DALTON, Mass. -- After doing nearly everything right to build a 19-0 lead in the first half on Friday night, the Wahconah High School football team had to do it all over again in the fourth quarter.
And as usual, Wahconah did what needed to be done to get the win.
Senior quarterback Nick Clayton marched his team 80 yards in 16 plays to put away a 27-13 win over Pittsfield High.
For the second straight week, Wahconah (6-0) knocked off a previously unbeaten opponent. Pittsfield (4-1) was held to its lowest point total since its 18-14 win over Monument in Week One.
But the Generals did rally with two third-quarter touchdowns, and they were driving for a third that could have given Pittsfield the lead at the end of the third quarter.
On fourth-and-10 at the Wahconah 13, Pittsfield quarterback Chad Shade threw the ball into the end zone under pressure, and Josh Rocca intercepted the throw to give his team possession at its own 20 with 10:53 left to play.
Wahconah then went 80 yards -- 60 on the ground -- killing off most of the remaining time and going back on top by two scores when Clayton connected with Cole Morrison for a 12-yard score, the second passing touchdown of the night for Clayton (9-of-17, 158 yards).
"In the fourth quarter, when they had the momentum and we finally got the ball back, I thought we physically answered the bell," Wahconah coach Gary Campbell said. "I think the offensive line physically answered the bell.
"We did nothing fancy. It was dive right, dive left. It was, 'Boys, eat the clock, and get 3, 4 yards.' And we started to. It was nice."
Quinn Caesar and Tyler Cataldi ran for 151 and 58 yards, respectively.
Pittsfield got just 58 yards rushing from Devon Tucker and 21 yards rushing and 26 passing from Chad Shade. But things were even more bleak for the Generals at halftime, when they had just 12 yards of total offense.
Wahconah scored two first-quarter touchdowns on two very different plays.
It started the game with a 79-yard drive that consumed just more than eight minutes of the clock. The only successful pass came on fourth-and-6 at midfield when Campbell caught Pittsfield thinking punt and Clayton found Morrison for a 23-yard completion.
Caesar capped the drive with a 9-yard run, and Evan Garvey ran in a two-point conversion. There was 2:46 left in the first quarter when Pittsfield's offense touched the ball for the first time, down 8-0.
Wahconah's defnese held the Generals to a three-and-out, and a short punt (precipitated by a bad snap) gave Wahconah the ball at the plus-49.
Four plays later on fourth-and-7, Clayton hit Caesar in the left flat, and the senior running back ran all the way to the right sideline before sprinting in the end zone for a 46-yard score.
Wahconah forced Pittsfield to punt again on its next possession, and the home team got the ball back on its 15.
Clayton drove his team to the Generals' 12, but a procedure call backed Wahconah up into a first-and-15, and Pittsfield's defense stiffened. First Tucker broke up a pass to Ryan Washburn. Then Anthony Jones deflected a pass at the line. Another incompletion on third down forced Wahconah to try a 35-yard field goal with 20 seconds left.
Washburn made the kick with room to spare to make it 19-0.
Rocca recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Wahconah had a chance to get some more points at the Pittsfield 23. After a 20-yard pass to Washburn got the ball to the 3, Clayton was forced to spike the ball with no timeouts and 9 seconds on the clock.
Cataldi ran the ball to the 1 on first down, but Wahconah was not able to get to the line to run another play before time ran out on the first half.
Pittsfield regrouped during the intermission.
"We didn't have to say much," Pittsfield coach Brian Jezewski said. "We had made a couple of special teams mistakes. They executed on plays, and we didn't execute early. They held the ball the entire first quarter, and we knew they were going to try to slow the game down.
"Our guys have heart. We're a veteran team. We're a veteran coaching staff. I never feel we're out of a game."
Pittsfield's offense showed why in the third quarter.
After a failed onside kick attempt by Wahconah gave the Generals the ball at their 39, they went 61 yards for their first score. Shade completed his first two passes on the drive, and Tucker finished it off with a 5-yard run.
Then it was Pittsfield's turn to try a short kickoff, and Matt Gimlewicz recovered it at the Wahconah 47.
Tucker and Shade then took turns running the ball before Shade carried it the last 14 to make it 19-13 with 3:36 left in the third.
Wahconah got the ball back on the ensuing kickoff at its 35 but could not make a first down. A fourth-down try was stopped when Josh Bonney sprinted around the left side of the Wahconah line and hit Clayton as he attempted his throw.
That gave Pittsfield the ball to start the drive that ended with Rocca's pickoff in the end zone and Wahconah's second long march of the game.
It was very nearly a 35-13 final when Wahconah got the ball back on an interception by Washburn, and Caesar broke loose for a 68-yard run from scrimmage from the 31-yard line.
But Shade kept it from being a 69-yard run when he chased Caesar down from behind and stripped the ball with :50 seconds on the clock.
Without any timeouts, Pittsfield was unable to move the ball from its 20, but Shade's dramatic play did not go unnoticed.
"If I could bottle up Chad Shade and sell it -- with the effort he puts out," Jezewski said. "That is probably one of the best high school football plays I've ever seen. We're down by two scores, and ...
"I try to get the younger guys to look up to these older guys. We've had the Dominic Traversas in the past, the Anthony Panettis, those are the guys -- that's what we want a Pittsfield High football player to look like."
Pittsfield hosts Hoosac Valley next Friday. Wahconah entertains Taconic as it finishes the year with three straight home games.
