High school football: Noah Hambley’s monster night fuels South Hadley’s 46-0 rout of Northampton (PHOTOS)

NORTHAMPTON — Griffin Soderbaum’s face lit up when asked about junior wide receiver Noah Hambley postgame. The South Hadley quarterback couldn’t wait to talk about his best friend, who had just racked up 182 total yards and three touchdowns — all but four of those yards coming in the first half — to lead the Tigers to a 46-0 win over Northampton on Friday night in the two programs’ first meeting since 2015.

“Noah Hambley is that guy, that’s all I got to say,” Soderbaum said. “He is that guy. We’ve been friends since childhood. All offseason we were going to the turf every day throwing the ball. We put in work all offseason, and I mean, hey, hard work pays off, right?”

The win marked South Hadley’s first season-opening victory in six years.

“Coach mentioned it before the game, and it kind of hyped us up and fueled us mentally,” Hambley said. “We came out prepared and ready to go.”

Hambley rumbled in a pair of rushing touchdowns from three and seven yards out, respectively, in the first quarter. As if that wasn’t enough already, he saved his best for the second.

On a 2nd-and-9 from its own 45-yard line, South Hadley called Hambley’s number again. He took a handoff, broke several tackles and bolted for the end zone. He broke the plane for a highlight score, but it was called back due to holding. The Tigers gave him another chance on the very next play.

Soderbaum ripped a throw over the middle that Hambley snatched and took for 42 yards. One play later, Soderbaum threw a perfect ball to Chase Pecia in the corner of the end zone for a 23-yard score. South Hadley’s next drive resulted in a 3-yard Lincoln Belsky rushing TD, which again was set up by an incredible Hambley catch — this one coming on the sideline with two Northampton defenders draped all over him.

He capped off his flawless frame with a 37-yard touchdown grab as time expired. Hambley jumped and caught the ball over a Blue Devil corner, snatching it right off his helmet, and dove to the ground to secure it. South Hadley went into halftime ahead 34-0 after Hambley’s third score.

“We see it in every sport he plays, he’s such a great athlete,” Tigers head coach Brian Couture said. “To see that greatness come out on the field tonight was pretty cool. And of course Soderbaum loves throwing him the ball. That vertical is incredible, with him and Pecia.”

The Blue Devils had several chances to get South Hadley’s offense off the field, but the Tigers proved to be too explosive. Whether it was 2nd-and-20, 3rd-and-long or a 4th-down situation, South Hadley continued to convert.

That was the difference in the game according to Northampton head coach Rocco Fernandez, who coached in his first game in charge of the Blue Devils.

“We got them in some good situations — 4th-and-1, 3rd-and-long — but we couldn’t make a play,” Fernandez said. “If a few things happen here or there, and it bounces our way, it’s a completely different ball game. We had a game plan, and going forward we have to keep executing. At the end of the day, we’ve got a young team and have a lot of guys playing both sides. Conditioning seemed to be a factor. It’s things we can work on and get through. I’m proud of the effort we put forth today.”

Soderbaum finished 7-for-10 with 176 passing yards and two TDs, and added a 28-yard score on the ground in the third quarter. Jhaymhar Henry rounded out Friday’s scoring with a 36-yard burst up the middle to put South Hadley ahead 46-0.

Defensively, Tigers senior captain Brayden Koske had as big an impact on the game as anyone. Koske was in the backfield all night, and ended up with two sacks, a blocked punt and numerous tackles-for-loss, including a big one on a Northampton fourth down late in the second quarter.

South Hadley held the Blue Devils to less than 100 total yards in a dominant performance in all phases of the game.

“He was everywhere,” Couture said of Koske. “He had an incredible first game of his senior season, so I’m excited for him… The defense never gave up. They worked as a team, had a lot of gang tackles and rolled to the ball quickly. They’re getting in that backfield. They’re understanding what we’re trying to do and they’re really buying in this year.”

Perhaps the scariest part for the teams on South Hadley’s schedule? Couture says there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“We still got some work to do,” Couture said. “We had a fumble today, we have to clean up our penalties and we had a few broken plays where we called one thing and guys were lined up in something else. But we put in a new offense this year, so these are things we expected in the first game.”

South Hadley (1-0) hosts Agawam next Friday night in its home opener.

As for Northampton, with such a young roster and a new head coach, some growing pains were expected. Fernandez saw good things out of his quarterback, Dion Cadiz, and running backs Gerald Lopez and Johnathan Figueroa-Cruz.

His defense made a handful of strong plays in the second half as well. There were several positives to take away from a difficult result.

“I think as the season goes on, we’re going to shock a lot of people,” Fernandez said. “Especially once we start getting into a rhythm, it’ll help us. Not having any live scrimmages or anything for the last several weeks, it was a little bit of a hindrance. But overall, like I said, I’m proud of our effort and I’m excited to see what the rest of the season brings.”

Northampton (0-1) travels to Holyoke on Thursday night looking to get in the win column.