NORTHAMPTON — Football coaches almost never use the word “perfect,” but Smith Vocational football head coach Alex Subocz did when describing his team’s first quarter in the Vikings’ 54-6 beatdown of McCann Tech on Friday night.

Two blocked punts (one returned by John Majewski for a touchdown), chunk plays on the ground and stellar defense filled Smith Voc’s opening 12 minutes — and they never looked back.

Could Subocz have asked for a better start?

“No,” he said. “In conventional football, that’s as perfect as it can be. All week we had the motto ‘All gas, no breaks,’ because we didn’t wanna get complacent at any point. At the end of the first quarter that was the talk, at halftime that was the talk, all the way through the end of the game.”

“It really set the tone, and everyone was hyped,” Majewski said of the blocked punt he brought back to the house. “We usually start slow, but we came out guns blazing tonight.”

At the end of Smith Voc’s practice on Thursday, Subocz broke unfortunate news to his team. He had just found out that the school is shutting down the football field next week to reconstruct it, and that the remaining home games on the Vikings’ schedule would have to be played elsewhere.

For the dozen seniors on the roster, Friday was their final time stepping foot on the field for a game. Already feeling motivated following their last contest (a close, come-from-behind win over Ludlow), knowing the game against McCann Tech was a farewell party for their home field added fuel to the Vikings’ fire.

“We wanted to do this for the seniors, and for this field, sending it off the right way,” said senior Bryan Leyton, who scored a 25-yard touchdown in the third quarter. 

Jared Baer ran in a 17-yard touchdown on Smith Voc’s second possession, followed by a Brayden LaRose 11-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Ty Chapdelaine. McCann Tech didn’t run more than four plays on its first three drives, and in a blink found itself down 24-0.

The Hornets did, however, move the ball into the red zone on drive No. 4 in search of their first points of the night. But an Alex McDermott pass found the hands of Vikings safety Brayden LaRose to put a halt to the scoring threat.

McCann Tech couldn’t overcome its slow start, and a pair of first-quarter turnovers energized Smith Voc.

“We’re running into a problem where we have a lot of new guys playing, and not a lot of IQ,” Hornets head coach Jon Rochello said. “Four of my starters didn’t play today with injuries. We’re trying to put new guys in with some of our veteran guys, but the patience isn’t there and we don’t trust each other. You can see it unfold.”

Smith Voc added two more scores in the second quarter, one a 50-yard strike from Chapdelaine to Majewski and the other a 15-yard, play-action pass to Jameson Tobin that went for six. The Vikings took a 40-0 lead into the break.

More of the same ensued in the third when Smith Voc scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, the aforementioned scamper from Leyton making it 46-0. The lead ballooned to 54-0 thanks to Baer’s second score on the ground, a 34-yard house call on the first play of the drive after a McCann Tech turnover on downs.

The Vikings’ faithful was loud and proud all night, rightfully so.

“We kept building upon everything we were doing, and stepping up and feeding off the crowd,” said defensive end Trenton Clark, who blocked the opening punt in the first quarter. “There were a lot of people here tonight and it fired us up.”

McCann Tech finally found pay dirt midway through the fourth quarter when McDermott dodged a host of Smith Voc defenders on his way to a 33-yard score, making it 54-6, the game’s final score.

Most of the Hornets’ offense was ran through senior captain Musa Thompson. Between he and McDermott, the Vikings had plenty to think about on defense. Thompson rushed for 81 yards on 13 carries and was everywhere on both sides of the ball. By the end of the night, his perfectly clean white jersey was grass-stained green all over.

That’s something that doesn’t surprise anyone who watches McCann Tech football.

“He’s one of those kids that just wants it,” Rochello said of Thompson. “You could tell he wanted it right from the rip. Even when he’s limping around and hurt, it’s hard to pull him from the game because he still wants to be out there. He’s a dog that just wants to be unleashed. He’s a huge leader, and he holds kids accountable. He’s like an older brother. Some kids can take it and some can’t… When other kids see him playing at that level, it’s an eye-opener for them.”

McCann Tech (0-4) is still in search of its first win, and the Hornets hope that will come next Friday night at Springfield International Charter School at 6 p.m.

Smith Vocational (2-1) travels to Drury next Saturday for a noon kickoff with the Blue Devils looking to make it three straight. Subocz’s bunch is starting to find its rhythm.

“We knew we had to be crisper, and I thought we were tonight,” Subocz said. “The ball wasn’t on the ground, I think there was maybe one bad snap, and the lines were great on both sides of the ball.”