AMHERST – The Amherst football team knew that the odds were stacked against them on Friday against a tough West Springfield squad.
The Hurricanes were still without star Jameson Dion, out with an injury, and they were also playing with a new quarterback, freshman David Teixeira. On top of that, they had to face the two-headed quarterback monster the Terriers boast in Nate Stone and Jonny Gingeruha, a duo who can throw and run against the best of them.
Though the Hurricanes threw everything they had at West Springfield, it wasn’t enough in a 39-14 Suburban League South loss on Senior Night.
“They’re extremely explosive offensively, that quarterback, Stone, that kid can throw the ball a country mile. And (Gingenruha) is fast and elusive. So we wanted to keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible, play tough D, which I thought we did at times,” Amherst head coach Vinnie Guiel said. “Now we’ve just got to put it all together. Props to West Side, it’s a great team.”
The Hurricanes (2-5, 0-4 SL South) got off to exactly the start they wanted. They won the coin toss, chose to receive and marched up the field slowly and steadily. Junior Neil Cunniffe got the home team on the board first with a 40-yard touchdown run, exploding past West Springfield’s defense with 7:43 left in the opening quarter to make it 6-0.
“I’ve been knocked down before on long runs like that, so I really tried to score on this one,” Cunniffe said. “I’m glad I got in.”
Amherst kept the Terriers (3-4, 2-2) off the board for the remainder of the first quarter, stopping the visitors 15 yards away from their endzone and moving the ball back up the field to end the first period.
West Springfield took control from there, however. The visitors forced a fumble 28 seconds into the second quarter, and scored on the same drive three minutes later thanks to an 8-yard run by Stone.
Amherst recorded just one first down during the second quarter; the Terriers quickly forced Amherst to punt and scored their second touchdown of the night on the ensuing drive when Gingeruha ran 15 yards to make it 12-6.
Amherst took the ball back with just 2:14 left on the clock, and the West Springfield defense yet again forced a punt. The Terriers took the ball at the 36 yard line with 52 seconds left and raced up the field to score with nine seconds remaining in the half; Stone ripped a 2-yard pass to Gingeruha and the team finally converted on the two-point attempt to make it 20-6 at the half.
“With the new quarterback, we wanted to move around,” Cunniffe said. “We really wanted on defense to stop the sweeps and stuff like that. But I think they got the best of us on those contains.”
Though the home team scored just once more in the game, it was one of the evening’s bright spots. After a 62-yard run by Evan Villalongo made it 26-6, the Hurricanes got the ball to the eight yard line, within striking distance with just seconds left in the third. The ensuing play was pure chaos – Amherst fumbled the ball, but West Springfield dropped the recovered ball, leaving it sprawling in the end zone. Senior Ellis Bradley fell on the pigskin to score his first high school touchdown; the two-point conversion was good to make it 26-14.
“It was a wide array of emotions,” Guiel said. “It was very cool to see Ellis get a touchdown. That was awesome. I love that kid.”
While he wasn’t happy with his team allowing two more touchdowns in the final quarter, both Guiel and his players said they were impressed with Teixeira’s high school debut under center.
“He had a great game for a kid that just got thrown in there,” Cunniffe said.
“Amazing… he had great poise,” Bradley added.
Amherst closes out its regular season slate next Friday at East Longmeadow (6-1, 3-1).