NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The McCann Tech Hornets earned a 32-8 victory Saturday afternoon on Senior Day against the Mohawk Warriors.
The Hornets opened the scoring with a 44-yard run from Dakota Bolte on their fourth play of the game.
After Nick Lincoln ran it in for the extra two points the Hornets led, 8-0, with 8 minutes and 49 seconds still remaining in the quarter.
They didn't hold that lead long as Mohawk answered on its next possession. It took 17 plays, running the clock down to the final 20 seconds of the quarter before Julian Diamond scored with a quarterback sneak from the 2.
The 2-point conversion was good to tie it 8-8 after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, after a Steve Stodja punt return, the Hornets were able to get into the red zone after struggling a few possessions before.
Quarterback Mike Ferrara sent a pass from the 20-yard line to Lincoln, who bobbled the pass, but Bolte was able to catch the rebound to give McCann a first down at the 9-yard line. On the next play Lincoln drove to the 2, putting that at first and goal with 16 seconds to go in the half.
Ferrara then took a quarterback sneak into the end zone to give the Hornets a 16-8 lead going into half-time.
"That was very important, we had a chance to do it and didn't score and luckily we were able to get the ball back and that really got momentum going for us," McCann coach Bob LeClair said about getting a half-time lead. "It wouldn't have been very comfortable at half-time if we didn't."
Early in the second half, McCann forced a punt from Mohawk; Stodja returned it 56 yards into the end zone to give McCann a 22-8 advantage with the 2-point conversion.
On Mohawk's next drive they were yet again forced to punt; putting the ball in the hands of Stodja again, where he repeated the previous play to take a 30-8 lead with 5 minutes and 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
"We get the three and outs like we did and they have to punt the ball and two in a row; it just got us going, but those are big, big plays," LeClair said.
The Hornets' final two points came in the fourth quarter with 4:58 remaining. Nate Richardson, Justin Horn and Chad Zappone were on the tackle teamed up on the tackle for safety.
The McCann defense picked off two interceptions for the day. One came from Keegan Case in the final 23 seconds of the game and Mohawk looked to drive into the endzone.
"Defensively, we didn't start out too well, but after they scored on their first possession the defense really stepped up," LeClair said. "We did very well after that, I think we shut them down for the most part."
McCann finishes the regular season 6-2 and will wait for tournament seedings to be announced Sunday.
