SOUTH HADLEY — When Hunter Carey makes big plays, good things happen for the South Hadley football team.

Carey returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown before setting up another score with a 36-yard punt return as South Hadley rolled to a 40-0 triumph over the Commerce Friday night.

South Hadley scored two touchdowns in 26 seconds inside the opening minute of the game.

Liam Dawson had touchdown runs of 8, 6, 3 and 12 yards. The four scores were a career-high for the junior running back, who started at safety as a freshman.

Dawson finished with 44 yards on seven carries. Ben Watkins led all rushers with 50 yards on eight carries.

“This is a big year for Liam,” South Hadley coach Scott Taylor said. “He’s showing a lot more patience and he’s really coming into his own.”

It was the most complete game of the season for the 2-3 Tigers (1-1 Suburban North), who scored as many points in one game than they had in their previous four.

South Hadley used its speed to pile up points and got a tremendous effort from its defense.

“The kids played hard,” Taylor said. “Our defense was physical.”

The Tigers did not allow Red Raiders quarterback Semaj Hunter to complete a pass. He 0-for-10 and was sacked six times.

Carey sparked South Hadley’s first victory over Putnam when the sophomore returned a conversion fumble nearly the length of the field in the waning seconds for the win.

His speed and shifty moves left Commerce defenders in his wake and helped the Tigers get off to a strong start.

“I got some good blocks and ran as fast as I could,” Carey said. “My teammates had my back.”

The defense held Commerce to either zero or negative yards on 12 occasions. The Red Raiders were under constant pressure from the fast-charging Tigers.

“We had a good week of practice,” Dawson said. “All the credit goes to our line.”

Commerce fumbled on its first possession and Marcus Larrier recovered. That set up an 8-yard run by Dawson to give South Hadley a 13-0 lead.

Carey’s 36-yard punt return set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Michael Pratt as the Tigers moved to a 19-0 edge.

Dawson ran for two second quarter touchdowns to provide the Tigers with a 34-0 halftime advantage.

A 12-yard touchdown run by Dawson in the third quarter increased the lead to 40-0.

South Hadley 40, Commerce 0

Commerce

0

0

0

0

—0

South Hadley

19

15

6

0

—40

First quarter

SH- Hunter Carey 85 kickoff return (Shawn Mitchell kick) 11:40

SH-Liam Dawson 8 run (pass failed) 11:04

SH-Michael Pratt 4 run (pass failed) 7:42

Second quarter

SH-Dawson 6 run (Pratt run) 8:08

SH-Dawson 3 run (Mitchell kick) 1:14

Third quarter

SH-Dawson 12 run (kick failed) 2:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING— Commerce–Lowe 14-32 Stewart 1-(-6), Hunter 9-13, Mendez 1-1; South Hadley–Dawson 7-44 Couture 8-28- Watkins 8-50 Pratt 6-15, Carey 1-minus-5, Sullivan 6-39.

PASSING—Commerce–Hunter 0-10-0-0; South Hadley–Pratt 1-4-3-0

RECEIVING—South Hadley– Larrier 1-3