NORTHAMPTON — No Number Four, no worries.
Standout senior back Jameson Dion was a late pregame scratch Friday night, but his Amherst teammates shrugged off his absence and spread the load nicely in a comfortable win. Junior Ramsey and Travis Isabelle each ran for a pair of scores and Gavier Fernandez ran for one and threw for another as the Hurricanes swamped the Blue Devils, 48-7, in the annual “Battle of the Bridge” at David Wright Field.
Amherst ran its record to 3-0 in the Suburban League South and 6-0 overall. The Hurricanes check in at No. 16 in the latest Division 4 state power rankings released on Friday, and currently hold down the final playoff spot in Division 4. Meanwhile, Northampton dropped to 0-5 and 0-3 in SL South play.
Dion had surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season last week against East Longmeadow, when he scored all four Hurricane touchdowns and bumped his five-game total to 19 touchdowns (17 rushing, two receiving). As he dealt with a nagging minor injury, Amherst decided prudence was the better part of valor. Dion shed his pads just a few minutes before kickoff and watched the action in street clothes.
“The big thing was trying to make sure he’s healthy and ready to go,” said Hurricanes coach Vinnie Guiel. “We practiced all week for it. It’s something that’s in the near future, with Jameson graduating. Junior Ramsey, Travis Isabelle, Matt Hockman, they all stepped up. I’m proud of my guys. We knew we had the talent and the opportunity to be a good team, and we’re ready and excited for the end of the season.”
Ramsey piled up 183 yards on 15 carries while Isabelle added 72 rushing yards, Hockman 50 and Fernandez 41. In all, the Hurricanes ran for 348 yards as a team and Fernandez completed 4-of-9 passes for 54 yards, good for 402 yards of total offense Friday.
Northampton recovered a pooched kickoff at the Amherst 20 to begin the game, but that was as close as the Blue Devils got to the end zone until the final seconds of the third quarter. They failed on fourth-and-7 at the 17 with an incompletion.
Amherst cashed in its second drive of the night on a 69-yard drive capped by Ramsey’s 20-yard TD run and a two-point attempt converted by Hockman, giving the visitors an 8-0 lead with 9:43 left in the first half.
After a Northampton punt, Amherst went 68 yards the next time around, helped by a 15-yard face-mask call, and this time Ramsey went in from 29 yards away. Hockman did the honors on the two-pointer for a 16-0 advantage.
The Blue Devils looked in great shape when they jumped on a failed backward pass by Amherst at the Hurricanes 40, but once again lost the ball on downs. Amherst took over at its own 36 with 1:46 left in the half and that left plenty of time for Fernandez to scramble left and come all the way back across the field for a 47-yard touchdown run. He then flipped the two-point pass to Tre Bowman to make it 24-0, just 38 seconds before the break.
Just as Northampton had done to begin the game, the second-half kickoff was covered by Amherst at the ‘Hamp 47, and the Hurricanes were back in the end zone five plays later. Fernandez hit Bowman for 21 yards and then Raymond Colon for an 11-yard score, followed by a two-point run by Fernandez.
The hosts’ lone reply came at the end of a 61-yard drive, on which Marty Maslowski completed passes of 14, 12 and 17 yards to Marcus Oquendo. Maslowski converted fourth-and-2 from the Amherst 4 with a keeper into the end zone, then tacked on the extra point to put ‘Hamp on the board, trailing 32-7 with 14 seconds remaining in the third..
Isabelle took over the scoring for Amherst in the fourth quarter, with a 4-yard TD run immediately after a 24-yard gain, and then a 27-yard score on a pitch with less than five minutes to go. By then, the margin had compelled running time on the clock for the entire final quarter.
Bowman also came up with a fourth-quarter interception for the ‘Canes.
“It’s been tough. Losing is tough, but you can learn a lot from losing,” said Blue Devils coach Joe Kocot. “We have so many kids in so many places that should have another year or two years under their belts before they go out there on Friday nights. This week the effort was there, especially in the first half. They’re out there and they’re trying.”
Maslowski completed 6-of-22 passes for 45 yards, with four connections to Oquendo for 49 yards. Northampton ended the night with 69 yards of offense.
Both teams are home for 7 p.m. games on Friday, with Northampton facing West Springfield and Amherst welcoming Agawam.