 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also returning a punt for a touchdown. Running back Jason Fernandes chipped in with a touchdown while compiling 67 yards and Teddy Doyle pounded up the middle for 43 yards and a touchdown.
“We have a great group of seniors and that’s where it starts,” Taylor said.
The Tiger defense stifled any Lions advance, holding the visitors to just 92 yards of total offense, 57 of which came on a single pass play.
“We have nine seniors on defense and they’ve been challenged to be a really good defense,” Taylor said.
The Tigers broke in the new field turf early with a touchdown jaunt of 17 yards on their first play from scrimmage, a jet sweep by Fernandes less than two minutes into the game. O’Grady got his chance to test it out when he picked up a punt that bounced off the chest of returner Jack Dawson on the run and went untouched from midfield for the score.
Mooney effectively put the game out of reach at the 5:35 mark in the first quarter by pulling it down on a pass play and instead electing to weave through the Ludlow defense for a 46-yard score on a fourth-and-13 situation.
“You always want to get out to a quick start and that was pretty quick,” Taylor said. “That’s the senior leadership; they know what they’re doing, they know their assignments and they executed.”
Mooney added a 3-yard keeper with 9:03 remaining in the first half, then O’Grady blasted through the right side of the Lions’ defense for a 57-yard TD run to buoy the Tigers’ advantage to 34-0.
Mooney notched his third touchdown on a 65-yard ramble just under three minutes into the second half and Doyle recorded his score later in the third, jumping past the goal line from a yard out.
Making a big opening night win more special was Luke Bradley joining the captains to midfield for the coin toss as an honorary captain. Bradley, who has been battling leukemia since the age of 6, has been a source of motivation for the Tigers, according to Taylor.
“He’s one of us,” Taylor said. “He is what ‘giving a perfect effort everyday’ is all about because what he has to do is hard. What we do is just a game. It’s good for the kids to see that and we kind of draw inspiration from him.”
South Hadley 54, Ludlow 0
|
Ludlow |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
—0 |
|
South Hadley |
21 |
13 |
14 |
7 |
—54 |
First quarter
SH – Jason Fernandes 17-yard run (Emily Wojnowski kick), 10:56
SH – Sean O’Grady 50 punt return (Wojnowski kick), 8:38
SH – Ryan Mooney 46 run (Wojnowski kick), 5:35
Second quarter
SH – Mooney 3 run (kick failed), 9:03
SH – O’Grady 57 run (Wojnowski kick), 3:53
Third quarter
SH – Mooney 65 run (Wojnowski kick), 10:54
SH – Teddy Doyle 1 run (Wojnowski kick), 3:45
Fourth quarter
SH – O’Grady 19 run (kick failed), 11:52
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—South Hadley: Maroney 3-113, O’Grady 6-88, Fernandes 4-67, Doyle 8-43, Pratt 3-13, Larivee 2-13, Watkins 3-11, Dawson 1-13, Borowski 1-4; Ludlow: Kibbe 10-35, Giza-Bilodeau 5-(-9); DeBarge 9-(-15 )
PASSING—South Hadley: Mooney 1-2-50-0; Ludlow: DeBarge 6-18-84-0
RECEIVING—South Hadley: Almonte 1-50; Ludlow: Holloway 2-62, Benjamin 2-21, Beaudette 1-2, Kibbe 1-(-1)