HOLYOKE — Due to the circumstances, the decision the Holyoke coaching staff had to make late in the fourth quarter on Friday night wasn’t an easy one.
Jael Cabrera had just reeled in a 48-yard touchdown down the sideline from backup quarterback Quinn Cauley to cut the deficit against Longmeadow to one with two minutes to go in the game.
It was time to make a decision.
“In that stage of the game … I’m playing for the win,” Holyoke coach Joe Dutsar said. “We’ve got a starting quarterback down. Let’s go for it right now.”
Instead of kicking an extra point to tie the game, the Purple Knights elected to go for two. Holyoke lined up in a standard kicking formation, but ran a fake. Aiden Consedine took the direct snap and rolled out to his left. He threw the ball into the back of the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete.
Longmeadow ran out the clock on the ensuing drive to seal a victory, 35-34.
“We were just short,” Dutsar said. “It’s life. Sometimes you just come up short.”
At the end of the first half, Holyoke (2-3) starting quarterback Gabriel Fernandez went down with an injury when he was tackled near the sideline after the whistle. Cauley stepped in and replaced Fernandez under center.
Holyoke’s defense surrendered 28 points in the first half to Longmeadow (1-3), but was able to keep pace with a dynamic passing attack led by Fernandez.
Longmeadow’s Nathaniel Hunter opened up the scoring early in the first quarter with a 31-yard run up the middle.
Cabrera caught a pass from Fernandez on the following drive and took it to the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown.
The Lancers’ Sean Tashjian scored on a 12-yard run to put the Lancers back ahead.
Both teams traded touchdowns in the second quarter. Consedine and William Dumoulin scored on passes from Fernandez, while Longmeadow’s Maurice Powe scored on a 63-yard run and Dylan Marino scored on a 53-yard reception. Cauley scored on a 3-yard run on the play following Fernandez’s injury to make it 28-28 going into halftime.
Both teams were held scoreless in the third quarter. Longmeadow had a chance to score when Powe picked off a pass from Cauley and returned it deep into Purple Knights territory, but Holyoke’s defense didn’t break and forced a turnover on downs.
“I thought our defense was phenomenal,” Dutsar said.” I thought we played aggressive and tackled better. They got a couple of big runs, but that is because we were trying to make something happen and got exposed.”
Longmeadow chewed up a lot of the clock with a run-heavy drive in the fourth quarter and capped it off with a 4-yard touchdown reception from James McLaughlin on a pass from Anthony Casabianca to take a 35-28 lead with 2:54 to go in the game.
Cauley had a hard time getting settled during his first few drives, but played well during Holyoke’s final drive. He found Cabrera for the long touchdown down the sideline, but the missed opportunity on the two-point conversion sealed the game.
“I thought our team really learned a lot about themselves tonight,” Dutsar said. “(We) learned that we can handle adversity and come from behind … that when one person goes down someone will have to step up … and that when there are opportunities, we need to capitalize on them when they present themself.”
Longmeadow 35, Holyoke 34
|
Holyoke |
7 |
21 |
0 |
6 |
—34 |
|
Longmeadow |
14 |
14 |
0 |
7 |
—35 |
First quarter
L—Nathaniel Hunter 31 run (Hornyak kick), 8:33.
H—Jael Cabrera 13 pass from Gabriel Fernandez (Consedine kick), 4:51
L—Sean Tashjian 12 run (Hornyak kick), 1:10
Second quarter
H—Consedine 25 pass from Fernandez (Consedine kick), 11:49
L—Maurice Powe 65 run (Hornyak kick), 11:35
H—William Dumoulin 13 pass from Fernandez (Consedine kick), 8:12
L—Dylan Marino 53 pass from Anthony Casabianca (Hornyak kick), 7:06
H—Quinn Cauley 3 run (Consedine kick), 2:53
Fourth quarter
L—McLaughlin 4 pass from Casabianca (Hornyak kick), 2:54
H—Cabrera 48 pass from Cauley (pass failed), 2:13
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Holyoke–Dumoulin 5-7, Fernandez 6-38, Cabrera 1-(-7), Cauley 6-6. Longmeadow–Tashjian 4-35, Hunter 10-72, Ryan Jewell 1-3, Casabianca 1-0, Powe 14-110, McLaughlin 2-6, Marino 1-7
PASSING—Holyokel–Fernandez 10-16-0-213, Cauley 6-11-2-126. Longmeadow–Casabianca 3-5-1-65, Jewell 0-1-0-0
RECEIVING—Holyoke–Leary 7-117, Cabrera 4-102, Consedine 2-76, Dumoulin 3-24, Prince Diaz 1-9. Longmeadow–Hunter 1-8, Marino 1-53, McLaughlin 1-4