EASTHAMPTON — South Hadley’s backfield prepared four distinct poisons for the Easthampton defense.
All proved dangerous.
The Tigers ran for 257 yards in a 40-16 victory Friday night at White Brook Middle School, the first night game played there in Easthampton football history under newly installed lights.
Four players scored and three accounted for at least 45 yards on the ground.
“That’s the whole principle of the winged-t, we’ve got guys going in all directions,” South Hadley coach Scott Taylor said. “We’ve just got to make sure we take care of it at the line.”
Sean O’Grady led the way with 95 yards on seven carries, but he did not find the end zone.
Teddy Doyle more than made up for it. He opened the game’s scoring on a 1-yard plunge with 6 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first quarter.
He finished with 45 yards and three touchdowns, two of which came with just a yard to go.
An interception by Easthampton quarterback Max Weir gave the Tigers (2-0) good field position on that drive, and a solid punt return on the next possession set South Hadley up on the Eagles’ side of the field once again.
“It took us a little bit to get used to the pace,” Easthampton coach Matt Bean said.
Quarterback Ryan Mooney capped South Hadley’s second drive with a 13-yard score on a keeper. He finished with 27 yards on the ground and 33 through the air, 30 of which went to Doyle.
It was Doyle deja vu once the Tigers got the ball back after a failed fourth-down conversion by Easthampton (2-0). He made it 21-0 with 7:48 to halftime from a yard out.
The Tigers looked ready to add to their lead as time expired after another fourth down stop with the ball on the 10-yard line.
Mooney floated a ball to the right of the end zone after rolling out. Easthampton’s Alex Tilton snatched it out of the air to preserve the score going into halftime.
It was Mooney’s last pass of the night.
South Hadley kept running the ball to start the second half and never threw another pass.
Doyle powered in from 12 yards out to make it 27-0 South Haldey 1:19 into the second half on just the second play of the drive.
Fernandes gave the Tigers another quick strike on their next possession. He took the ball 51 yards to the house for a 34-0 lead with 7:41 remaining in the quarter.
“There was really good blocking,” Fernandes said. “I cut to the outside, saw a huge lane and just went.”
He finished with 94 yards rushing and two scores, scampering in from 4 yards out in the fourth quarter.
In between those scores, Easthampton found the end zone for the first time.
Weir rolled out to the right and found Garrett Kowal in the end zone for an 8-yard score that cut the Eagles’ deficit to 34-7.
“Honestly the play was called wrong in the huddle, so he didn’t really know what route he was running. It’s a new play, and I said the end of the play wrong,” Weird said. “He didn’t really know what he was doing, he just ran to the open space.”
Easthampton started to implement a no-huddle offense after that.
The Eagles reached the 4-yard line on their next drive before fumbling.
South Hadley snapped the ball over its quarterback’s head, who fell on it for a safety.
Easthampton increased the tempo again once it got the ball back.
The drive ended with a 19-yard scoring pass from Weir to David Helems, who led Easthampton with 67 yards receiving.
“It shows our personality as a team,” Weir said. “We don’t ever roll over.”
After two losses to start the season, Easthampton turns its attention to Intercounty South play.
They host Frontier on Friday at 7 p.m.
“It gets easier than South Hadley and Pittsfield. We started out with two tough games,” Bean said. “I think we’re going to fare well in our league.”
South Hadley, on the other hand, will take it’s 2-0 record back home to face Northampton, also 2-0 after a historic win over Longmeadow.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Taylor said. “It’s going to be a tough task, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.