LEE — Luke Kraus’ fourth-quarter touchdown and a stingy defense propelled Easthampton past the Lee, 20-19, at John J. Consolati Field.
The Intercounty League South showdown Friday night left both teams 2-1 in the division as the two squads battle for a spot in the playoffs.
“Coming up here and winning a game on the road is big,” said Easthampton head coach Matt Bean.
The winning score came with 11:19 left in the game. Kraus took the handoff from quarterback Shea Healy and burst through the left side of the line into the end zone for the only points of the second half.
Host Lee could not hold a 19-14 halftime lead, as the Wildcats were unable to sustain any offense after the midway point thanks to the Eagles’ swarming, tenacious defense.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense. We knew the defense would win the games,” said Kraus, a safety on defense.
Easthampton frustrated the high-powered Lee offense most of the night.
“We didn’t execute and we got beat up front and they put pressure on Hayden all night,” Lee coach Keith Thomson said of his quarterback Hayden Siok.
Siok threw three touchdown passes and racked up 143 yards, but only completed 12 of the 25 attempts he made through the air and was intercepted twice, one a pick-six.
Lee totaled four turnovers, including two fumbles, while Easthampton coughed up the ball twice and Healy threw one interception.
The Eagles defense opened the scoring when Edward Przbyla picked off Siok’s first pass of the game at the Lee 17 yard line and sprinted into the end zone. Toss in a successful two-point conversion and the visitors were up 8-0.
Lee countered by taking advantage of great field position deep in Easthampton’s territory after recovering an Eagles fumble at 10;37 of the second quarter. Four plays later on a fourth and goal from the 7, Siok threw a tight spiral to fellow senior Dylan Ely crossing in front in the end zone to cut the lead to 8-6.
Then the scoring came fast and furious with three touchdowns in a span of 79 seconds.
The Wildcats grabbed their first lead of the night after taking advantage of good field position with seven minutes left in the half. Four plays later Lee jumped ahead 12-8 when Siok threw a screen pass to Elliot Winston who ran in for the score at the 4:55 mark.
Easthampton wasted no time answering the Wildcats touchdown with a 66-yard catch and run 15 seconds later by BB Tauscher, who caught the ball in the flat and outran the Lee secondary.
The Eagles’ 14-12 lead didn’t last long. On third-and-five at the Lee 40, Siok hit a wide open Ely who got behind the defense catching Siok’s pass about the Easthampton 25 yard line. From there he scored with ease with 3:36 left in the half giving the Wildcats that 19-14 lead following Matt Petrescu kicking the extra point.
That held until Kraus’ game-winning score sealed it in the fourth.
EH 8 6 0 6 — 20
Lee 0 19 0 0 — 19
SCORING
1Q EH 3:19 17 yd INT Return Edward Przbyla (2pt conv.)
2Q Lee 8:11 7 yd pass Hayden Siok to Dylan Ely (pass fail)
Lee 4:55 17 yd pass Siok to Elliot Winston (run fail)
EH 4:40 66 yd pass Shea Healy to BB Tauscher (run fail)
Lee 3:36 60 yd pass Siok to Ely (Matt Petrescu kick)
4Q EH 11:19 5 yd run Luke Kraus (run fail)