GREENFIELD — Trailing 6-0 with three and a half minutes left in the first half on Senior Night, the Greenfield football team was looking for a spark.
Enter Ryan Pulizari.
Visiting Mahar struck first late in the second quarter to go up 6-0 on the Green Wave. On the ensuing kickoff however, Pulizari fielded the ball at his own 20-yard line, ran toward a group of blockers and defenders and emerged on the other side, bringing an 80-yard return to the end zone. On the 2-point conversion, the Green Wave dug into their bag of tricks – and channeled New England Patriots legend Kevin Faulk – and ran a direct snap to Pulizari, putting the Green Wave up 8-6, a lead they never relinquished as they wound up scoring 26 unanswered points to take down the Senators, 26-6, in an Intercounty League North contest at Vets Field.
“That was awesome, the kick return definitely fired us up,” Pulizari said, joking that on kick returns, “I just black out and start running for the holes.”
On the night they were recognized, it was the senior class that made the big plays for the Green Wave (5-2, 3-1), which remain alive in the playoff hunt heading into the final week of the season and still have a chance to win the IL North title. Pulizari finished the game with three touchdowns, fellow senior running back Joey White rushed for 174 yards and recovered a fumble on defense, senior quarterback Levin Prondecki secured an interception and senior defensive end Deion Brewington earned a sack.
Head coach Mike Kuchieski, whose son Trevor is also a senior on the roster, said it’s been a pleasure coaching this group of 12th graders, especially as he watched them mature in front of his eyes.
“They’re a good bunch of kids … it’s tough seeing these guys go, but it’s also great seeing them grow up and see the men they’ve become,” Kuchieski said. “We don’t coach football to win games. It’s nice to win, but we coach football to get better in life. When they come back and be great kids in life, then I did my job.”
Despite the 20-point victory, the Green Wave got off to a sluggish start. Other than the kick return with 3:30 to go in the first half, the Senator defense stymied Greenfield’s offense throughout the first 24 minutes. Head coach Chris Bailey said too many self-inflicted mistakes kept them off the scoreboard in the second half.
“Last week, we were disappointed with our effort and our effort was there tonight, but when you turn the ball over four times, you’re not going to win too many football games,” Bailey said. “We can move the ball and we can play defense. We did some good things, we just shot ourselves in the foot too many times. When you do that, a good team like Greenfield’s going to take advantage.”
Taking an 8-6 lead into halftime, the Green Wave forced a Mahar punt to start the second half. On their first play of the third quarter, White found a hole on the right side and dashed for a 70-yard touchdown. On the next Greenfield possession following a Mahar punt, the Green Wave drove down the field, setting up first and goal from the 9-yard line. Greenfield dialed up a sweep to the right side for Pulizari, who ran toward the sideline, cut back, then ran about three-quarters of the width of the field before scoring on the left side.
Finally, Pulizari’s number was called again in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard touchdown up the middle to close out the Senators (3-4, 1-3). The senior running back said earning the win on senior night was a special feeling.
“It’s a blessing,” Pulizari said of the bond he has with his teammates. “It’s incredible dude, they’re like my brothers. We’re always together, always laughing with each other, always joking. During the worst times we stick together, we make sure nobody’s head are down.”
Kuchieski said they “overcame adversity” in the first half and they made some simple second-half adjustments.
“Just play hard,” he said. “We told them, ‘You make a mistake, screw it.’ Just make it physically and not mentally. And we were making mental mistakes, we had some stupid penalties, but overall I’m proud of our kids.”
The win keeps Greenfield in the playoff hunt, but Kuchieski said he believes it’s up to the rankings system at this point for the Green Wave’s postseason hopes. Greenfield travels to Ware (6-1, 4-0) next week to close out the regular season, and it’ll be a matchup of the top two teams in the IL North with the league title on the line.
Mahar returns to Orange to close out the regular season against Palmer.
“We control what we do on the field, we can’t control the numbers,” Kuchieski said. “It is what it is and we’ll try to do the best we can to move forward.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com