TURNERS FALLS — The Easthampton High School defense made a statement on Friday night.
After struggling in a Week 1 blowout loss, the Eagles have made improvements over the past two weeks and it culminated in a 19-2 victory over Franklin Tech in an Intercounty League North Division battle.
After allowing 74 points to Taconic in an opening-week loss, Easthampton has gotten progressively better on the defensive side of the ball. Aside from allowing a safety on offense, the Easthampton defense pitched a shutout, which included twice stopping the hosts on goal-to-go scenarios.
“We are getting better,” Easthampton coach Matt Bean said. “We got a kid back who we were missing and he brought some enthusiasm and helped shore some things up. I was very proud of them. Like a lot of teams in our league, we are playing a lot of young kids and our hope is that we will get better each week and right now I think we are.”
Easthampton’s biggest defensive stand came to start the second half when the hosts were threatening to chip away at the 6-0 lead Easthampton took into halftime. Franklin Tech gained some momentum out of the break as the visitors fumbled the second-half kick and set Franklin Tech up in Easthampton territory. That drive stalled, but Jared Bergmann’s punt was downed at the visitor’s 1 and on the first Easthampton play, the ball was snapped over the head of quarterback Nick Pellegrini, getting the hosts on the board, down 6-2.
Franklin Tech took the ensuing kickoff and a 42-yard pass from Bergmann to Lucas Upham brought the hosts down to the Easthampton 4 and set up first-and-goal. The Easthampton defense stiffened, however, throwing Tech running back Bailey Young for losses on back-to-back runs and then breaking up a pass on third down. On fourth down, Bergmann threw a pass into the end zone that was picked off by Ben Landry, who returned it to the 18.
Easthampton took over and marched 82 yards on 13 plays and Pellegrini hit Quintin Baker-Cisero on a 20-yard touchdown pass to put the visitors up 12-2.
The Easthampton defense made another statement in the fourth quarter as the hosts got a first-and-goal from the 5 early in the frame. Again, the Eagles won the battle up front as they did all game and stuffed Franklin Tech on three straight runs, throwing the hosts for a total of 12 yards lost on the three plays. On fourth down, Bergmann hit Kai Rodriguez on a 7-yard completion but he was tackled before getting into the end zone.
The offense again took advantage of the stop and marched 96 yards on 12 plays with Damien Diluzio punching in the final touchdown of the night from 9 yards out.
The first half was relatively quiet but Easthampton did grab the 6-0 lead with 8:41 left in the second quarter as Pellegrini scampered in a touchdown from 1 yard out. That touchdown was set up by a 30-yard completion from Pellegrini to Baker-Cisero.
Pellegrini had a nice night throwing the ball, completing 14 of 26 passes for 137 yards. Baker-Cisero caught seven passes for 90 yards, while Diluzio caught five balls for 39 yards.
Jacob Neumann finished with 17 carries for 121 yards, 80 of which came on his final four runs of the game.
Bergmann, who left the game late in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a separated shoulder, completed 6 of 20 passes for 81 yards. Young struggled to find running room all game as Easthampton’s line man-handled the hosts under-manned unit and Young finished with 41 yards on 23 carries. Rodriguez caught three passes for 29 yards.
Easthampton hosts Athol on Friday, while Franklin Tech hosts Greenfield.
Easthampton 19, FC Tech 2
|
Easthampton |
0 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
— |
19 |
|
FC Tech |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
— |
2 |
E — Pellegrini 1 run (pass failed)
FT — Safety
E — Baker-Cisero 20 pass from Pellegrini (pass failed)
E — Diluzio 9 run (Landry kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — (E) Neumann 17-121, Diluzio 6-37, Landry 3-17, Pellegrini 6-9, Osiecki 1-8, Malek 1-1, team 3-(minus 3). (FT) Young 23-41, Bergmann 6-5, Wozniak 1-9, McClure 1-5, Bowden-Smith 1-3, team 2-(minus 8).
Passing — (E) Pellegrini 14-26-0-137. (FT) Bergmann 6-20-1-81, Bashaw 0-5-0-0.
Receiving — (E) Baker-Cisero 7-90, Diluzio 5-39, Neumann 1-7, Landry 1-1. (FT) Rodriguez 3-29, Upham 2-50, Wozniak 1-2.