TURNERS FALLS — The new football season began brightly enough for Turners Falls High School Friday night with a touchdown inside the first two minutes, but Lee High School answered with a score of its own with less than two seconds to play before halftime and controlled the action throughout the second half for a 21-7 non-conference victory at Bourdeau Fields.
Kyle Dodge connected with Andy Craver on a 50-yard touchdown pass just 1:57 into the game and Tyler Lavin’s extra point gave the hosts an instant 7-0 lead.
The Thunder then drove twice deep into Lee territory before failing on downs. On the second series, Turners had first-and-goal at the Lee 8 before a block-below-the-waist call thwarted the scoring bid.
Lee (1-0) was held to three first downs and 51 yards of offense through its first four possessions, but the Wildcats benefited from a fumble recovery at the Turners 45-yard line with only 11.4 seconds left in the half. Homer Winston immediately aired one out to Nik Nicotra on a post pattern for a touchdown that beat the clock with 1.6 seconds to go. Will Consolati then drilled the extra point to lift Lee into the 7-7 tie.
The Thunder outgained the Wildcats 211-96 over the first 22 minutes of play.
“We talk about four quarters, and it took us four quarters,” said Lee coach Keith Thomson. “They hit us right away, but we got two stops in the red zone after that. Once we could start to control the line of scrimmage, we beat a very good football team.”
Lee then flipped the script by limiting Turners to only 35 yards in the second half, while piling up 219 yards of its own. The Wildcats took the opening drive of the second half 60 yards in eight plays, keyed by a 30-yard completion from Winston to Ben Harding that put the ball at the Thunder’s 10. Andrew Ruef then ran it in on the next play for a 13-7 lead.
Harding came up with an interception of Dodge at the Lee 22, and the Wildcats went back to work behind Nicotra, who rambled for a game-high 140 yards on 11 carries. He burst free for a 63-yard gain down to the Turners 15, then blew straight up the middle on the next play for the score. Ruef added the two-point conversion run to make it 21-7 with 3:30 to play in the third.
After a Turners punt set Lee back to its own 19, the Wildcats drove long-field for over seven minutes, with a pair of 13-yard gains by Ruef (14 carries, 69 yards) and two 12-yarders by Nicotra. They reached the Thunder 2 before Turners’ Jacob Wilson jumped on a fumble. Lee would get the ball back shortly thereafter on Harding’s second interception of the night, and the Wildcats’ Tag Roosa added a third pick with less than two minutes to go.
Wyatt Keith, one of six former Pioneer Valley Regional School players now suiting up for Turners in a co-op agreement, led the Thunder with 107 yards on 19 carries, with 89 of those yards coming in the first half. Dodge completed 7-of-21 passes for 121 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.
Lee finished the night with 243 rushing yards. Winston was 3-of-8 passing for 72 yards with a TD and an interception.
“We’re good, but we can’t overcome turnovers or missed plays, and we had quite a few missed plays,” said Turners coach Chris Lapointe. “That’s a good quality team, and we can’t afford to miss the opportunities we had.”
Turners travels to Athol next Friday for a 7 p.m. game, while Lee hosts Turners’ crosstown rival Franklin Tech Friday night at 7.