NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- After giving up half of its two-touchdown, fourth-quarter lead and failing to first down on its ensuing possession, the Mount Greylock football team needed a stop.
Its defense was there to answer the call, stopping McCann Tech on fourth-and-3 at the 35 and preserving a 30-24 independent win that gave the Hornets their first loss of the season.
"It was a great stand," said Mounties quarterback Brodie Altiere, who watches the Mount Greylock defense work from the sideline. "I had all the confidence in the world in them. I knew they could do it. And they did, which is great."
Altiere threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns, and Patrick Storie ran for 122 yards and a score to lead Mount Greylock's offensive attack.
The late defensive stand, coupled with a pair of 8-yard runs by Devin Pelletier to give the Mounties a first down, allowed Mount Greylock (2-3) to take a knee and celebrate its second win in two games.
McCann (4-1) rallied to make a game of it late thanks to a couple of big plays by its defense and a big throw from Mike Ferrara to turn a 30-16 deficit into a one-score gap with six minutes on the clock.
Adam Dufur, who had a sack to end a Mountie drive earlier in the fourth quarter, threw Storie for a 2-yard loss to help force a three-and-out that gave McCann the ball near midfield with plenty of time to get the tying -- and possibly winning -- score.
McCann's Dakota Bolte carried the ball twice for 12 yards to give McCann a first down at the plus-42, and an 8-yard run by Steve Stodja made it a manageable second-and-2.
But Josh Jezouit broke up a pass intended for Bolte to bring up third down. Then the Greylock defense stood up to drop Ferrara for a loss of 1, bringing up fourth-and-3 at the 35.
McCann tried Bolte on a sweep to the right, but Jezouit, Storie and Austan Quagliano sniffed it out and shut the door, dropping Bolte behind the line of scrimmage.
"There was a lot of bad defense before that that we need to fix, but when we had to make a stand, we did," Mount Greylock coach Andrew Agostini said. "Sometimes, it's when you make the plays, not how many you make."
Altiere and the Mount Greylock offense made three big plays in the first half.
On the Mounties' third possession, Altiere hit Sean McCormack for a 29-yard score. Storie's 2-pointer made it 8-0 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Mount Greylock ran its lead to 24-0 with two bombs by Altiere.
McCann took the ball 50 yards on its first possession of the quarter, but a fumble on third-and-goal at the 9 gave the Mounties possession at their 15.
Altiere immediately hooked up with Brandon Condon for an 85-yard TD.
Then after McCann was held to a three-and-out at midfield, Nick Lincoln's punt backed up Mount Greylock to its 13. An offensive interference call backed up the visitors to their 7, but Altiere reared back and launched one down the left side for McCormack, who made the catch and galloped to the end zone for a 93-yard score.
"When they came out, they only had one safety in the middle of the field and they were single covering, so with our receivers, that's all you need," Altiere said. "They'll go up and get the ball."
A 45-yard kickoff return by Matt Dellaghelfa gave McCann good field position, and another interference call -- this one on Mount Greylock's defense -- helped a 33-yard drive that ended in a 1-yard run by Lincoln. Lincoln scored the conversion to make it 24-8 going into half-time.
A fumbled snap on Mount Greylock's first possession of the second half gave McCann a short field again, and three plays later Bolte went in from the 11 to get the Hornets within one score, 24-16.
Mount Greylock saw its next possession end in an interception on a tipped ball, but it cashed in its next chance, going 33 yards via an Alitere pass for 12 and three running plays, the last Storie's 10-yard score.
The teams traded punts to start the fourth quarter before Ferrara hit Bolte deep down the left side for a 50-yard TD to make it 30-24.
For McCann, it was the first loss against a Western Mass opponents in 14 tries going back to the start of last season. Most of those 14 wins -- and the two post-season losses a the end of last year -- have not been very competitive in the fourth quarter.
Hornets coach Bob LeClair was encouraged by the way his team battled in the fourth quarter and gave itself a chance to win.
"We went down kicking and scratching and clawing like you're supposed to and fought all the way," LeClair said. "We didn't tuck our tails when we got down. We kept our heads and kept playing. That's all you can ask of your team, to do that.
"We had a shot. We had time on the clock, we had timeouts, we had everything we needed. Unfortunately, we just didn't make a couple of plays at the end."
Both teams head back to league play on Friday night. McCann Tech travels to face Dean Tech, and Mount Greylock is home to take on Lee.
