GREENFIELD — The confidence gained from the Greenfield football team following a big win over Athol carried over into Friday’s contest against Belchertown. 

The Green Wave knocked off the Bears, 22-14, thanks to a late touchdown last week, and that momentum carried over into their non-playoff meeting with the Orioles at Vets Field. 

Greenfield raced ahead to build a 30-0 lead at the half and Belchertown was unable to get in the game in the final 24 minutes of action, as the Green Wave cruised to a 46-13 victory. 

“I was wondering if this was going to be a trap game for us,” Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski said. “Our kids came out and played hard. Belchertown is young and they’re going to be a pretty good team in a few years. They play hard. We just made some plays.” 

The loss dropped the Orioles to 0-9 on the season, though head coach Keith Lebeau said he’s seen strides throughout the season from his young squad. 

“We’ll get there,” Lebeau said. “Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. That’s kind of where we’re at right now. We’ll get after it and just keep grinding away. We’ll get better and we are getting better. It might not look it but we are.”

After both teams traded punts, Greenfield (4-5) took over at the Belchertown 26. Four plays later Mason Cummings took it himself for a 20-yard score, with Cummings adding the two-point try to give the Green Wave an 8-0 lead with 4:05 to go in the first quarter. 

From there, Greenfield ran away with the game. The Orioles fumbled the ensuing kickoff and at the Belchertown 30, Cummings hit Caleb Murray over the middle on a slant. Murray made a guy miss and used his speed to get into the end zone. 

Following an Orioles punt, Angel Politis broke off a 12-yard run and at the Belchertown 40, Cummings rolled to his left and found Erik Martineau wide open for a touchdown, with Cummings running in the two-point try to make it a 22-0 game with 10:16 to go in the half. 

"Mason made some plays early with Caleb,” Kuchieski said. “He made a nice touchdown to Erik. We did a nice job taking care of the ball and having fun.”

The Orioles then went on their best drive of the half, going on a 13-play possession that marched down to the Greenfield 2. Adam O’Rourke, Max Bessette and Jack Beals did the heavy lifting on the drive. 

Beals appeared to score on a quarterback run but a penalty was called, bringing Belchertown back to the 12. There, Beals dropped back to pass but the throw was picked off by Greenfield’s Everett Allen at the 5. With an open field in front of him, the senior ran it back to the house and after Politis ran in the two-point try, the Green Wave led 30-0. 

Tanner Biagini plunged in on a fullback dive with 2:58 to play in the third quarter and Allen ran in the 2-point try to give Greenfield a 38-0 lead. 

On the final play of the third quarter, Allen ran in a 31-yard score that helped the Wave build a 46-0 lead. 

The clock ran in the fourth quarter, though Belchertown was still able to get on the board as O’Rourke ran the ball 44 yards into the end zone with nine minutes to play. Brian Carlin added the extra point to cut the lead to 46-7. 

Fuller later ran it to the Greenfield 1 before Beals barged in with two minutes to go to account for the 46-13 final.

“You try to keep grinding until the very end,” Lebeau said. “We do that. We’re just trying to find our footing and what fits us well and keep working on those good things. You have to keep working on the bad things too but we’ll keep focusing on the positives.”

Greenfield closes out its season next week with its final non-playoff game while the Orioles will play one final non-playoff game before squaring off with Pathfinder on Thanksgiving. 

“The goal every week is to get better,” Kuchieski said. “We have one more week to get better.”