H.S. Football: Easthampton edges Smith Voc 14-8 in hard-fought battle

EASTHAMPTON — As soon as Colin Hogan and Luis Salgado locked eyes, the ball was in the air.

When it came down in Salgado’s hands, the Easthampton wide receiver made one move and was off to the end zone.

The 54-yard touchdown early in the third quarter gave the Eagles the lead for good, and the defense came through to keep Smith Vocational at bay in a 14-8 victory on an electric Friday night at Mountain View School.

“It felt great,” Salgado said of the win. “It was our first home game; we were coming out intense. We knew it was going to battle today. It always is. We came in with a great mindset.”

Easthampton improved to 2-1. Smith Vocational fell to 1-2.

“That’s the way I expected this game to take place, to be honest. I knew these kids were going to treat it like a rivalry, both ways,” Easthampton coach Kyle Dragon said. “They will probably hang out after this game and get some Instagram pictures.”

Typically, a rivalry involves teams that play often. That’s not the case here. Easthampton and Smith Vocational last met in the regular season in 2021, a game the Eagles won by 36. This felt like a rivalry because players on both sides grew up playing youth football together and attended the same schools together.

“It was incredible,” Easthampton junior lineman Travis Carpenter said. “I’ve never played them in my career and it was incredible to play them. Some of my best friends are on that team.”

There was emotion and energy on the field.

“I thought emotion was going to be a factor in this game and both teams came out excited,” Smith Vocational coach Alex Subocz said. “To me, this was a great high school football game. Obviously, I wish we came out on the winning end, but the fact that so many kids who grew up together, got to play against each other on a field that they grew up playing on — I don’t think you can draw it up much better than that.”

Salgado factored into both scores for the Eagles. He touched the ball four times during a seven-play, 59-yard drive that tied the game at 8-8. He made multiple defenders miss en route to a 15-yard touchdown run. Jake Kostek added the conversion run with 2 minutes, 22 seconds left before halftime.

“Luis played on another level tonight,” Dragon said. “He played so hard and sparked a fire for the rest of the team.”

Easthampton wasted little time taking the lead in the third. Facing 2-and-11 at their own 46, Hogan rolled out to the left and launched a pass to Salgado.

“We made eye contact down the field, and I threw it to his back shoulder,” Hogan said. “He knew exactly where to turn. It was beautiful.”

Smith Voc defensive back Jameson Tobin was turned around on the play as Salgado cut inside to make the catch. He cut outside and raced to the end zone for a 14-8 lead less than three minutes into the second half.

“That was definitely not the route,” Salgado joked. “I got blindsided; stumbled a little bit. I started running down the field and saw open field. I looked at my QB and it’s the connection we got.”

Smith Voc had a chance late when Brayden LaRose intercepted Hogan with 9:46 remaining in the game. The Vikings took possession at their own 26 and converted twice on third down to cross midfield. Both conversions were by freshman Deryk Nuttelman, who rushed for 10 yards on third and 5, and 18 yards on third and 9.

With less than 4 minutes remaining, the drive stalled when Jeff Sabourin fell just shy of the first down on fourth and 3.

“That was really a team effort,” Carpenter said. “It was a scare, it was really close, but like usual we worked together and stopped them.”

The Vikings had an opportunity to get the ball back with about 3 minutes left. Easthampton faced fourth and 4 from the 34 and tried to pull the Vikings offsides. They didn’t budge then, but when the Eagles set up to punt, the Vikings jumped offsides on the snap. That gave Easthampton a first down and it ran the clock out.

“That one’s tough,” Subocz said. “We got ourselves in a position to give ourselves a chance, then we put ourselves in a position to not have a chance.”

LaRose gave the Vikings the lead in the first quarter. Tobin returned a punt from midfield to inside the 20. Three players later, LaRose punched it in from 3 yards out. Brayden Fernandez added the conversion run.

The Vikings moved to ball but had trouble breaking through the Easthampton defense. Carpenter drew a lot of attention up front, which made room for Hogan, Kostek, Salgado, Noah Geddis (sack), Owen Kakley (two sacks) and Mason Hean, among others, to make plays.

“We worked together and communicated,” Carpenter said. “We made sure everyone knew their assignments. We had some younger guys in there because some of our older guys got hurt. We executed and told everyone to locked in.”

Caiden Fournier knocked down a lateral and recovered the fumble for the Vikings.