SOUTH HADLEY — Sean O’Grady crossed the goal line in the arms of a Palmer defender.
The South Hadley senior running back thought he reclaimed the lead for the No. 2 Tigers in Friday’s Western Massachusetts Division 4 football semifinal.
Simultaneously, though, a referee outside the left hash mark pulled a penalty flag from his right hip pocket and tossed it over O’Grady’s head back toward the offensive line.
Holding.
It nullified the score and pushed the Tigers back to the 18-yard line with 1 minute, 32 seconds remaining down 20-15. South Hadley quarterback Ryan Mooney couldn’t pick up any yards on the next play, then O’Grady ran for 9.
Ryan Mooney tried to do too much with his next carry dancing in the backfield and lost 5 yards, forcing a timeout. He ran for 137 yards in the game on 21 carries, but had to make way for junior Ryan Pratt, a better thrower, with fourth-and-goal coming from the 13 with 33.8 seconds left.
Pratt had thrown two incompletions after starting the game, but spent the last three quarters on the sideline. He took a shotgun snap then floated a pass right. It sailed over two wide receivers to fall incomplete.
No. 3 Palmer kneeled the ball once to seal the 20-15 victory and a spot in the Division 4 championship game against No. 1 Wahconah, which beat Frontier Regional 54-8.
Penalties hampered the Tigers (5-4) all game. They committed seven infractions.
“I think we lost our composure,” South Hadley coach Scott Taylor said. “One of those games, I don’t know.”
A roughing-the-passer call kept Palmer’s second touchdown alive. Palmer quarterback Ryan McCarthy threw an incompletion on third down, but the penalty moved the Panthers 15 yards forward.
Kyle Mastalerz eventually finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run that put Palmer (8-1) up 14-0 with 3:16 until halftime.
McCarthy (5-for-9, 51 yards passing; 11 carries, 67 yards rushing) threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mike Blazejowski to open the scoring in the second quarter. It was a one-play drive after South Hadley fumbled on the first play of the second frame.
On the last play of the first quarter, South Hadley senior running back Teddy Doyle broke his arm trying to catch himself from falling after a low tackle.
An ambulance drove onto the field, and the Tigers gathered around the stretcher as he was loaded in. South Hadley chanted “1-2-3, 21!” in honor of Doyle’s jersey number before play restarted.
“He’s a senior captain, leader of the defense,” Taylor said.
After trailing 14-0 at halftime, South Hadley powered its opening drive of the second half 67 yards capped by a 14-yard Mooney run into the end zone. That cut Palmer’s lead to 14-7.
The Tigers forced the Panthers to punt and went back to work. Mooney ran the ball five times on the next drive for 74 yards before Jack Dawson took his only carry of the game 2 yards into the end zone. South Hadley then turned to Chance Almonte for the 2-point conversion and a 15-14 lead with 6:25 left.
“They persevered,” Taylor said.
McCarthy was waiting on the kickoff. He’d never fielded a kick in his varsity career before Friday but took it 85 yards up the right sideline for a 20-15 lead with 6:11 to go.
“I’m never back there. We just put me in to add a little extra speed and vision,” McCarthy said. “I kind of just read the field and trusted my blockers. I saw open space on the sideline and cut it up field.”
Despite South Hadley’s effort to return to the end zone, McCarthy’s score was the game’s last. The Tigers lost in the semifinals for the second consecutive season.
“We got to put this together and we’ve got to figure it out,” Taylor said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.