NORTHAMPTON — All week long the Smith Vocational football team was pumped up for its Friday night clash with undefeated Belchertown. Not only did Friday provide the Vikings (1-3 record entering the game) a chance to turn their season around, it also marked the return of one of their best players — junior Trenton Clark, whose nickname is “Mad Stork” — from injury.
Throughout practices this week, Smith Voc talked about “the return of the Stork,” according to head coach Alex Subocz.
Well, the Stork made his return to the lineup in a big way.
With the Vikings clinging to an 18-14 lead as the clock ticked toward two minutes remaining, Belchertown had possession of the ball looking to drive down the field for a go-ahead touchdown. On a second down from the Orioles 36-yard line, Belchertown sent a man in motion as quarterback Grayden Kendall took the snap. A mishandle on the exchange caused a fumble, and the ball fell softly to the grass.
Clark came firing off the edge, and just as a stork would dive on its prey, he pounced on the loose ball. Clark scooped it up and dashed 35 yards to the end zone, sealing Smith Vocational’s 26-14 win with a dramatic touchdown in the final minutes.
“He’s got a new nickname this year,” Vikings head coach said of Clark. “It’s the ‘Mad Stork.’ And all week it’s been the ‘return of the Stork.’ Then he comes out here and has a scoop-and-score touchdown to cap it off. He won our Team MVP award last year as a sophomore, so having him back — he’s an X-factor. He just does things different than most kids I see at our level in western Mass.”
The result handed Belchertown its first loss of the season, now dropping the Orioles to 4-1. Belchertown finished last year with an 0-11 record, so its turnaround is already impressive as it is. Now, Os head coach Keith Lebeau is trying to teach his players how to manage winning on a week-to-week basis.
He expects his group to rebound next week.
“I just told them just now, remember this feeling,” Lebeau said. “Last year, we were 0-11, and it stunk to lose every game. I think that when you start winning games, you get to the point where you think you can just show up and do whatever and you’ll win the game. It doesn’t work that way. They’re kids. They’ll learn from it. You learn more from losing than you do from winning. It’s one game. We’re 4-1, you have to be proud of that.”
Smith Voc struck first on sophomore quarterback Spencer Warner’s first of two long touchdown carries. On a 2nd-and-6 from the Orioles 46-yard line, Warner called his own number and rumbled in for a score with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter.
Fast forward to the third frame with the Vikings now trailing 14-12, and Warner was off to the races again. He broke through a small hole at the line of scrimmage and bolted 70 yards past everyone in the Belchertown secondary and across the goal line for a score. It kickstarted 14 unanswered points for Smith Voc and ultimately propelled them to victory.
Warner is physically and mentally beyond his years, and Subocz knows he has a gem under center.
“I put him in the category of being a ‘dude,'” Subocz said. “That was on full display tonight. He has all of the characteristics to be a dude, he also has the mindset. It’s so important to him that he’s a dog as well. He’s never rattled. Each week he just continues to improve.”
Belchertown responded to Warner’s first run with a long score of its own, as Ethan Longley squeezed his way through traffic before taking off 50 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter. A Smith Voc score on a 23-yard screen pass from Warner to Jamie Tobin gave the Vikings a 12-8 lead heading to halftime.
The Vikings’ only hiccup of the night set up Belchertown in prime position out of the break. An Orioles fumble recovery led to a powerful Avery Cote touchdown run, this one coming from 30 yards out to give the visitors a 14-12 advantage with 10:04 left in the third.
The score would stay that way until Warner’s second highlight-reel scamper, and Clark then put the nail in the coffin with his fumble recovery for six — which sent the Vikings’ home crowd into a frenzy. After four straight road games to start the year, Smith Voc’s players and fans alike were happy to be back on its home field.
“We played just about an entire four quarters of great football,” Subocz said. “I’m incredibly happy about that. The kids flew around for four quarters. I can’t complain about that… The kids were super excited tonight, and they were disappointed our first four games were on the road. Coming out here, scoring early, playing good defense and finishing the game, we drew it up about as perfect as possible.”
Injuries have riddled the Orioles over the last couple of weeks, and they were without their starting quarterback, Coleman Longley, on Friday as well as their captain Adam O’Rourke.
Lebeau challenged his team postgame to step up in their absence, and he’s confident they’ll do just that next week at home against North High School (Worcester) on Friday at 6 p.m.
“We have to get more reps to our second string,” Lebeau said. “We lost some kids last week, so those two things hurt. We have to get our backups some more reps. We had four backs and people kind of look at them [and it’s hard to defend]. Now we’re only down to two. Give Smith Voc a lot of credit. They worked hard, they deserved to win. They played better and wanted it more than we did.”
Smith Vocational (2-3) will also stay put at home next Friday when it hosts Monument Mountain at 6 p.m.
