Taconic overwhelms Easthampton

PITTSFIELD — As good a night as it was for the home team, it was a night that members of the Easthampton football team would rather forget.

Host Taconic christened Gene Dellea Field with a seven-touchdown first half en route to a 74-0 win Friday night.

The new turf multisport stadium opened a week ago, and while the amenities are far from being ready, the lights and the playing field were ready to go. Taconic took advantage of it.

The Braves needed only four plays from scrimmage to score three touchdowns. It was 30-0 after one quarter.

It was one of those nights for both Taconic and for Easthampton. The visiting Eagles managed only 63 yards in total offense and committed five turnovers and Taconic scored on them all.

In fact, the Braves didn’t have a drive longer than five plays until the opening drive of the third quarter, when Taconic went 51 yards in nine plays.

“I don’t really have much to say at this point,” Easthampton coach Matt Bean said. “You can’t give them those opportunities.”

Taconic finished with 323 yards in total offense, 209 of them came in the first half. Nick Hall, who scored on a 70-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, outgained Easthampton by rushing for 94 yards on six attempts. Burke finished with 67 yards on eight carries and a game-high three touchdowns.

“These kids have worked all summer for this, and they’re not selfish. We have seven running backs that could start any day of the week, and they all bought into it,” Taconic coach Jim Ziter said.

It didn’t take long for Taconic to get rolling. The Braves won the toss, chose to receive, and the Braves’ Jalen Hill nearly broke the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Easthampton’s Quintin Baker-Cisero’s touchdown-saving tackle gave Taconic the ball on the Eagles’ 15-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Saunders took the handoff from quarterback Cole Lander and followed a convoy around the left end, and Saunders was untouched going into the end zone. He also scored on the two-point conversion, giving Taconic an 8-0 lead.

On Easthampton’s first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Nick Pellegrini hit Damien Diluzio for a 22-yard gain and a first down. That turned out to be the longest gain for the Eagles all night. That first drive was hampered by a penalty on second down and consecutive incompletions before having to punt the ball away.

A 34-yard punt by Ben Landry led to a 19-yard return by Jayden Cross to the Taconic 30. On the next play, Hall took a handoff and used a higher gear to get outside and down the left sideline. Seventy yards later, he had a touchdown,

If the Eagles harbored any chance of a comeback, it was dashed on the next series. Pellegrini fumbled a snap, Taconic lineman Matt Smith recovered the fumble on the Eagle 30. Burke carried the ball for 28 yards, breaking a number of tackles. Then he scored from two yards out. That made it 22-0, and the second quarter was still some 20 plays away.

Taconic 74, Easthampton 0

First quarter

T — Marquis Saunders 15 run (Saunders run).

T — Nick Hall 70 runs (Haywood Eurquhart pass from Junie Burgess).

T — Dylan Burke 2 run (Pass failed).

T — Jalen Hill 5 run (Eurquhart run).

Second quarter

T — Burke 6 run (Burgess run).

T — Eurquhart 4 run (Saunders run).

T — Hill 4 run (Nick Sayers pass from Burgess).

Third quarter

T — Burke 5 run (Burke run).

Fourth quarter

T — Ian Hadsell 11 run (Run failed).

T — Dezequuiel Merced 7 run (Pass failed).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Taconic: Marquis Saunders 2-28, Nick Hall 6-94, Dylan Burke 8-67, Haywood Eurquhart 4-22, Jalen Hill 4-16, Junie Burgess 1-6, Jayden Cross 4-16, Perrin Pettel 2-9, Deondre Goines 1-(minus) 6, Dezequuiel Merced 2-16, Ian Hadsell 1-11, Sean Hannigan 1-7. Easthampton: Jacob Neumann 5-12, Nick Pellegrini 4-(minus) 8, Fred Murray 1-(minus) 2, Ben Landry 2-3, Gary Gauthier 1-2, Giancarlo Osiecki 2-2, Danny Dabek 1-7, Liam Burke 1-4.

PASSING—Taconic: Burgess 2-4-0 34, Hadsell 1-1-0 1. Easthampton: Pellegrini 4-17-2 44, Burke 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING—Taconic: Cross 1-15, Eurquhart 1-15, Goines 1-1. Easthampton: Damien Diluzio 1-22, Quintin Baker-Cisero 2-18, Gauthier 1-4.