NORTH ADAMS — Less than two minutes into Friday night’s road contest in the Berkshires, Smith Vocational head coach Alex Subocz had to call a timeout.
McCann Tech’s Walter Mazza had just taken handoffs on the first four plays of the game and moved 32 yards for two first downs to the Vikings’ 45-yard line.
The winless Hornets scored first, and went into halftime tied with unbeaten Smith Vocational. So, when Subocz calls his team’s 26-12 victory “ugly,” he means it.
“We won, we’re happy that we won,” said Subocz. “It was an ugly win in our eyes. Little mistakes compounded, there’s growing pains. Today was one of those days we didn’t start the game strong, but very happy that we finished.”
The first quarter timeout did reset the Vikings, which got an interception from Ben Culver two plays later. But, after the McCann defense held, the Hornets manufactured a 12-play, 60-yard drive to score their first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard keeper by QB Connor Packard.
It was the field position game that turned the tides in favor of the visiting Vikings.
A punt from the McCann 40-yard line was downed at the 5, and the Hornets went three-and-out, punting it to their own 45.
Jared Baer broke off a 39-yard run for Smith Vocational, and two plays later, Alex Martinez (6-of-12, 63 yards, 2 TDs) released as he was hit and completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to big wide receiver John Majewski to tie the game 6-6. Despite a recovered onside kick by Smith, that’s where the score stayed through halftime.
“It was just to get them to relax,” Subocz said of his halftime talk. “‘Are we playing for a championship? Does this game mean more that I don’t know?’ We needed to take a deep breath and relax.”
After being settled down, the Vikings wrestled control away from McCann in the third quarter in a blur.
After a false start flag backed Smith up to the 30, Baer got those yards back, and then some, taking the first live play play of the third quarter 70 yards up the right seam for a touchdown. Nolan Finne’s 2-point run made it 14-6, just 18 seconds into the second half.
Big play Baer finished with 152 yards on nine carries, including runs of 70, 39 and 35 yards.
McCann looked to tie the game for a split second on the ensuing drive, but a holding penalty wiped out a 36-yard TD run by Parker Hart. The Hornets still picked up the first down in Smith territory, but fumbled the ball away on the next play.
Aeidan McCarthy recovered for Smith, and Martinez orchestrated a 68-yard touchdown drive with three completions, the last of which was a 5-yard dart to Majewski on a slant into the end zone. With 2:06 to go in the third, Smith led 20-6.
“John Majewski looks like a wide receiver, and it’s nice to have that true wide receiver type, and Alex, his accuracy on those quick slants, it’s there,” said Subocz. “He gets John the ball on the spot.”
Again, the Hornets appeared to be their own worst enemies. They picked up three first downs moving to the Vikings 32, before a pair of negative plays bracketed a false start, and on third-and-20, Packard fumbled it away to Brayden LaRose.
The freshman cornerback bolted 60 yards the other way to the end zone for the finishing move.
The Vikings improved to 4-0, winning the opener of Tri-County League play on the road. They’ll be home next week against Drury (0-3).
“The Tri-County, most people in western Mass. might not know much about, but it’s a dogfight week in and week out,” said Subocz. “Everyone is physical, most teams play with the ball on the ground a lot, so these next five games, a lot of slugfests. We’ll keep fighting back, and hopefully we’ll be the one to throw the punch first.”
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Smith Voc 26, McCann Tech 12
Smith Vocational 0 6 14 6 — 26
McCann Tech 0 6 0 6 — 12
Scoring Plays
Second Quarter
MT — Connor Packard 1-yard run (kick missed), 11:53.
SV — John Majewski 6-yard catch from Anthony Martinez (run failed), 3:20.
Third Quarter
SV — Jared Baer 70-yard run (Nolan Finnie run), 11:42.
SV — Majewski 5-yard catch from Martinez (pass incomplete), 2:06.
Fourth Quarter
SV — Brayden Larose 60-yard fumble return (kick missed), 8:53.
MT — Walter Mazza 12-yard run (pass incomplete), 0:36.
Individual Statistics
Smith
Rushing — Baer 9-152 (1TD), Martinez 4-16, Tobin 1-10, Larose 1-10, Finnie 1-7, Loiko 1-0.
Passing — Martinez 6-12-63 (2TDs).
Receiving — Majewski 3-23 (2TDs), Larose 3-40, Baer 1-0.
McCann
Rushing — Mazza 22-163 (1TD), Packard 12-52 (1TD), Hart 9-45, Ford 3-5, Little 1-16.
Passing — Packard 0-2-00 (1INT), Mazza 0-1-00.
Receiving — None.