H.S. football: Coleman Longley leads Belchertown to WMass Class C title win over Ware (VIDEO)

BELCHERTOWN — Belchertown quarterback Coleman Longley was a force on offense almost every week this season. Whether he was throwing passes down the field with his arm or using his legs to break through the line on a run, he was essential to moving the ball for the Orioles.

But in the final moments of the Western Mass. Class C championship on Friday against Ware, the senior made his biggest play of the night on defense.

Down by four, the Indians had the ball in Belchertown territory with less than a minute to go. Quarterback Troy Jurczyk dropped back to pass and threw the ball intended for a receiver crossing the field.

Longley read the play as it developed and saw where the ball was going. He used his speed to jump the pass and intercept the ball and bring home Belchertown it’s first championship title since its Super Bowl win in 2003.

“It lucked out really,” Longley said. “I don’t play defense all that much so today was a day to prove that I could. We were beyond ready to win. We wanted to win so bad and I think we proved it with that last second stop. It was a hard game, but we succeeded.”

In his final home game of his high school career, Longley contributed to five touchdowns as the Orioles won 40-36 over Ware. It’s the second time Belchertown beat the Indians this season.

“I’m super excited for these kids,” Belchertown head coach Keith LeBeau said. “It makes having these games like this exciting. They get something for all their hard work.”

Unlike the 44-12 blowout back in the second week of the season, Ware managed to keep up with Belchertown. On Ware’s first drive, Jurczyk scrambled 29 yards to hand his team the 6-0 lead. Right before the end of the quarter, he slung a 30-yard pass to senior Dalton Marquis to give the Indians the 14-6 lead.

Marquis proved to be a workhorse for Ware, running for 137 yards on the night. He ran for a touchdown later in the fourth quarter.

“They tried hard to work on their run game,” LeBeau said. “You can see the kids played hard for (head coach Kyle Whitney). There were sound and fundamentally good.”

After junior Ronan Mosher scored on a 19-yard reverse run play to make the score 14-13, Belchertown’s special teams came through by recovering the ensuing onside kick.

In the first quarter, Longley scored the team’s first touchdown on a 33-yard run coming out of a timeout. In the second, he utilized his arm.

Following the onside recovery, Longley found sophomore tight end Raiden Drouin for a pair of first downs. Later in the drive, Longley saved a bad snap and rolled out to his left at the 9-yard line. He found receiver Grayden Kendall just as the junior neared the pylon for the touchdown. Belchertown had its first lead 20-14.

The Indians were threatening to score just outside the red zone when Rulon Anderson and Evan Beaulieu combined to knock Jurczyk down in the backfield. That play set up a fourth and long that Ware failed convert.

“My mindset was to just blow past the guy in front of me and get to the quarterback,” Anderson said.

The senior captain finished with two sacks on the night.

Belchertown opened the third and fourth quarter the same way: Longley finding Mosher for a deep touchdown pass.

On the Orioles third play after halftime, Longley sat in the pocket with plenty of time to find Mosher who outran his defender 37-yard for the touchdown. On the first play in the fourth, Longley had pressure coming and jump to make a short pass to Mosher. He then got the blocks in front of him to run 40-yard to put Belchertown up 32-22.

Mosher was the versatile weapon of the night. He recorded 102 all-purpose yards on offense. Longley completed 8-of-9 passes for 132 yards. His final act on offense was a 49-yard run up the middle for Belchertown’s final touchdown and advance the score 40-28. The quarterback ran 11 times for 99 yards.

“I will never forget playing with these guys,” Longley said. “Every snap I’ll remember. Playing with my best friends for years, and this being my last season, I’m really appreciative that I got to play.”

Jurczyk threw his third touchdown pass and a successful two-point conversion for Ware made the score 40-36 with under six minutes left in the game.

The Indians defense forced a quick fourth down and their head coach Kyle Whitney called a timeout with 3:44 on the clock in hopes of maximizing time for his offense.

But Belchertown’s special teams kept the ball in the offenses hands as Avery Cote lined-up for the punt but instead ran to his left and got the first down to kill even more clock.

An Orioles fumble handed the ball back to Ware with 44 seconds left. The Indians moved the ball as fast as they could, but Longley dashed their hopes in the closing seconds.

“He’s worked all season long at his craft as being a quarterback,” LeBeau said. “To be able to come in and play defense at the end is just icing on the cake for him.”

A week after falling in the first round of the Division 6 tournament to Norwell, the Orioles get a trophy and go into their Thanksgiving game at 8-2. They head to Pathfinder Tech for their final game of the season.

Class A

Westfield 47, Amherst 16