Lee Runs Past Hoosac Valley in Battle of Unbeatens
CHESHIRE, Mass. – The Lee High football team Saturday had the ball just twice in the second half of Saturday’s showdown at Hoosac Valley.
And the Wildcats held it for 16 minutes, 24 seconds in those two possessions, driving for the half’s only two touchdowns in a 26-14 win.
Jaydee Reber ran for 133 yards, and his brother Dawson ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns as Lee improved to 5-0 this fall in a battle of the top two ranked teams in the commonwealth in Division 8.
David Kirchner completed three of five passes for 53 yards and a touchdown.
But it was Lee’s dominant rushing game and a key forced fumble late in the third quarter were the difference as the Wildcats overcame a 14-12 half-time deficit.
“I leaned on my front line, let’s just leave it at that,” Jaydee Reber said. “With my brother in the backfield, he’s keeping me pushing, keeping me motivated.”
“We go on a 10-minute drive [to start the fourth quarter], just shy of 10 minutes,” Lee coach Tom Salinetti said. “I’m just so proud of the way that our guys hung in there and fought that. What a drive – the highs and the lows. We kept that thing alive by a hair.
“I am so proud of our guys, top to bottom, right now. They fought so hard today. And they were so well prepared.”
The teams went blow-for-blow in the first 24 minutes as the game more than lived up to expectations.
Lee drew first blood, marching from its 24 to the game’s first score in a drive that consumed 5:50 and was a precursor of what was to come.
Reber capped it with a 4-yard run on first-and-goal, but Hoosac Valley stuffed the two-point conversion run to keep it 6-0.
The Hurricanes then struck quickly after a short kickoff, going 56 yards in five plays. Qwanell Bradley (66 yards) had a 29-yard run to the left side to get the ball to the 1, and QB Ben Payton took it in from there. Adan Wicks’ extra point was right down the middle, and the hosts had a 7-6 lead late in the first quarter.
Again, Lee mounted a long drive, going from its 27 to paydirt in a march that took 13 plays.
It only included one pass attempt, but it was a big one, a 17-yard throw from Kirchner to Gabe Ranzoni to put the ball at the 4-yard line. The Hurricanes’ defense stiffened, but on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Kirchner squeezed through to give his team a 12-7 lead with 4:45 left in the half.
A 17-yard kickoff return by Wicks gave the Hurricanes possession at their 42, and Hoosac Valley went to the air three times to get into the red zone. Payton was 3-for-3 on the drive, hitting Kamarion Kastner for a 26-yard pickup to the 1. Payton then ran it in on second down, and Hoosac Valley had a 14-12 lead at half-time.
“We go into half keeping our heads up, you know,” Jaydee Reber said. “We listened to what our coach says. Keep grinding. Came out, punched them in the mouth when we got the ball to start the half – great execution.
“We’ve been talking about that all week. We need that against these guys. Good football team. We played great.”
Getting the ball at the 31 after Matt Mairo’s 15-yard kick return to start the second half, Lee ran nine straight times to get to Hoosac’s 27.
The ninth run was stuffed for no gain by the Hurricanes’ Jacob Borawski, leaving Lee a fourth-and-5.
That’s when Kirchner connected with Thomas Lucy deep down the left side for the go-ahead touchdown. Again, the conversion failed, but Lee had an 18-14 lead with 5:30 left in the third.
“Our main thing is the run game,” Jaydee Reber said. “But we’ve been working on our pass. It’s coming along. We have a great quarterback, great wide receivers. We’re not afraid to throw the ball.
“It’s something we’ll keep working on. Same with our run game – keep working, keep pushing. On to the next.”
Hoosac Valley, trailing for the second time in the game, rallied. The Hurricanes’ first play of its ensuing possession drew a holding call that pushed them back to their 28, but Payton directed his team down to the plus-19 as the clock ran down on the third quarter.
On first-and-10 from the 19, though, Mason Lucy and Cam Simmons combined on a hit on Hoosac Valley’s Bradley that forced the ball out of his arms and right to Lee linebacker Seamus Cooney.
“Lee’s a good football team,” Hoosac Valley coach Marshall Maxwell said. “They played very well today. Lee’s defense did not stop Hoosac’s offense. We stopped ourselves. … We punted the first series of the game, and we didn’t punt the ball after that. We score every other time, and then we turn the ball over.”
Cooney’s recovery gave the Wildcats the ball at their 14 to start the fourth quarter.
That is where Lee launched the drive for the ages.
The Reber brothers split the carries in the 17-play, 86-yard drive that ended with Dawson squeezing through the pile and extending the ball for a score on third-and-goal from the 1. Kirchner threw to Ranzoni for the conversion to make it 26-14.
The drive also featured a lot of Lee’s running game and a bit of drama: a Jaydee Reber first-down pickup on fourth-and-3 at midfield that required a measurement from the chain gang to confirm.
“The fourth down pickup, that was amazing,” Jaydee Reber said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without our boys. It’s a team effort out here. We’re a family.”
Hoosac Valley’s offense got the ball back at its 28 with 2:06 on the clock, and completions of 24 yards and 10 yards from Payton to Kastner and Wicks helped bring the ball to the Lee 20. But Lee’s Blake Hoff picked off a pass at the 10 with 1:20 left to seal the win.
Hoosac Valley (4-1) will look to get back in the win column on Friday when it goes to BCC to face Taconic. The Hurricanes will have to put out of their mind the sting of what might have been and look ahead to a hoped-for post-season run in the 16-team state tournament.
“I told them, everything is still attainable,” Maxwell said. “We’re playing for a state championship. But we can’t go anywhere with continuing to play inconsistent football like we’re doing. I told them this game is going to come down to five critical moments in the game. And in those five critical moments, we did not meet the challenge.”
Lee (5-0), meanwhile, goes into Friday’s home finale against Easthampton knowing it has met every challenge to date. Salinetti has a plan to continue to challenge his players.
“Show them the film,” he said. “Show them the film. Games like these, you show them the film and let them see what we need to work on. And you also trust that while they are 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds and prone to getting too high or too low, you trust that they’re going to hold each other accountable.”
Photos from this game to come.