NORTH ADAMS — Eighty-nine yards, three minutes.
For the Drury High School football team, that’s what stood between victory and defeat Saturday afternoon.
There would be no coming up short on this rainy and cold Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils marched those 89 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a 4-yard run by Jamal Beda with 30 seconds remaining, as the Blue Devils (3-4, 2-1 Intercounty West) beat visiting Mohawk Trail Regional High School, 14-6, in Intercounty League West football.
The Blue Devils handled the inclement weather conditions much better than the visitors from Buckland. Mohawk (3-4, 1-3) lost two of five fumbles, and had a costly pass-interference penalty on Drury’s game-winning drive.
“We had too many mistakes all game long,” Mohawk coach Doug McCloud said. “Not holding onto the ball, not being where we’re supposed to be, too many penalties. And they came back and beat us.
“I told the kids, if you let a team hang around, they’re going to beat you. Give those kids credit. They played their asses off and they won.”
The Blue Devils took the lead on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Obilio Rodriguez to Thaylen Harrison in the third quarter. Mohawk took the kickoff and answered with a 16-play scoring drive of its own. Jonny Herbert, who ran for 111 yards on 17 carries, scored on a 23-yard sprint down the left sideline. Herbert also ran in the two-point conversion, giving the Warriors an 8-6 lead.
If you are a believer in bad omens, one came up on Drury’s next series. The Blue Devils had to punt but the ball deflected off a Mohawk player and was recovered by Drury’s Nate Hillard inside the Warrior 40. The Drury line moved prior to the kick, so the recovery was wiped out.
The Drury defense rose up and stopped Mohawk at midfield, forcing a 36-yard punt that gave Drury the ball on its 11. There was 3 minutes, 2 seconds left on the clock.
Rodriguez, a sophomore quarterback, got things started by hitting Harrison for a 17-yard gain. Rodriguez, who finished the game 10-of-15 for 148 yards, had an inviting target all day in Harrison. The senior caught seven passes — three on the final drive — for 129 yards.
“The ball’s wet. I’ve got to keep holding on and drive them down the field,” Rodriguez said, when asked what he thought about in the huddle.
But the biggest play of the drive wasn’t a pass intended for Harrison, but rather for Hayden Bird. Bird was going for the pass from Rodriguez, but some contact in the secondary drew a pass interference call. That gave the Blue Devils the ball on the Mohawk 13. Two plays later, Beda took a handoff from Rodriguez, started right and cut back to his left. He had an open lane into the end zone.
“I told these guys all day, “You’re not going to have a lot of cuts. You can’t put your foot in the ground and make a cut. It’s going to be too slow and you’re going to slip,’” Drury coach Seth Shepard said. “He kept his feet under him. He looked back and there was a big hole on the back cut. He read it perfectly.”
The Blue Devils weren’t out of danger because of a 15-yard facemask penalty on the kickoff return. It gave the Warriors a first down on the Blue Devil 46. There were only 26 seconds left, and the visitors couldn’t get to the 30 before time ran out.
Beda had 58 yards rushing in 17 carries to pace the Drury ground game. The Warriors outgained the Blue Devils 214 yards to 205, but the Blue Devils had 165 yards in total offense in the second half to 123 for Mohawk.
“We needed that,” said Shepard. “It’s our first home win of the year, coming off a good win last week. It feels good.”