NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – After the McCann Tech football team took a 20-0 lead early in second quarter, it looked as though the Hornets were on their way to another lop-sided victory.
The visiting Franklin Tech Eagles still had other plans, though, as they intercepted McCann three times after going down big and scored two unanswered touchdowns to cut the lead to four points with just fewer than three minutes remaining in the game.
Franklin's defense forced McCann into a three and out when the Hornets looked to ice the game with a few first downs. The Eagles took over on their own 36-yard line with two minutes, 10 seconds left and on their first play executed a double reverse pass play that resulted in an 18-yard gain, putting them in Hornets territory. But on their second play a tipped ball popped into the air and fell in the arms of McCann senior cornerback Tim DeBlois to seal a 20-16 victory for McCann as they keep their perfect season alive at 6-0.
As big as DeBlois's game-sealing interception was in the waning minutes of the game, perhaps the biggest play by the Hornet defense came right before half-time. Franklin got the ball on their second interception on back-to-back drives and drove all the way down to the 2-yard line. They had first and goal with 24 seconds to play but McCann came up huge, stuffing the Eagles three straight times to keep the score at 20-8 going into break. The momentum could have completely changed had the Eagles punched that in, but the Hornets stacked up the Eagles' last attempt as time ran out drove the ball carrier back five yards.
"Our defense really really stepped up when we had to. We certainly made a few mistakes. I made mistakes with things I called offensively today, but the defense really rose to the occasion," said McCann head coach Bob LeClair. "They did a super job."
Despite turning the ball over three times, the McCann defense made up for it with four takeaways of their own including three interceptions, and a fumble recovery.
Junior Adam Dufur got things started for the defense after McCann took a 14-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Eathan Heller. On the ensuing drive, Dufur rushed the quarterback, knocked the ball out of his hands and pounced on it to set up the Hornet's on Franklin's 27-yard line. Five plays later, Heller rumbled in from 9 yards out to put the score at 20-0.
Heller ended up leaving the game right before half when he injured his left ankle while making a tackle.
"That was big with Eathan going down,” LeClair said. “The ankle just wasn't good enough to go back in. He said he couldn't do it. But we had to adjust to that.”
Coming out of half-time, McCann turned to senior Brett Pecor to carry the load. Pecor rushed eight times for 44 of the Hornets' 48 yards on the drive but the offense could not punch it in from the 4-yard line. After turning it over on downs, the Hornets defense got the ball right back on an interception but again the offense looked off and their drive stalled around the 13-yard line, turning it back over on downs to the Eagles.
"That's a well coached team. They're a tough team. Every year it's like this with those guys," LeClair said. "Doesn't matter here, there. Doesn't matter where we play it's going to be like that."
Senior captain Adam LeClair said it's important to have games like this.
"When you come off a tough team you play tough the next week and when you come off a blowout you play down to the other team's level,” Adam LeClair said. “That's exactly what they did today. They came off a tough game and played well. We made key errors that they took advantage of. This game will be big because we will be working hard this week in practice to make sure we finish of the season strong.”
Photos of this game here.
