NORTH ADAMS — In a battle of attrition, the McCann Tech football team simply ran out of fresh legs and big bodies.

The Hornets saw a two-score halftime lead slip away as more and more players joined an already stocked inactive list on the sideline. Smith Vocational eventually clawed ahead and finished off the Hornets, 20-15, Saturday.

The Vikings (3-4, 3-3 Tri-County) set a program record for wins in a season with the victory.

Smith Voke senior quarterback Jake Erali rushed 24 times for 144 yards, and completed 10 of 23 passes for 139 yards in the comeback.

“I think it was just a mind game. We got a talk in the locker room and believed in ourselves after that first touchdown. We have to believe in our own family,” Erali said. “As soon as our lineman got pissed, nobody could get by them. I could run up the middle or right or left, it didn’t matter.”

McCann Tech (0-6, 0-5 Tri-County) looked like two different teams bracketing the intermission. Two Darius Tovani scores highlighted a strong first half, but after two starting lineman were forced to the sidelines, the Hornets gained a total of 24 yards in the second half. Two turnovers and a pair of punts helped align the Vikings (3-4, 3-3) for three scores, all behind the work of Erali.

Erali either ran himself or completed a pass on seven downs of an eight-play, 72-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter. He hit Troy Benedict for a 29-yard scoring pass with 7 minutes, 15 seconds left of the quarter.

On the other side, sophomore quarterback Travis Dozier was chased from the pocket on third-and-6 and was intercepted at the 5:33 mark. In the process, a team that was already without senior captains Michael Ferrara and Max Mitchell, as well as classmate Matt Dellaghelfa, lost starting lineman Justin Horn to injury. Former receiver Andrew Koch had to move to center for the first time.

Erali converted a fourth-and-5 with a 12-yard run to set up another touchdown pass, this time to Parker Affhauser from 13 yards out. The 2-point conversion was well-defended by McCann, preserving a slim 15-14 lead.

Without Horn and eventually fellow starter Tadan Bolte, the Hornets went three-and-out on consecutive series, the lone positive play being a 2-yard run by Dozier on second-and-18. Tovani later landed on the football after a fourth-quarter run and had to come out.

“We were spreading the ball out and they were playing really good Cover 2 defense over the top,” Smith Vocational coach Ryan Burnett said. “So, we took Jacob and ran him right up the middle. He’s does that almost every game. He took over and did a great job. When Jake takes over a game, he takes over a game.”

Smith Vocational’s line helped Erali.

“They’re so big up there it’s a mismatch, and especially when we had some of our bigger guys go down,” McCann coach Bob LeClair said. “They were able to take advantage. That kid could sit, wait, read the hole and go.”

After a McCann punt with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter, Smith ran six consecutive keepers right at the Hornets defense. The drive went for 39 yards and an eventual touchdown to push the Vikings ahead 20-15 with 6:15 to play.

The Hornets mounted a brief comeback drive, but on fourth-and-4 from the Smith 33, Dozier bootlegged and was swallowed up by multiple defenders.

The Vikings took over and five Erali runs later, milked the clock to zeroes.

Smith Voke 20, McCann Tech 15

Smith

0

0

14

6

—20

McCann

8

7

0

0

—15

First quarter

MT — Darius Tovani 7 run (Tovani run), 8:44.

Second quarter

MT — Tovani 9 run (Cody Jordan kick), 3:30.

Third quarter

SV — Troy Benedict 29 pass from Jake Erali (Erali run), 7:15.

SV — Parker Affhauser 13 pass from Erali (pass incomplete), 3:57.

Fourth quarter

SV — Erali 2 run (pass incomplete), 6:15.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—SV: Jake Erali 24-144, Ethan Rivera 5-27, Troy Benedict 3-(-9), Jack O’Connell 2-0. MT: Darius Tovani 13-71, Connor Berard 12-53, Alex Kimok 3-9, Travis Dozier 2-2.

PASSING—SV: Erali 10-23-1-139. MT: Dozier 6-12-1-58

RECEIVING—SV: Parker Affhauser 6-65, Benedict 5-76. MT: Berard 3-8, Zavier Martin-Levesque 2-33, Tanner Davis 1-17.