AMHERST – Every person on and around Community Field knew where the ball was going.
The Amherst Regional football team lined up on fourth and goal from Pittsfield’s five yard line trailing by a point with seven seconds remaining in the third quarter Friday. After a timeout to contemplate a field goal, Hurricanes coach Vinny Guiel sent his offense back out with its bread and butter play: a pitch to Jameson Dion running right.
Dion slipped an arm tackle in the backfield after two Pittsfield defenders knifed in before he turned upfield. He dove over the goal line between three Generals for his fourth touchdown of the game and gave Amherst the lead for good.
“That’s Jameson Dion, that’s why,” Guiel said. “We decided we’ve got the best player on the field, we’re going to give it to the best player on the field.”
Dion ran the ball 34 times for 273 yards and scored five touchdowns in a 33-20 victory. Amherst gave Pittsfield a constant, heavy dose of him from the first play of the game – a 51-yard touchdown up the right side of the field untouched after a cutback, leaning over the goal line like a sprinter after a 100-yard dash. It gave the Hurricanes (1-1) a 7-0 lead nine seconds in.
After forcing a Pittsfield three and out, Amherst ran the ball all 10 times on its next drive, which Dion finished with a one-yard score with 4:59 remaining in the quarter. He carried the ball seven times that drive for 57 yards, as Amherst led 13-0.
“He’s an amazing player, he’s tough to tackle,” Pittsfield coach Brian Jezewski said. “They beat us in the trenches. We thought that was our strength. They definitely beat us up front.”
The Generals (0-2) didn’t let them run away, though. They put the game in quarterback Keanu Arce-Jackson’s capable hands and feet, and he delivered. Arce-Jackson ripped a 56-yard run on Pittsfield’s second play of the ensuing drive and finished it with a three-yard score in the final minute of the first quarter.
Amherst turned the ball over on downs after four plays, and Arce-Jackson wriggled loose again. He hit Brayden Bunnell on a 25-yard post route for a touchdown with 7:57 to halftime that put Pittsfield up 14-13.
“I just wanted it. I wanted every play,” Arce-Jackson said. “I just wanted more.”
The Hurricanes again failed a fourth down, and Arce-Jackson connected with Bunnell for 28 yards before running in his second touchdown, lowering the hammer at the goal line with 2:39 to go in the half. Pittsfield led 20-13 after 20 unanswered points.
“We’ve got to get some dogs and some killers out here that want to sell out and finish the win,” Jezewski said.
Amherst gave Pittsfield an opportunity to put the game out of reach when James DiFilippo picked off a Hurricanes pass with 1:07 to halftime and a horse collar tackle brought the ball to the Generals 48. They started the drive with an offensive pass interference then went four and out. Amherst’s Max Frenette ushered them off the field with a fourth-down sack.
The Hurricanes defense stood tall again to open the second half when it forced Pittsfield off the field after another four plays. A holding penalty put the Generals behind schedule, then a false start kept them further back. Pittsfield fumbled a fourth-and-5 snap and had to fall on the football, handing it to Amherst at the Generals 30.
Dion factored in six of the Hurricanes next nine plays. He ran the ball four times – including a touchdown negated by a holding penalty – caught a pass for a yard and threw a 13-yard pass to Matthew Hockman. Dion’s one-yard touchdown made it 20-19 Pittsfield with 4:42 left in the third, but the Generals kept them from taking the lead by stonewalling Dion’s run after a direct snap on the two-point conversion.
Rather than just kicking the ball back to the Generals and playing defense, Amherst ran the onside kick from Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy:” kick it as hard as possible at an unprepared upman. Ari Vogel rifled the kickoff at an unsuspecting General, and it bounced back to the Hurricanes.
Seven Dion runs in a nine-play drive culminated with his go-ahead touchdown to end the third quarter.
Finally, Pittsfield could attempt an answer after not having the ball for nearly a quarter. Amherst freshman Taylor Alfaro Leiva ended the chance with his first career interception at the Amherst 1.
“When you look at Taylor, he looks like a kid where you say ‘OK, we’re gonna go deep on this kid.’ Then you realize this kid is a ballplayer, this kid is for real,” Guiel said. “That kid’s 13 years old making those plays. The future’s bright for him.”
Amherst then drained 7:42 with a 99-yard touchdown drive that all but sealed the game. The Hurricanes ran it 14 times in a row before Dion plunged in for his fifth score of the evening and a two-score lead. Amherst scored 20 unanswered points of its own in the second half and shut the Generals out.
“Thank God. The double wing is designed to do what we did. It’s hard to play from behind with the double wing at times, so those turnovers were crucial for us,” Guiel said.
Arce-Jackson had one more shot. He found Bunnell (seven catches, 92 yards) for an 18-yard gain then picked up two himself. The Generals signal caller finished with 114 yards through the air plus a score and 147 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.
His last throw landed in Alfaro Leiva’s hands again and sealed Guiel’s first win as Amherst’s head coach.
“The sideline was always talking, but they don’t know who I am,” Alfaro Leiva said.
They know now. He and Dion left an impression that won’t fade soon.