GREENFIELD — When Greenfield High School linebacker RJ Byrd stepped into the lane and delivered a punishing hit on Turners Falls running back Wyatt Keith with just over one minute to go in Thursday’s 92nd Turkey Day game between the teams, causing the ball to come loose, Green Wave defensive tackle Cam Lackey had one thing on his mind.
“I saw RJ hit him and the ball come out, and nobody was stopping me from getting that ball,” he said.
The fumble recovery by the junior helped the Green Wave seal the deal and walk away with its second consecutive thrilling victory in the series, 40-38, before a raucous crowd in blistering cold at Veterans Memorial Field.
Things remained tight throughout, although the Green Wave led most of the way. Turners scored just three plays into the game, but Greenfield came back and took an 8-7 lead with 7 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter. The Wave never trailed again, although Turners remained within striking distance, as its biggest deficit of the day was nine points late in the first quarter, and the Thunder then trailed by eight points or less from the middle of the second quarter on.
The difference came down to conversions, as both teams scored six touchdowns on the day. Turners Falls was 2-for-2 kicking extra points on its first two touchdowns, but the Green Wave was 2-for-2 on 2-point conversions on each of its first two scores. Because of that, Turners went away from kicking extra points and began to go for two on its final four touchdowns, but never converted once. Greenfield also failed to convert on its final four touchdowns of the day, but the Wave’s early two-point lead proved to be the difference.
The final few minutes were full of drama and for the second year in a row, Greenfield had a huge play on a fourth-and-long late in the game. One year ago, receiver Danny “Noonie” Vega hit Hunter Campbell for a 38-yard option-pass touchdown on fourth-and-23 that sparked the Wave’s 22-18 comeback victory to end a six-year winning streak by the Powertown. This year, it was a fourth-and-15 from the Turners 35 with 6:16 to play and Greenfield clinging to a 34-32 lead. Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski called for Vega to fake a punt, but when the teams lined up and he saw the Turners Falls defense, he got cold feet.
“I called it, I tried to get out of it, and Noonie didn’t hear me,” Kuchieski said of the call.
Vega took the snap and rolled to his right, but the Turners defense had all the Green Wave receivers covered, so Vega pulled the ball down and began to look for space. What he found was an opening in the middle of the field, and he dodged several defenders on his way to a 35-yard rushing touchdown that put the Wave back up by eight.
“I just knew I had to score, I knew we had to score,” Vega said. “I saw them going for my receivers and it was wide open down the lane, and I just had to run. I know I’ve got quick feet. and I’m gonna do my best to get in there and I did.”
Greenfield was stopped on the conversion attempt, giving Turners Falls plenty of time to drive down the field, which it did, as Keith and quarterback Kyle Dodge each came up with big plays. Dodge had the biggest of all, hitting Jaden Whiting on a 19-yard completion on fourth-and-9 to keep the drive alive at one point. On third-and-7 from the Green Wave 8, Dodge pulled the ball down on a pass play and scampered toward the pylon along the Turners sideline, where he dove as he was hit, and hit the pylon with the ball for a touchdown with 1:15 to play, leaving Turners down by two points. On the conversion, Turners coach Chris Lapointe lined up offensive lineman Reilan Castine at fullback, just as he did earlier in the game when Castine scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown. This time, the Greenfield front five got a good push and Nick Lyons stuffed the run attempt as Lackey and Colby Avery joined in on the Green Wave push to keep Castine out.
“It’s not one play. There were several plays we didn’t convert on,” Lapointe said of the call. “We’re better than that. That takes nothing away from (Greenfield), they played great. How many conversions did we miss, five? You just can’t do that. We just didn’t play very well.”
While the Green Wave sideline erupted, things were far from over. Turners attempted an onside kick and the ball took a perfect hop away from Avery, allowing Tyler Lavin to recover it and set up the Thunder at the Greenfield 42. On the next play, Keith picked a bad time to commit the game’s only fumble. As he did all game, Byrd delivered a hard hit to Keith after the running back was seven yards up the field and looking like he might just break away for another long touchdown run. The hit jarred the ball loose and Lackey and Wave teammate Jake Sak each found themselves at the bottom of what turned into a very large pile. Sak suffered a leg injury on the play, but Lackey got the ball and Greenfield took over with a minute left.
“Colby (Avery) came up to me before the play and said, ‘We need a hero, let’s be it,’” Lackey said.
Three runs later, the Green Wave was celebrating its second straight victory.
“I’d be crying but my eyes are frozen,” joked Green Wave senior Dionn Casanova. “The seniors talked before the game and said we had to go out and play backyard football. We wanted to hit hard.”
“This is the most satisfying win I’ve ever had as a player because nobody thought we had a chance in this game,” said Greenfield quarterback Owen Phelps, who finished 4-of-7 for 81 yards and two touchdowns on the day.
“This is our house and we knew what we had to do,” Byrd added. “It was a team effort. We knew we could beat them with a team effort.”
