Thanksgiving football: Mykal Norris’ last-minute TD helps Northampton stun Easthampton, 18-14 (PHOTOS)

EASTHAMPTON – Senior Mykal Norris didn’t want to be a part of the Northampton team to break its undefeated record against Easthampton in the Thanksgiving Day rivalry that started back in 2015, but it was looking like that would be the case with the Blue Devils trailing 14-12 with under 20 seconds left and still 58 yards away from the end zone.

“My coaches told me yesterday we’ve never lost to Easthampton on Thanksgiving, and we didn’t want to start that now,” Norris said. “I really didn’t wanna be the first team to lose to them. It’s my senior year, I wanted to finish off strong.”

On the next snap, Norris lined up in the backfield next to quarterback Marty Maslowski, and leaked out to run a wheel route as the ball was snapped. Norris had one-on-one coverage, and with his blistering speed, he easily won the matchup. Maslowski delivered a perfect pass into Norris’ hands, and Norris took off the rest of the way.

With no safety help over the top, nothing but green grass was in his sights. Norris scored with four seconds left – his second TD of the game – to give Northampton an 18-14 lead that it would not squander. The Blue Devils earned their eighth consecutive Thanksgiving Day win on Thursday morning thanks to the heroics of Norris and Maslowski.

“The whole game I was feeling pretty open and agile, all I knew is I just needed to get the ball to me,” Norris said. “It wasn’t even a designed play, my coach just told me to do a wheel route and told me it would work. I did it, burned them, and scored the touchdown for the win. All that was going through my head was, ‘That’s game. That’s game.’”

Only 38 seconds remained when Northampton possessed the ball down 14-12. The Blue Devils had just surrendered a 4-yard touchdown to Easthampton’s Nelson Gomez and a two-point conversion to Tommy O’Connor – both thrown by Colin Hogan – on the prior possession that faced them with their first deficit of the game.

Northampton head coach Joe Kocot calmed his team down after its 12-0 fourth-quarter lead slipped away. Kocot has plenty of experience coaching in big games, so he knew how to re-gain his players’ focus to go out and execute one more drive.

“You just gotta be calm,” Kocot said. “I’ve been in this game a long, long time. They had all the momentum at that time, big time, [but] you can’t slam your hat on the ground after being up 12-0.

“We just wanted to hit little routes to the outside, get out of bounds, or use timeouts,” he added. “Our last timeout, we manipulated where Mykal was. He ran the out route, and they had no free safety over the top. Once he made the catch, there’s no one on this field that’s gonna catch Mykal.”

Gomez’s go-ahead touchdown in the final minute was the Eagles’ second score of the final frame. Easthampton got down inside the 10 after starting all the way back at its own 3-yard line. Maslowski pinned the Eagles deep with a terrific punt, so they had to go 97 yards with five minutes and three seconds left on the clock.

The Eagles executed to perfection. They featured a heavy dose of the run led by Topher Reardon, but sprinkled in the pass to keep Northampton guessing. Easthampton went those 97 yards on 14 plays.

“The coaching on that drive was incredible, I thought everyone did a really good job,” Eagles head coach Kyle Dragon said. “But the players went out and made the plays, I can’t say enough about the way that they played on that drive. They played really well.”

Considering Easthampton was down two touchdowns heading into the fourth, Dragon was pleased to see the way his team responded. With how things have gone on Thanksgiving for the Eagles in the past (outscored 222-80 in the previous seven meetings), their determination to claw their way back into the game and give themselves a shot at the end said a lot about who they are.

“I’m just proud of these kids,” Dragon said. “It was a tough start to the game, but the way they persevered and kept going was great to see. We just had one bad play at the end of the game. We would’ve won that game. I’m proud of the way they played not just today, but the whole season.”

Thursday’s win was the first of the 2023 season for Northampton after eight wins and an MIAA Division 4 state tournament berth a year ago. The Blue Devils struggled to build a cohesive unit throughout the three-plus month season because of players quitting or battling injuries and sickness.

Northampton’s last game came two and a half weeks ago, and the team finally saw 25 players – up from 18 during its last couple games – consistently showing up to practice since then. It’s no surprise the Blue Devils put forth their best effort having a fully committed team showing up to day in and day out.

“Well the win is huge, but even bigger is the way they played,” Kocot said. “We had our best week of practice all year, and I told them at halftime that when you work at it, it shows up in the end. We had some kids quit, the kids who weren’t really committed quit when the losing started. The guys that are left couldn’t even do a full practice [at some points] this year.”

Easthampton’s first touchdown came on a 4th-and-2 at the 25-yard line, when Tommy O’Connor ran a short hitch route and took it all the way in to the end zone to add on to his stellar day receiving.

Although the heartbreaking loss is certainly going to weigh on the Eagles for 365 days until they get another shot at Northampton, Dragon made sure to put things into perspective when addressing his team in the post-game huddle.

At the end of the day, it’s Thanksgiving, which is a time to reflect on what truly matters.

“I told them to keep their heads up, because they played a hell of a game today,” Dragon said. “I told them that Thanksgiving is a time for being thankful, and that I was thankful for the coaching staff and that I was able to coach these kids this year.”