TURNERS FALLS — The “Powertown Cup” doesn’t actually exist, but if the two neighboring high schools of Montague can follow Saturday’s lead and produce as exciting a finish on a regular basis, it might be time for the town to make the mythical prize a reality.
Franklin County Technical School may have seemed out of the woods when it scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2½ minutes to play, but that left visiting Turners Falls High School enough clock to put together its own winning drive.
Kyle Dodge hit Jaden Whiting with a 20-yard touchdown pass with 51.2 seconds remaining, tying the score, and Tyler Lavin untied it with his third extra-point kick of the afternoon, lifting Turners to a 21-20 victory in sun-splashed Intercounty League North action.
Trailing 20-14, Turners (3-4, 2-3 IL North) took over at its own 41 after a 12-yard kickoff return by John Torres, who then promptly ripped off a 15-yard gain on first down. Dodge connected with Whiting for an 11-yard pass on third-and-6, putting the ball at the Tech 29, and Torres picked up nine more to set up second-and-1 at the 20. Whiting ran a post-corner route into the left end zone, slipping behind the Tech secondary, and made a shoulder-grab catch of Dodge’s nicely weighted ball.
“That’s what it comes down to. We kept grinding, we kept fighting, we’re never out of it,” said Turners coach Chris Lapointe. “We work on (the two-minute drill), you don’t know when it’s going to come in, but they did a good job. We changed up the play a little bit. Jaden ran a good route, Kyle threw a good ball, and it was a good catch.”
Torres, who ran for a team-high 143 yards on 26 carries, then sealed the victory on the other side of the ball. He intercepted Tech quarterback Seth Aldrich, throwing toward Colby Mailloux, at the Eagle 39 with 44 seconds to go. On first down, Torres swept the left side to pick up 25 yards down to the 14. A couple of Tech timeouts later, Dodge could finally take a knee as time expired.
Franklin Tech (3-4, 2-3 IL North) used the one-two punch of Bailey Young (25 carries, game-high 166 yards) and Spencer Telega (17 rushes, 122 yards) to maximum effect throughout. The Eagles amassed all of their 284 yards of offense on the ground and rallied from deficits of 7-0 and 14-8 to grab leads before falling just short.
“We made a couple of big mistakes in a couple of key situations,” said Eagles coach Joe Gamache. “It’s just unfortunate it’s the difference in a close game. Kids grow up playing together, you’ve got two schools not too far away from each other, and it creates some good competition and bragging rights. It’s easy for both sides to step up in a game like this.”
Turners began the game by losing Torres’ fumble to Tech’s Chris Ludwig, but the teams exchanged punts and the Eagles failed on fourth down at the Turners 21, allowing the visitors to get going on their initial 15-play, 79-yard scoring drive. Torres ran for 40 yards and Dodge (7-of-10 passing, 108 yards) completed passes of eight yards to Whiting and 16 yards to Marcus Sanders. On third-and-goal from the 5, Torres slashed off left tackle for the score, and Lavin’s kick made it a 7-0 Turners lead with 4:52 left in the half.
It was Tech’s turn to play “Beat The Clock” before the half, moving 70 yards on 11 plays. Telega finished it off with a 9-yard scoring run, and Aldrich added the two-point conversion with just 37 seconds to go before the break, giving the hosts an 8-7 edge.
The Eagles then began the second half on a nice drive, reaching the Turners 15 before Jack Putala jumped on a fumble by Young. That set Turners off on a 12-play, 85-yard march, featuring Dodge’s completions of 13 yards to Ryan Campbell and 23 yards to Whiting, and runs of 10 yards by John Driscoll and 15 yards from Sanders. With three minutes to play in the third, Sanders (50 rushing yards) ran it in from 5 yards out, and Lavin tacked on the extra point to make it 14-8.
Tech hit back right away, starting in good shape at its own 40, helped along by a pass-interference call against Turners on a fourth-and-10 play. Telega had consecutive carries of 10, eight and five yards to close out the third quarter at the Turners 15, where Young went up the middle for tying score. Telega was stopped on the two-point try, though, leaving the game at 14-14.
The teams then traded punts before Turners failed on fourth-and-1 at the Tech 39, where Torres was dropped for a 2-yard loss by Young and Ludwig. The Eagles took over at their own 41 with five minutes left and immediately got a 37-yard burst by Telega to put the ball at the Turners 20. Young added a 19-yard gain of his own down to the 4-yard line. With 2:30 to go, Aldrich kept it himself and sneaked in from the 1 to make it 20-14. Gamache called a timeout to set up the two-point try, but Turners’ defense rose up to stop Young short of the goal line.
Turners held a 350-284 edge in total offense, including 125 passing yards. Whiting caught four balls for a game-high 62 yards and also threw an option pass for 17 yards to Andy Craver.
On Friday night, Turners plays Easthampton High School at 7 p.m. at White Brook Middle School in Easthampton, while Franklin Tech will host Mahar Regional School Saturday at 1 p.m.