NORTHAMPTON — The year of firsts for the Smith Vocational football team continues.
For the first time in program history, the Vikings will compete in the Small School State Vocational tournament after earning the No. 2 seed in the eight-team field.
Smith Voc hosts No. 7 Pathfinder at 6 p.m. on Friday night, hoping to start a deep playoff run to cap off its Cinderella season.
“I think it would be the icing on the cake,” Vikings head coach Alex Subocz said, referring to what it would mean to make a run in this tournament. “All offseason and all year we’ve been talking about the Small Vocational tournament. We’ve had our eyes set on it. It probably feels weird to a lot of people hearing that’s where our eyes were set because people probably don’t know about it, but we would love to be able to say that we’re the best small vocational school in the whole state.”
Let’s get everyone up to speed on some of the firsts accomplished throughout the Vikings’ 6-3 season. Well, there’s a good place to start. Smith Voc won six games this year, the most wins ever in any single season. The Vikings beat Northampton in a battle for the city for the first time ever, and they were also on the verge of winning the Tri-County League for the first time.
Moving on, senior quarterback Alex Martinez also holds the most wins out of any Smith Voc quarterback, a record broken back in September. With everything the Vikings have done this season, Martinez said he hopes it’s enough to earn respect in the area and encourage the next generation of athletes to follow the footsteps of this senior class.
“At Smith Voc, and I’m sure this is the case at most vocational schools, the vocational tournament is really our state tournament,” Martinez said. “For us, it shows everything we’ve done, and I think this would accelerate the program for future years. It would show that this is the premier football program in Northampton, especially to the younger kids coming up in middle school. A playoff berth my senior year is a storybook ending.”
Two weeks ago Pathfinder and Smith Voc matched up in the final game of the regular season. The Pioneers defeated the Vikings 19-7 in a low-scoring affair. Pathfinder opened the game with a 70-yard kick return that took them down to Smith Voc’s 8-yard line. After Pathfinder punched in the touchdown, Smith Voc received the ensuing kickoff and also started its drive at its own 8-yard line. So the Vikings had 92 yards to go, but the Pioneers only had eight.
They could never recover from the early hole they dug themselves in.
“We started behind the eight ball right away,” Subocz said. “It was one of those games we never truly got a feel for early on. We were also missing some key pieces to our starting lineup, so having them back will help.”
Pathfinder’s playmakers Jarett Skowyra (wide receiver/running back) and Hunter Griswold (quarterback) gave the Smith Voc defense fits last time around. Subocz knows the key to taking down the Pioneers starts with slowing down their dynamic duo.
“He’s a great player, and he’s dynamic and he’s big, fast, and strong,” Subocz said of Griswold. “He’s all-around a very talented player. Going into it, it’s contain him, and contain their talented wide receiver (Skowyra). We have to try and make sure that those two don’t take over the game. Our defensive approach, we definitely look small, but we’re fast and we’re scrappy. So we’re just gonna try to fly around all over the place.”
The biggest difference between the two teams is quite simple: one has an Alex Martinez and the other one doesn’t. Subocz puts a lot of pressure on his star signal caller, but Martinez – who can win games with his arm and/or legs – is certainly up for the challenge. Every single game this year Martinez has come up with at least one miraculous play that leaves Subocz and the rest of the Vikings team shaking their heads in disbelief.
“I expect big things from him, but I expect big things from him when he shows up to practice on a Tuesday,” Subocz said. “He’ll have a moment out here at some point where he does something that wasn’t scripted. He just always makes a play. Every game we’ve had, he has at least two of those. So I expect at least two on Friday, and maybe even a third because it’s a playoff game.”
For Martinez, the result of Friday’s contest doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Obviously he wants to win, but what he and his teammates have built for themselves this season has been plenty enough for him to sit back and appreciate.
“It’s been a grind, and it’s been a fun ride,” Martinez said. “A playoff win and a deep playoff run would really solidify myself as one of the better quarterbacks that’s played here. And individually, I’ve seen more recruits talk to me this year, and that’s always been the goal – to play football at the next level. It’s been a grind, and if I end up at the next level, I’ll be blessed. If not, I know I did something special here.”
Elsewhere in Hampshire County, six teams will be in action this week, with Northampton the lone local team to opt out of playing a Week 10 contest.
Thursday night features probably the most compelling non-playoff matchup in the region, with South Hadley hosting Amherst at 6 p.m. The Tigers are coming off a first-round exit in the MIAA Division 7 state tournament after a 39-8 defeat to No. 3 West Bridgewater.
The Hurricanes, on the other hand, are hungry to prove that they deserved to make the top 16 in Division 4 following a well-respected 6-2 regular season. Both teams have stellar running backs who have eclipsed 1,000 yards this season in Owen Dawson (South Hadley) and Jameson Dion (Amherst). Expect them to be featured heavily in what could be a high-scoring contest.
Belchertown hits the road on Thursday to take on an 8-1 Ware team that just lost a 3-0 heartbreaker to Randolph in the first round of the Division 8 state tournament. The Orioles, the only other team beside South Hadley to make the state tournament in Hampshire County, fell 49-8 at No. 3 Shawsheen Valley Tech. Kickoff for Belchertown/Ware is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Holyoke hosts East Longmeadow Thursday night at 6 p.m., Easthampton hosts Chicopee Comp Friday night at 7 p.m., and Frontier holds the lone Saturday game traveling to Great Barrington to battle Monument Mountain at 1 p.m.
