WEST BRIDGEWATER — No. 14 South Hadley head coach Brian Couture has preached to his team every game — especially big ones — that the outcome can be determined by just five plays.
That was the case in the Tigers’ 39-8 loss on Friday night to No. 3 West Bridgewater in the MIAA Division 7 state tournament first round.
South Hadley drove the ball into Wildcats’ territory on almost every one of its drives, but coughed up three turnovers and had a few missed assignments on defense. Those plays cost the Tigers a shot in the quarterfinal round.
“If we don’t have those five plays, 99-percent of the time we win,” Couture said. “Well, tonight we had those five plays and unfortunately West Bridgewater jumped on them. It’s tough, but I’m proud of the boys. They played a hell of a game and they never quit.”
Tigers senior captain Owen Dawson once again shined when called upon, tallying 185 yards and the lone team touchdown on a 55-yard scamper.
The reason South Hadley was able to nearly match West Bridgewater’s total yardage output (Wildcats gained 320 yards to the Tigers’ 289) is because of the huge push of the offensive line. South Hadley won the battle of the trenches when it was on offense, but failed to capitalize on scoring chances in the red area.
“We definitely controlled the line,” Couture said. “We drove down the field several times, we just didn’t finish when we got down there. We didn’t tighten it up. The line worked their butts off, and the opportunities were there we just didn’t capitalized.”
And with the Tigers moving the ball at ease, they also chewed up a ton of clock — which was Couture’s plan coming in to keep the ball out of West Bridgewater’s tricky triple-option offense.
Time of possession was separated by an even five minutes, almost an entire half of a quarter. South Hadley possessed the ball for 26 minutes and 30 seconds.
“We took up three-quarters of the first half,” Couture said. “The game plan was controlling the ball and controlling the clock, because we don’t throw the ball a lot. Eating up that clock is huge. You hope that you eat that clock up then you finish with a touchdown.”
Another one of those five key plays happened on South Hadley’s first drive. The Tigers drove all the way down to the 25-yard line and earned a fresh set of downs, but only went backward on its next four plays. Their first drive took over half of the opening frame, but they came up empty.
A score there, where they likely would’ve eaten up even more time, would’ve changed the dynamic of the contest.
“We finish that drive, we’re giving them the ball with only a couple minutes left in the first quarter up 8-0,” Couture said. “Then you throw Bridgewater into the second quarter, and that changes everything. We’re playing with the lead and they’re playing with the pressure.”
Ultimately, the West Bridgewater triple option and its ability to cash in on the South Hadley mistakes were too much for the Tigers to overcome. South Hadley found out who it would be playing just a few days prior to Friday, so without having any prior experience defending the option, it was tough to figure out how to stop it on the fly.
“That’s a great football team right there,” Couture said. “Watching them on film, we knew they ran an incredible triple option. We don’t see that in western Mass., so it’s tough to get these guys ready in two days to go against it when you don’t see it all year.”
The Tigers fell to 7-2 but still have two more games on their schedule, including a Thanksgiving Day bout with Holyoke. The remaining contests give the seniors – led by captains Brady Currier, Noah Marion, Ryan Poirier, and Dawson – who have meant so much to the program another chance to suit up in black and orange for the final times. The impact the senior class has left goes beyond their four years in uniform.
“This is a great senior class with great leadership,” Couture said. “Owen, Currier, Poirier, and Marion, they’re great captains. It wasn’t about them this year. They tried not only to improve themselves and get us here, they helped out our younger guys. They made those guys better to hopefully get us back here next year and have a better outcome.”
