TURNERS FALLS — Turners Falls High School and Greenfield High School proved that they don’t just save the memorable games for Turkey Day.
Nick Croteau’s diving catch in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter provided the only points of the night and the Indians made it six wins in a row over the rival Green Wave with an 8-0 Intercounty League North Division football victory Friday night at Edward J. Bourdeau Field.
As is the case with many of the Thanksgiving Day games played, the Indians and Green Wave remained tight throughout and were locked in a scoreless battle into the fourth quarter as both defenses played tough. The difference came after the Turners Falls defense forced Greenfield to punt from deep in its own territory, setting the Indians up with their best starting field position of the rainy evening.
Quinn Doyle ran the punt back to the Green Wave 33, but even with the good field position, the Indians (4-0 overall) threatened to squander the opportunity. After two runs by Doyle, the Indians faced a third-and-7 from the Wave 30. At that point, Turners Falls quarterback Tionne Brown dropped back and fired a perfect spiral down the middle of the field to Croteau, who laid out at the goal line and hauled in the pass in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game with 6 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game. Brown then scrambled on the two-point conversion and found Croteau again, as the two accounted for all eight points.
“I think we put ourselves in bad positions all game, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Turners Falls coach Chris Lapointe said. “We would move the ball and then make a mistake. On that last drive, kids stepped up and made some plays.
“And we can throw the ball, it’s not like we can’t,” Lapointe continued. “We have confidence in Tionne throwing the ball and you had two great athletes making a play.”
The teams were meeting in the regular season for the first time in the 90-year history of the rivalry and even though the game did not have the feel that it does when the teams clash on Turkey Day, both teams showed up to play. Turners Falls looked like it was going to strike on the very first possession of the game, as the Indians marched down the field into the Wave’s red zone, but had the drive stall out following a chop-block penalty that set the team back 15 yards.
That set the tone for what was to come, as both teams were able to move the ball a bit, but never really threatened to score over the first three quarters. Turners Falls defensive lineman and Greenfield linebacker Tyler Townsley both set the tone for their respective defenses.
Greenfield (1-3) played the game without leading running back RJ Byrd, who was suspended and not on the sideline. The Wave’s best chance to get on the board came late in the third quarter when the Wave marched to the Turners Falls 30, but a chop block penalty was called on Greenfield, which all but ended the drive. Greenfield did follow the Turners Falls touchdown by driving to the Turners Falls 29, but Castine and Jack Darling combined to sack Green Wave quarterback Tyler Miner on a second-and-5, and the Wave was unable to advance the ball any further and eventually turned the ball over on downs with 1:57 left.
“We had some mistakes that hurt us on offense, and we don’t have a high-powered offense that can convert third-and-longs, we do enough to try to get it done,” Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski said. “But I’m proud of our rag-shag group. They hit hard, they flew around, and Tyler Miner had an awesome game. I’m proud of them for overcoming adversity and for playing hard.
“We had 17 kids at practice on Wednesday, and 19 on Thursday, and I couldn’t be prouder of them for how they played tonight.”
Quinn Doyle, who rushed for over 200 yards on Turkey Day last fall, had another nice night for the Indians, rushing the ball 29 times for 122 yards.
Brown also completed only one other pass besides the Croteau touchdown, and that went for a 1-yard loss to Darling. Brown finished 2-for-9 on the night, although a number of his attempts were broken up by Green Wave defenders such as Miner and Colin Kosuda, who were making nice plays in the secondary.
Townsley finished with 52 yards rushing on 16 carries to lead the Green Wave ground attack. Miner finished 3-of-6 through the air for 36 yards, which included a 21-yard completion to Kosuda, and a 13-yard hookup with Haselton.