The losses linger longer than the victories endure.
Northampton’s seniors mentioned their 2019 loss at Amherst before last season’s win in Northampton. The Hurricanes haven’t gotten over last season’s defeat at Frank Tudryn Field.
On paper, Friday’s 7 p.m. football game between Northampton and Amherst at Community Field means just as much as the other eight regular season games (or the other five Suburban South League games).
The Battle of the Bridge doesn’t happen on paper.
“It means the most. It’s the biggest game of the year,” Amherst senior Max Frenette said. “The competition that comes from that game out of everything like, not just for football, but every sport, it’s the one everyone marks the calendar for.”
Northampton leads the all-time series 43-31-3. The Blue Devils have also won five of their past six meetings.
Both teams are unbeaten in league play and sitting just outside the Division 4 playoff picture. Northampton has won all three games its played, including an historic victory at West Springfield last Friday. Amherst is .500 but lost against two of Western Massachusetts’ best teams in Westfield and Agawam.
“We don’t quit. We’re tough,” Amherst coach Vinny Guiel said. “We are resilient.”
Neither team crossed the bridge for the 2021 Fall II football season, so Friday will provide a rubber match for the Class of 2023, which split the two prior meetings.
“This year, I think it means a little bit more because last time we went there (in 2019) we got we got our (butts) handed to us. It wasn’t pretty last time we were there,” Norhtampton’s Ryan Crowther said. “But we’re looking to change that, and we obviously know they’re gonna come in hungry.”
Northampton remains undefeated largely due to its defense. The Blue Devils allow just 8.67 points per game. They’ve intercepted seven passes over the past two weeks, six by Trey Rios. He picked off four in the second half against West Springfield.
“I don’t understand why they threw it at him over and over,” Northampton senior Wes Parent said. “It’s a game changer.”
The Blue Devils can also do it all on offense. A different back has led them in rushing each game. Senior quarterback Ben Sledzieski has accumulated 462 yards and six touchdowns through the air and ran for another 90 yards and two scores. When Northampton’s spread scheme failed to move the ball against the Terriers, the Blue Devils morphed to a full house backfield in the second half and ran over West Side.
“They’re multifaceted,” Guiel said. “To be able to do it with that kind of success to go from a spread and to have that much success back into a wishbone, they’re well coached up, they’ve got good athletes. Those schemes are so totally different from one another. It’s not even funny. To see them run both successfully is pretty amazing.”
Amherst will be without its most dangerous weapon. Junior Jameson Dion broke his left arm in the second half at Agawam and will miss the remainder of the year. He’d already accumulated 618 yards and 11 touchdowns – a great full season for some – and was named one of the Hurricanes’ captains.
But Northampton wasn’t preparing for the Amherst Jameson Dions. The Blue Devils are bracing for the Hurricanes.
Amherst runs a double wing offense predicated on execution with a dash of subterfuge. The Hurricanes’ large, athletic offensive line can dishearten even stout defenses.
“They have a little bit of a unique offense and offense we haven’t seen this year. We definitely haven’t seen it executed how they can execute it,” Crowther said. “They play a lot into our weaknesses. So we’re gonna have to really bend and be flexible.”
Regardless of the game’s outcome, neither side will forget the score or how it got there.
“It’s just the history. It’s like the Red Sox and the Yankees,” Parent said. “That’s how the game feels to us .”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.