ADAMS — To the winner goes the spoils.
For Northampton’s Dominic Badorini, it’s a chance to crow a bit over his father Mike. After all, Mike Badorini played for some pretty good Hoosac Valley football teams under Joe Alcaro in the mid-1980s. Friday night, it was Dominic who got the “W” against his father’s alma mater.
“I think I might,” the younger Badorini said, when asked who gets the bragging rights after visiting Northampton beat the Hurricanes 24-18 in overtime. It was the season opener for both teams. “For a couple of days, I won’t let him hear it too much.”
Mike Badorini did not play very much high school football at Renfrew Park, the site of Friday night’s game, since the Hurricanes played their home games on Saturdays at the Cheshire campus. His son, who had a big game for the Blue Devils, did say that it was a major topic of conversation in their home.
“We’ve been talking a lot about it,” Dominic Badorini said. “I’ve always talked about playing Hoosac and I never really thought we’d play them. It was so cool to play against them and play against my dad’s old team. That was pretty awesome.”
Not nearly as awesome for Northampton as the result was. Blue Devils quarterback Ben Sledzieski hit Trey Rios on a 17-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime. Then, after the Hurricanes failed to score on their first possession in OT, Sledieski ran the ball in on the second play of Northampton’s first series to win the game.
It was a tough pill to swallow for the Hurricanes, who held the ball for all but four plays in the fourth quarter, and were just stopped in overtime when quarterback Carson Meczywor came up inches short of the goal line on a fourth-down play.
“It’s a car wreck of emotions,” Northampton coach Joe Kocot said. “As a coach, you have to stay focused and not look down the road. The guys did a great job. They couldn’t stop our passing game and we couldn’t stop the run up the middle.”
Meczywor scored on runs of one yard in the second quarter and three yards in the fourth to put the Hurricanes up 18-12.
The Hurricanes got the ball to start overtime. In high school football, each team gets four downs from the 10 yard line, and teams keep playing until the contest is decided.
Aaron Bush gained a yard on first down. Then Kastner Jr., who ran for a game-high 115 yards on 18 carries, ran for three more. His helmet came off, so he had to come out for a down. On third down, Meczywor ran it from the six to the three-yard line. On fourth-and-3, the senior quarterback had his number called again, and a host of Blue Devils stopped him inches from the goal line.
Northampton got its first chance and Sledzieski looked for Trevor Maslowski in the end zone but Kastner Jr. broke up the pass. On second down, the Blue Devils quarterback got a big hole and ran virtually untouched into the end zone, giving Northampton a hard-fought win.
The Hurricanes ran 59 offensive plays to 32 for the Blue Devils, but outgained them only 259 yards to 244. Both teams were plagued by penalties. Hoosac had 10 for 100 yards and Northampton had nine for 85 yards.
Sledzieski completed his first five passes and was 10 for his first 11 throws. The one miss was a second-quarter interception. He ended up going 11 of 14 for 189 yards and three touchdowns. Badorini caught five passes for 84 yards, while Rios caught three balls for 83 yards.
“He’s seeing the field a lot better this year,” Kocot said of his quarterback. “He’s hitting a lot of guys. He’s very accurate. When he’s in practice, we’ll go seven, eight, 10 offensive plays without a drop or an incompletion.”
Hoosac trailed 12-6 at halftime thanks to a 37-yard pass play from Sledzieski to Badorini in the final minute of the first half.
The Hurricanes started the third quarter on its 35-yard line and marched 12 plays to paydirt. The Hurricanes, who were 3-for-3 on third-down conversions in the drive, tied the game on a five-yard touchdown run by senior Shaun Kastner Jr. A two-point conversion run attempt failed, and the score was tied 12-12.
The Hoosac defense shut down the Northampton offense, forcing the Blue Devils to punt. A 37-yard boot by Mykel Norris, gave Hoosac the ball on its 8.
Starting a drive from the shadow of one’s goal line is something teams don’t like to do. But the Hurricanes proceeded to march the ball down the field.
The Hoosac line was getting a lot of push, which resulted in a 52-carry night for Bostwick’s team. The biggest play of what appeared to be the biggest drive of the game was, unsurprisingly, a pass. On second and 8 from the Northampton 49, Meczywor hit Caleb Harrington for an 18-yard gain and a big first down. Six plays later, Meczwor went in from the 3-yard line. The point after run failed, but Hoosac was up 18-12, with just over a minute to play.
Badorini said it was “extremely” frustrating for the Blue Devils defense to not be able to get off the field in the fourth quarter.
“You could just see everyone was deflated,” he said. “But we were able to pull through and come out with a win.”
Trevor Maslowski took the kickoff and returned the ball 30 yards to midfield. Sledzieski hit Badorini for 12 yards and a first down. After Norris gained seven yards on a run, the Northampton quarterback found Rios open, and the Northampton receiver outran Hoosac defenders into the end zone. The point-after kick was blocked, and overtime beckoned.
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Northampton 0 12 0 6 6 — 24
Hoosac Valley 0 6 6 6 0 — 18
Second Quarter
N — Trey Rios 11 pass from Ben Sledzieski (Pass failed).
HV — Carson Meczywor 1 run (Kick blocked).
N — Dominic Badorini 37 pass from Sledzieski (Pass failed).
Third Quarter
HV — Shaun Kastner Jr. 5 run (Run failed).
Fourth Quarter
HV — Meczywor 3 run (Pass failed).
N — Rios 25 pass from Sledzieski (Kick blocked).
Overtime
N — Sledzieski 10 run
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HV N
First Downs 13 9
Rushes-Yards 52-214 18-55
Passing Yards 45 189
Comp-Att-Int 4-7-0 11-14-1
Punts-Avg. 1-40.0 1-37.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penaties-Yards 10-100 9-85
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — HV: Shaun Kastner Jr. 18-115, Carson Meczywor 12-19, Aaron Bush 10-74, Logan Davis 2-6. N — Mykel Norris 7-16, Ben Sledzieski 10-35, Dominic Badorini 1-4.
PASSING — HV: Meczywor 4-7-0 45. N: Sledzieski 11-14-1 189.
RECEIVING — HV: Caleb Harrington 2-44, Davis 1-3, Bush 1-(minus-2). N: Norris 2-24, Trevor Maslowski 1-8, Trey Rios 3-83, Badorini 5-84.