DALTON —  Things did not start off that well for Amherst Friday night.

Facing Suburban South foe Wahconah Regional, the Hurricanes won the toss and took the ball. It was a quick three-and-out, which led to a Wahconah touchdown.

The Hurricanes put the next 26 points on the scoreboard and never trailed again, beating Wahconah 40-22, Friday night. The Hurricanes have now won two straight from the Warriors. It was the Suburban South opener for both teams. It was Wahconah's second consecutive loss, while Amherst ended a two-game losing streak.

"Wahconah is obviously a really hard-nosed football team that comes out and runs the ball very efficiently. I thought we did a good job at times containing that run. I thought our pass game worked very well at all levels," Amherst coach Vincent Guiel said. "It was a good win, a good win for us."

It was also the second consecutive game where a team had beaten Wahconah and put more than 30 points on the scoreboard. Last week, Wahconah lost to Pittsfield 58-34, with the Generals scoring 50 by halftime.

"Those are tough, there's no doubt, when that scoreboard's got a big number on that side," Wahconah coach Gary Campbell Jr. said. "That's a hard one. It's been a while. We're going to get back. We're going to get back to the drawing board and keep fighting."

One week after giving up 472 yards in total offense against Pittsfield, the Warriors surrendered 376 more against Amherst. 

Quarterback Nene Fernandez accounted for 358 of those yards. The senior was 13 for 24 with one interception Friday night. He threw for 267 yards and four touchdowns, while running for 91 more yards and a touchdown.

Wahconah was led by running back West Dews, who carried the ball 25 times for 92 yards.

The Hurricanes won the toss, elected to take the ball, and promptly gave it up on a three-and-out.

Taking possession on its 45, Wahconah proceeded to march 55 yards on nine plays for the game's first touchdown. Dews jumped over the offensive line at the Amherst one-yard line for the score. Dews had gotten the drive kickstarted with a 19-yard run on the first offensive play, following lineman Levi Haley around the right side. 

The Wahconah kickoff gave Amherst the ball on its 36-yard line. On the second play of the drive, Fernandez was flushed out of the pocket and eluded numerous Wahconah tacklers on a 19-yard gain. Then, on the next play, Fernandez again scrambled and found a wide open Tre Bowman, who took the pass 44 yards for a touchdown.

While the two-point conversion failed and Wahconah had an 8-6 lead, the Hurricanes had made a statement.

The name of the game early on was answering the opponent. Wahconah was on its way to doing that after the Amherst touchdown pass.

Quarterback Landon Corcoran hit Dews on a swing pass for 16 yards on the first play, as the Warriors gradually moved the ball from their 14-yard line to near midfield. A seven-yard pass from Corcoran to Colby Robb set Wahconah up on a third-and-three from the Wahonah 49. Dews broke free but was tackled and stripped of the ball by Amherst's Ethan Bergeron, with Matt DaSilva falling on it for the Hurricanes. 

Two plays later, the final play of the first quarter and the first play of the second, Amherst got on the board again. Fernandez found Ty-Ty Beckett for 28 yards and then a 33-yard touchdown catch-and-run. The two-point conversion again failed, but Amherst was on top 12-8, and never trailed.

Fernandez was good at escaping the Wahconah pressure all night. The Amherst senior was sacked four times on the night, but kept plays alive with his feet. Even when Fernandez was hit at the line, he would often escape.

Amherst scored three second-quarter touchdowns, including one with 15 seconds left until halftime.

Wahconah took the opening kick of the third quarter and went 50 yards in nine plays before Corcoran scored on a seven-yard run. The key play was a three-yard run by Dews on fourth-and-two at the Amherst 26. Corcoran's 16-yard run on first down set up the touchdown. The two-poing conversion made it 26-16.

Just when the home fans were thinking, 10 points, that's not too much, Amherst used an eight-play 66-yard drive to extend the lead again. Aided by a pass interference call on the drive, Fernandez' four-yard run gave Amherst a 33-16 lead. The rest was academic.

“We’re bend but don’t break. We played well,” Guiel said. “But we have bigger tests ahead.”

Suburban South play will continue as Wahconah will host 2-2 Agawam next Friday night. The Brownies come in fresh off a 44-0 loss to West Springfield. Amherst will play Coolidge Bridge rival Northampton. The Blue Devils lost to East Longmeadow on Friday.