Pathfinder Tops Monument Mountain
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- The Pathfinder football team Friday scored twice on defense and got a touchdown after running back an interception to the 3 in a 24-14 win over Monument Mountain.
The win gave Pathfinder (4-4, 4-0 Tri-County) a league championship and dropped the Spartans to 3-5 (2-2) heading into two weeks of crossover games for non-State Tournament qualifiers.
Despite the final score, it was a defensive battle on Senior Night in Spartan Stadium.
The only score of the first quarter came when Monument Mountain quarterback Dominic Calautti broke through in the right side and raced 40 yards to give his team a 6-0 lead.
The run was one of just five offensive plays for the Spartans in the first 19 minutes, 8 seconds of game time.
But while Pathfinder dominated the time of possession in the first half, it had just two points to show for it.
The Spartans got a red zone interception by James Green and a goal line stand to stop a drive that went 70 yards and took 13 plays.
"I'm really proud of the way the defense fought through there," Monument Mountain coach Chris Tucci said.
"There's just moments. You know, they've got talented runners who can find those gaps. We took some risks on the blitz, and they took advantage of it. But there wasn't any quit in the team, all the way up until the end."
Just after that goal line stand with 4:52 left in the half, Pathfinder caught its first break of the game.
The Spartans took over on their 7 and ran for minus-3 on first down. After an incomplete pass on second, another tackle for a loss resulted in a safety and a 6-2 score that held up until half-time.
Monument Mountain got the ball to start the second half, but on its third play, a bad snap from the 25 led to another safety that cut its lead to 6-4.
Then, things snowballed.
After the free kick, Pathfinder needed just one play to find the end zone on a 32-yard run by Caleb Crum.
Then, on Monumnent's next possession, a tipped pass from midfield ended up in the arms of a Pathfinder defender, who took the ball all the way to the 3. Quarterback Grayson Griswold scored on first-and-goal, and a Crum conversion made it 18-6, Pioneers, midway through the third.
A fumble at midfield on the Spartans next possession led to a 30-yard Pathfinder scoring drive and a 24-6 Pioneer lead to start the fourth quarter.
An 10-play Spartan drive stalled at the Pathfinder 34, but Monument Mountain's defense forced a punt right away, giving its offense the ball at the plus-48 with 6:39 left to play.
Three plays later, Calautti hit Cole Errichetto, who broke a tackle and went 45 yards for a touchdown. The pair hooked up again on the conversion to make it a 10-point game with 5:02 left on the clock.
Pathfinder mnanaged just one first down on its next possession, but, critically, it took 2:30 off the clock before the Spartans blocked a punt to get the ball at midfield with 2:26 left to play.
Any hopes of a miracle comeback were dashed when Ethan Mooney picked off a pass for Pathfinder. And the Pioneers converted a fourth-and-1 at their 29 in the final minute to allow them to run out the clock.
Just like the Spartans did not quit down by 18 points in the fourth quarter, Tucci is not expecting his team to quit in its final two games.
"We love playing football here at Monument Mountain," he said. "We're always happy to play whatever games they'll give us, and we'll line up against anybody who's willing to line up against us. That's the kind of character they have."