What may have been the coldest game ever played between the teams on Turkey Day will also go down as one of the hottest on the field, as every player who stepped on the field on Thursday seemed to make at least one memorable play. Keith had a huge day for Turners, finishing with 346 yards and four touchdowns, his yardage leaving him one yard shy of tying his Turkey Day counterpart, Byrd, for the single-game rushing mark in the area after Byrd had a 347-yard performance earlier in the season against Athol. Keith still went into the area record books on the day, as his 346-yard performance gave him 2,355 yards on the season. He became only the second player ever from the area to eclipse 2,000 yards in his career, joining former Turners running back Ryan Wilder, who had 2,015 yards in 2012.
“Numbers are cool and stuff, but we didn’t win, so honestly it doesn’t matter,” Keith said. “I’m really proud of my team and the O-line for getting me the yards that I got, but if we don’t win, I don’t really care what I get for yards.”
Byrd, meanwhile, entered the day 209 yards away from becoming the third player in area history to go over the 2,000-yard mark in a season. He left nothing to chance as he rushed for 301 yards and three touchdowns on the afternoon to finish the season with 2,092 yards, the first player ever from Greenfield to hit the mark.
“It’s great,” Byrd said of reaching the milestone. “My line knew I needed 209 to get there and all week they said we were going to get it.”
The teams combined for the most points ever on Turkey Day, easily eclipsing the 1982 total of 61 when Greenfield won 47-14. The 38 points put up by Turners Falls is also the most-ever points scored by the team on Turkey Day, as it beat the previous best of 36 points, done several times. The most points scored by Turners Falls in a loss on Thanksgiving was 20.
The thermometer read approximately 16 degrees at kickoff and it only seemed to get colder, as a stiff wind made it feel like it was in the single digits throughout the game. Turners wasted no time in making a statement as Keith took the third handoff of the game 56 yards to paydirt and Lavin’s extra-point kick was true for a 7-0 lead. Greenfield came right back and on a third-and-6 from its own 46, Phelps hit tight end Casanova with a quick pass and the senior got on his horse and ran in for a 54-yard touchdown.
“A tight end pop pass is just supposed to be a a first down,” Casanova said. “Nobody ever expects me to score, but I was like, ‘I’m not getting tackled on this frozen ground.’”
Casanova came up huge on defense on the ensuing series as his sack of Dodge led to a Turners punt and Greenfield was able to turn around and take the lead. A nine-play drive resulted in Phelps hitting Nate Haselton with a 2-yard touchdown pass, and Vega converted the conversion on a reverse to put the Wave up 16-7 with 1:04 left in the first quarter. Turners went to work on its ensuing drive and used a trick play to set up its next touchdown, as Whiting took a backward pass and pulled up to throw the ball. Teammate Jake Wallace was wide open down the field and reeled in the 40-yard completion. Later in the drive, Castine plunged in from 1 yard out and Lavin kicked the point after to close the gap to 16-14.
Greenfield looked like it was going to quickly retake the lead as two plays after the Turners touchdown, Byrd sprinted 69 yards but was knocked out of bounds by a hustling Andy Craver just shy of the goal line. On first-and-goal from the 1, Phelps tried to sneak the ball across the line but fumbled and Turners recovered at the 1. The Green Wave defense responded three plays later as Dodge was hit while throwing out of the end zone on a third-and-10, and Haselton made an acrobatic interception, setting up the Wave at the Turners 23. Three plays later Byrd scored from 3 yards out for a 22-14 lead. Turners responded just before halftime as a 25-yard pass play from Dodge to Lavin brought the ball to the Green Wave 1 and Keith ran it in with 27 seconds left. Whiting dropped the conversion attempt, keeping the score 22-20 in favor of the Wave at the break.
After both bands took the field for a halftime performance, it took Byrd one play to make a statement in the second half, as he took the opening handoff 58 yards for a touchdown and a 28-20 Wave lead. After each team traded punts, Keith would score his third of the day from 4 yards out to bring Turners back to 28-26.
Greenfield was again forced to punt following the touchdown, and Turners put together a drive that looked like it might give the Thunder the lead, but Dodge was picked off by Vega at the Wave 9. Two plays later, Byrd sprinted 91 yards for a touchdown and put himself over the 2,000-yard mark for his career. Once again, Turners came back as Keith took a handoff up the middle from the Wave 47, bounced off a pack of linemen, and went untouched for a touchdown with 9:05 to play that pulled Turners to within two at 34-32. That set up the dramatic finish.
“Thirty years from now we are going to be sitting back and looking at this and know that we did it,” Vega concluded.
Byrd piled up his yards on 22 carries, while Haselton caught two passes for 16 yards. Vega added a catch for 11 yards.
Dodge finished his final game for Turners 3-for-9 for 74 yards with two interceptions. Whiting had two catches for 49 yards and added eight yards rushing.
For more photos from the game, see the story on recorder.com.