Northampton rallies to beat Longmeadow, 35-34

LONGMEADOW — Northampton football coach Joe Kocot didn’t have much to say to his team at halftime.

The Blue Devils were trailing Longmeadow by 20.

During the first half, Northampton didn’t hustle to the line of scrimmage on offense and didn’t play with the necessary amount of energy.

“I walked out of the locker room and said that they needed to talk to each other and look each other in the eye,” Kocot said.

The upperclassmen spoke about accountability and believing that the team could turn the game around in the second half.

That’s exactly what they did.

Northampton scored four touchdowns in the second half and held Longmeadow to one touchdown to defeat the Lancers, 35-34, Friday night at Longmeadow High School.

Braeden Tudryn scored two touchdowns on the ground. Sam Walker and Jake Brittain each caught a touchdown from Blue Devils quarterback Tom Jacques in the second half to help lead the comeback effort.

“We said we needed to keep our heads up,” Jacques said about the halftime talk. “We knew we could play the way we did in the second half. It was just a matter of getting out there and playing that way. We needed to be confident. We knew we could do it, we just had to go out and do it.”

The Blue Devils (6-4) opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 52-yard interception return from Kavan Powers.

Longmeadow (3-7) responded with a six-play, 65-yard drive that was capped by a 8-yard touchdown run from running back Maurice Powe.

Following a three-and-out from the Blue Devils, the Lancers went on a long, clock-draining drive that ended with a 1-yard rush up the middle from Sean Tashjian and a 14-7 lead with 5:03 to go in the second quarter.

Northampton went three-and-out again on the following drive and was forced to punt. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Tashjian broke free for a 87-yard touchdown.

“We weren’t wrapping up. We needed to tackle lower,” Tudryn said on the team’s defensive issues in the first half. “The other part of it is setting the edge. They were running power and got like and 80-yard touchdown one play. That is something we talked about at halftime.”

Longmeadow’s James McLaughlin intercepted Jacques on the following drive to give the Lancers the ball at around midfield. Longmeadow scored four plays later on a 1-yard run from Powe up the middle to take a 27-7 lead into the break.

On Northampton’s second play of the third quarter, Jacques found wide receiver Brittain in the middle of the field. Brittain caught the ball and ran down the sideline for a 55-yard reception to put the Blue Devils on Longmeadow’s 8-yard line. Three plays later, Tudryn ran inside the left pylon for a 1-yard touchdown to close the gap to 27-14.

The Lancers scored on the ensuing drive with a 1-yard run from Powe, but it was the last time they scored.

Northampton scored on its first drive of the fourth quarter when Jacques found tight end Walker in the middle of the field for a 16-yard touchdown.

The Blue Devils defense forced the Lancers to punt on the next drive, but the snap went over the punter’s head and landed on Longmeadow’s 2-yard line. A penalty pushed the Blue Devils back on the next play, but an impressive 14-yard catch from Brittain in the right side of the end zone brought the score to 34-28 with 6:29 to go in the game.

“My focus was to start out fast in the second half,” Jacques said. “I knew we couldn’t afford to give up a drive here and there. We had to score and be urgent. Just a sense of urgency out of halftime. I think that helped.”

On the first play of the following drive, Northampton’s defense forced Powe to fumble and Northampton recovered the ball at Longmeadow’s 42-yard line.

A 17-yard reception in a tight window by wide receiver Jake Delisle brought the Blue Devils deep into Longmeadow territory. Four plays later, Tudryn ran to the right and scored from 4 yards out to give Northampton the lead with 3:25 to go.

The Lancers moved downfield with an 18-yard reception by Dylan Marino on the following drive, but due to penalties, Longmeadow found itself in a fourth-and-14 situation.

Lancers quarterback Ryan Jewell stepped back to throw and rolled to his left. He threw a pass to the left side of the field, but Tudryn leaped up and intercepted it

“It was fourth-and-long and they had trips, so we were in our 4-3 (defense),” Tudryn said. “I dropped back a little bit deeper. It was a cross route that we called out, great communication by the boys. I got a little lucky, almost dropped it.”

Longmeadow still had timeouts to burn and had a chance to get the ball back, but a first down run from Tudryn with a little over a minute to go sealed the victory.

Although the matchup was a non-playoff game, the team still found plenty of meaning in the victory, Northampton’s first over Longmeadow since early in the 2016 season. It snapped a three-game losing streak to the Lancers.

“Personally, I had never beaten (Longmeadow) before,” Jacques said. “I know all the seniors and juniors have never beaten them. We just wanted to come out and make history in a way.”

Northampton will play Easthampton on Thanksgiving in both teams’ season finale. The Blue Devils defeated Easthampton, 28-26, in last year’s game.

“Last year we took them lightly and it was way closer than it should have been,” Jacques said. “Our point of emphasis this week will be to put the foot on the gas. It’ll be a good game.”

Northampton 35,
Longmeadow 34

First quarter

N — Kavan Powers 52 interception (Jake Delisle kick), 4:29

L — Maurice Powe 8 run (Ryan Hornyak kick), 1:38

Second quarter

L — Sean Tashjian 1 run (Hornyak kick), 5:03

L — Tashjian 87 run (Hornyak kick), 2:47

L — Powe 1 run (kick failed), 0:26

Third quarter

N — Tudryn 1 run (Delisle kick), 8:13

L — Powe 1 run (Hornyak kick), 2:22

Fourth quarter

N — Sam Walker 16 pass from Tom Jacques (Delisle kick), 10:51

N — Brittain 14 pass from Jacques (Deslisle kick), 6:29

N — Tudryn 4 run (Delisle kick), 3:25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

PASSING: Northampton — Jacques 12-19-152-1. Longmeadow — Anthony Casabianca 4-6-50-2, Ryan Jewell 3-4-50-0.

RECEIVING: Northampton — Brittain 4-88, Tudryn 4-27, Delisle 3-48, Sam Walker 1-16. Longmeadow — Luke Szyluk 2-21, Powe 2-30, Tashjian 1-12, Will Crews 1-16, Nate Hunter 1-8, Dylan Marino 1-18.

RUSHING: Northampton — Holden 8-29, Jacques 7-17, Tudryn 9-22. Longmeadow — Tashjian 7-122, Powe 15-70, Casabianca 3-14, Szyluk 5-54, Hunter 6-23, Jewell 2-12.