BELCHERTOWN – Both Belchertown and Lee came into Friday night’s Intercounty League South football game looking for a change in momentum. Both programs dropped their league openers last week – Lee falling in a 14-13 heartbreaker to Easthampton and Belchertown dropping a 36-19 decision to Hoosac Valley. 

At halftime Friday night, the game was still close with the Orioles holding on to a slim 6-0 lead. But Belchertown came out of halftime looking like a completely different team, and it became apparent very quickly that the hosts were primed to run away and hide.

Belchertown scored three times in the third quarter and rode that energy to a 34-6 win, improving to 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the IL South. The loss dropped Lee to 2-3, 0-2. 

“Just effort, perseverance and a sense of urgency (helped us win). We have a lot we want to accomplish this year and we feel like we took a step back on Sunday (against Hoosac). So all we did is we went back to our bread and butter offense,” Belchertown head coach Dan McCarthy said. “We had a great week of practice. It was hot, the kids pushed themselves and I am so proud of them tonight – from special teams to defense to offense, they all just put it together.”

Injuries couldn’t slow the Orioles tonight, and a couple players made triumphant comebacks of their own. After injuries sidelined Nico St. George for a while, the senior came back on Friday and scored two touchdowns for the Orioles, including a game-changing fumble recovery in the end zone while playing defense; that touchdown came just 29 seconds into the third quarter and changed the energy completely for the Orioles. 

“I think it kind of changed the momentum of the game, but it wasn’t just me. It was everybody rallying behind and getting together,” St. George said. “It took all of us to make the stops and score the touchdowns.”

At one point it looked like Belchertown might have lost senior Kaden Couture, who dislocated his pinky finger during the second quarter. Luckily for the home team, Couture was able to pop his finger back into place and was back on the field in the second half. 

“He was just a major part (of the second half). We thought we lost him in the game and he came back,” Chris Daskam said. “We talked about the line stepping up, which they did – they were doing great again and they did even better in that second half. We just came together and just kept going.”

Daskam got the scoring started in the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run, but fans thought he initially scored on a monster 69-yard run down the field before he was taken down inches shy of the goal line. He scored again in the third quarter, muscling his way into a 25-yard touchdown run with 7:26 left in the third quarter. Josh Grillo rounded out the third quarter scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run, and St. George got his second touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter.

Lee kept the game close in the first half, but a fumble in the second quarter halted a promising drive early, and the Wildcats defense struggled to slow Belchertown in the second half. Quarterback Omari Smith connected with Shaun Kinney late in the fourth quarter for a 38-yard touchdown pass, but it was too little, too late for the Wildcats. 

“Obviously not the result we hoped for. I thought we played in the first half, we played a really good half of football. And things kind of spiraled out of control a little bit on us there in the second half,” Lee head coach Tom Salinetti said. “Ultimately, we just kind of got out-physicaled tonight. I know these guys will go back and get to the drawing board and really take pride in being a more physical team down the road.”

Lee will look to get back in the win column against Commerce in Week 6 at home while Belchertown will host Easthampton in an all-Hampshire County showdown.

Hannah Bevis can be reached at hbevis@gazettenet.com. Follow her on Twitter @Hannah_Bevis1.