NORTH ADAMS — A well-executed play can work no matter how many times the defense has seen it before.
When first-year McCann Tech head coach Tony Skiffington needed to put the ball in the end zone against Mahar, he went back to a bread-and-butter play the Hornets ran several times before.
The play called for quarterback Andrew Koch to fake the handoff to his running back, roll out and find Zavier Martin-Levesque on a corner route. McCann’s run-heavy offense makes play-action passes deadly, but Koch and Martin-Levesque struggled to get on the same page all afternoon. One pass sailed out of bounds. Another time, Martin-Levesque cut his route short and the pass went long.
Both times the receiver had been wide open, so Skiffington stored the play away for the right moment.
A Darius Tovani forced fumble and recovery gave the Hornets great field position late in the third quarter. After three straight runs, the hosts went back the play-action pass. This time, Koch connected with Martin-Levesque for a 27-yard touchdown with 10 minutes, 18 seconds left in the game. The score proved to be the winner, as the Hornets started Skiffington’s tenure with a 6-0 win on Saturday.
“It feels great,” Martin-Levesque said of catching the winning touchdown. “Seeing nobody near me, being wide open, it felt good getting that score.”
Mahar actually out-rushed McCann 152 to 105, but the Hornets’ willingness to stick with the run paid off. Darius Tovani led the way with 66 yards on 10 carries. Connor Berard had 49 yards on 16 carries. He added two catches for 28 yards.
“It helps us a lot, getting those big plays with the runs,” Martin-Levesque said. “The linemen especially, getting the big block, key blocks, making those big plays happen.”
Mahar mounted a seven-play drive in response to the touchdown, but an incomplete pass gave the ball back to McCann with less than six minutes remaining in the game.
To their credit, the Senators hunkered down and forced a three-and-out. They got the ball and embarked on an 11-play drive, gaining three first downs and moving to the McCann 28.
While McCann went back to a familiar play with success, the visitors may have become too predictable. On second-and-8 from the 28, Martin-Levesque jumped a pass from Aydan Sevigny and intercepted the ball, ending the threat.
Mahar had one last possession with 1:05 left. A sack on first down, followed by an incompletion, a fumble and a false start ended any real chance the Senators had of scoring. Sevigny’s fourth-and-long heave fell incomplete, ending the game.
“We saw these guys last week in a scrimmage and we prepared the guys as best we could,” Skiffington said. “They really took it in. They adjusted, I didn’t have to call a defense the whole game. … They saw an alignment and they were in a specific defense. They did a great job out there adjusting.”
The celebration after the game was lively. After missing the postseason last year, Skiffington hopes starting the new season with a win could propel the Hornets back into the Western Massachusetts tournament.
“Can’t win ‘em all if you don’t win the first one,” he said. “We’re taking it one game at a time. We’ve got a big test next week against Palmer.”