NORTH ADAMS — Several local football teams find themselves in the unenviable position of fighting their way through low numbers and serious lack of depth.

Pioneer Valley Regional School brought 17 healthy players up the Mohawk Trail to the northern Berkshires Saturday, and those hardy few were rewarded with a comeback 15-14 victory over McCann Technical School in Tri-County League action.

Wyatt Keith, normally a tight end but converted to tailback, ran for both touchdowns for the Panthers (2-1, 1-1 TCL), including the eventual game-winner and extra-point kick late in the third quarter. The visitors also withstood three turnovers to get out of the shadow of nearby Mount Greylock with the victory.

“It was fun, wasn’t it? Those 11 kids we had out there, they’re tough kids,” said Pioneer coach Paul Worth. “The kids battled and played hard. We started two freshmen today, and they held up. A lot of mistakes, though — a couple of interceptions and a big fumble — those things can bite you in a tough game, but they didn’t today, and we were lucky. I’m happy to get a win, after getting buried by Ware (49-6 last week).”

Not only did the Pioneer defense pitch a second-half shutout Saturday, but the Panthers held McCann to zero first downs and only four yards of total offense after halftime. The Hornets’ five second-half possessions ended in three punts, a lost fumble and a failed fourth-down try.

McCann (0-2, 0-2 TCL) also lost senior quarterback Mike Ferrara, who left the game in the second quarter with what Hornets coach Bob LeClair suspected was a broken left arm. In last season’s meeting of the teams in Northfield, Ferrara suffered a broken ankle. Sophomore Travis Dozier came on for Ferrara and played the rest of the way.

Keith ran for a team-high 46 yards on 18 carries, while Panthers quarterback Scott Perlberg threw it often, going 13-of-26 through the air for 118 yards. Karl Wheeler was his favorite target with five catches for 48 yards and Keith was right behind with three grabs for 42.

Pioneer struck first at the end of an 11-play, 73-yard drive that featured Perlberg’s completions of 12 and 15 yards to Keith and 12 and 11 yards to Wheeler, as well as a 14-yard burst by Tristan Dresser. A pass-interference call in the end zone gave the Panthers first-and-goal at the McCann 2, and Keith went in on a toss sweep to the left for the game’s first points. After a high snap from center on the point-after try, Wheeler, the holder, grabbed the football and ran it in off the right side for a successful two-pointer and a 8-0 lead with 9:34 left in the first half.

McCann was able to hit back with a pair of late second-quarter touchdowns, the first set up when the Hornets’ Tanner Davis intercepted Perlberg and returned the pick 17 yards to the Pioneer 19. Darius Tovani picked up 16 yards on first down, and two plays later, Jason Delisle (game-high 51 rushing yards) ran in the first of his two scores from two yards out. Delisle’s two-point conversion run made it an 8-8 game at the 4:54 mark.

The Panthers then had an apparent 70-yard TD connection from Perlberg to Wheeler wiped out by a holding penalty, and Pioneer fell short on a fourth-and-4 attempt, giving McCann the ball at the Panthers’ 38. Delisle didn’t waste any time, sweeping the right side on first down and cutting up the sideline for the go-ahead score. Pioneer’s Jake Comiskey and Justin Hubbard teamed up to keep Delisle out of the end zone on the two-point try, but McCann held a 14-8 lead with 1:50 to go.

Zavier Martin-Levesque then came up with McCann’s second interception of Perlberg, but the Hornets couldn’t advance further than the Pioneer 33 as the first half ended.

After the teams exchanged punts to begin the third quarter, the Panthers got started on their second scoring drive from their own 45-yard line. Perlberg completed four passes, two to Wheeler and one each to Keith and Jake Wallace, and Pioneer also got a first down when McCann jumped offside on third-and-2. With 2:11 to play in the third, Keith did it himself, going in on third-and-goal from the 2, then tacked on the extra-point kick for a 15-14 Pioneer lead and the eventual winning margin.

Pioneer then survived a bit of a scare when Keith fumbled at his own 30 and Tovani recovered for McCann. On the very next play, the Hornets’ Connor Berard lost the football and Dresser pounced on it for the Panthers.

The visitors then came up short on a pair of fourth downs inside McCann territory, but the Hornets couldn’t capitalize. Perlberg and Comiskey combined to make a key fourth-down stop at McCann’s 47, giving Pioneer the ball on downs with 1:13 to go. After a pair of McCann timeouts and a 5-yard sneak by Perlberg on third-and-4, the Panthers could finally kill the clock.

Pioneer outgained McCann 192-136 for the afternoon, but the Panthers’ second-half advantage of 100-4 stood out glaringly.

“The kids played better in the second half, it was that simple,” said Worth. “They really had a great defensive effort, they gang-tackled, just like we preach. They decided to win the game, and it was up to them – it’s never up to me.”

Pioneer next hosts Mohawk Trail Regional High School Saturday at 1 p.m. in Northfield, while McCann welcomes in Turners Falls High School Saturday at 1 p.m.