Undefeated Greenfield edges Spartans on late TD

GREAT BARRINGTON – The Monument Mountain football team continues to improve despite their recent setback, 36-28, to an undefeated Greenfield team (with a top 10 ranking in western Massachusetts) last Friday night.

The Spartans squandered a touchdown on the team’s opening drive on a holding penalty, coupled with a few mental mistakes that kept Monument from coming away with the upset.

“Simple mistakes killed us, a touchdown called back on a holding call and 10 guys on the field for a TD,” said Spartans Head Coach Todd Tinker as he shook his head afterwards.

Despite the defeat, that would have given the Spartans their second consecutive win, Monument showed some resiliency by coming back from a 20-8 deficit in the second half.

“I am prouder of them for that,” said Tinker. “The kids are getting better every week – we played a great team, and they played right to the last minute and I think that effort wins a lot of games in this county.”

Greenfield was lead by all-everything quarterback Zack Bartack, who threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns, including the game winner, which he took himself from 17 yards out.

“He is a great QB, not taking anything away from him, I am sure he is going to be playing at the next level,” said Tinker.

Bartack opened the scoring by finding receiver Garrett Hudson from seven yards out with 6:20 left in the second quarter and Lew Borden from three yards out with 1:47 left in the first half to put Greenfield up 14-8.

Monument got on the board in the first half on a fortuitous tip pass, that Spartan’s receiver Hezekiah Adams miraculously pulled in before racing 38 yards for the touchdown.

Bartak then added a seven-yard run for a score to put Greenfield up 20-8 at the start of the second half, as the game appeared to be getting out of hand for the Spartans.

After the first second-half Greenfield touchdown, Tinker addressed his team on the sideline and told them “not to fold up mentally.”

The Spartans responded on the next play by freeing up running back/returner Malik Wilbon, who raced 75 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.

“It’s confidence,” said Tinker. “We are starting to believe in ourselves, we’ve been preaching since day one that they are a good football team and not let the past fool them.”

Monument tied the game at 20-20, when Jesse Dupont ran in a nine-yard touchdown that completed the comeback heading into the fourth quarter.

“They are starting to see it,” said Tinker. “They can perform and it’s great to see but it’s tough to lose.”

Bartak added a three-yard touchdown pass back to Hudson to put Greenfield back up with 7:30 left at 28-20. However, the Spartans would not go away as Wilbon converted on a fourth-down run which he broke to the outside and danced down the sideline from 42-yards out to tie the game back up at 28-28 with 4:56 left, coupled with a two-point conversion by Spartans quarterback Ryle O’Brien to Adams.

“To have a kid like Malik is a blessing,” said Tinker of his sophomore star.

Bartack and Greenfield proved they wouldn’t be denied and they proved why they are a top-ten team as Bartack ran an assortment of plays out of the shotgun, including a third and 24 pass play to give Greenfield the ball in the last three minutes on the Monument 26-yard line.

Bartack put the finishing touches on the game with a 17-yard run for the 36-28 final, as O’Brien threw an interception with 55 seconds left to end the possible Spartans comeback.

“Our biggest problem is we have a bunch of young kids who don’t understand [passing] coverages yet,” Tinker said, “ and with a quarterback of that caliber it’s easy to see. “

Posted by Tim Davis on October 11, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry