CHICOPEE — South Hadley senior starting quarterback Ryan Mooney lined up in the slot staring dead ahead at Chicopee’s Matt Swenor at the 33-yard line.

The Szot Park clock showed less than two minutes left Friday.

South Hadley trailed by 3, and neither team possessed a timeout.

Junior Ryan Pratt stood behind center in the shotgun. He underthrew his previous pass to the right and only had one completion so far in the game to go along with three interceptions.

“Coach put Pratt in for a reason,” Mooney said. “Ever since Day 1 of practice he’s said Pratt had a better ball than me in the air.”

At the snap of the ball on second down, Mooney broke outside to start a wheel route. He lost Swenor at the 30 after the Pacers’ linebacker missed attempting to jam him at the line.

Pratt took a five-step drop and bounced lightly on two feet, the football at his right collarbone. He snapped his eyes back right and unloaded a throw to the 10-yard line.

Mooney ran underneath it and jogged the final 10 yards to the end zone, putting the Tigers up 15-12 and sealing a comeback victory.

“Once I cut up field, all I saw was open field, and I knew Pratt was looking right at me,” Mooney said. “I knew once the ball was coming my way it was going in for a touchdown.”

South Hadley (5-3, 3-2 Suburban North) originally received the ball on the Chicopee 33 after a Pacers’ mistake.

Chicopee faced fourth down from the 12-yard line with 2:05 left. Instead of risking a block or poor point — both of which had already occurred — punter and leading rusher Isaaiah Jackson (26 carries, 130 yards) turned the other way and ran out of the end zone for a safety.

That left the Pacers with a 12-9 lead and an opportunity to pin the Tigers back with no timeouts.

Their kicking team ran an onside kick that South Hadley recovered.

“It wasn’t supposed to be. We were taking the safety for a reason, obviously. We hadn’t punted the ball well all night,” Chicopee coach Alex Efstratios said. “They almost blocked a couple of them. He was supposed to squib kick it deep to the 40. Instead he did an onside kick, so the kid did that wrong.”

Chicopee planned to trust its defense because the Pacers contained South Hadley better than any team had all season.

They kept the Tigers off the scoreboard until Jason Fernandes (five carries, 80 yards) broke free for a 63-yard score with 8 minutes, 31 seconds left that briefly put South Hadley up 7-6.

Briefly because Jackson shot down the right sideline on Chicopee’s next play for a 76-yard score to regain the lead.

“It’s literally like getting kicked in the stomach,” South Hadley coach Scott Taylor said.

Chicopee figured it could hold the 12-7 lead at that point.

“I thought we had the game locked,” Efstratios said.

More scoring appeared unlikely after the teams combined for 10 turnovers

South Hadley only rushed for 136 yards, and without Fernandes’ long touchdown averaged 2.5 yards per carry.

“I don’t know that we ever fully got into it, but I think our kids relaxed and seized the moment,” Taylor said.

The Tigers entered the game squarely in the Division 4 playoff picture and will await Sunday’s seeding meeting to know where and who they play.

“We should definitely be in. We were fighting for a home game,” Mooney said. “This should be huge.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.