PITTSFIELD — It was close initially, with Taconic recording a first quarter safety and then forcing several South Hadley punts.

But the Tigers recovered and their run game and defensive front found another gear in an eventual 33-2 victory at Berkshire Community College.

“It’s the Berkshires man, we come up here, we have a tough time with Taconic and Pittsfield. It’s just something about coming up here,” said South Hadley head coach Brian Couture. “We emphasized that during the week. We got our guys to calm back down and get into the football that we play.”

South Hadley got the ball to start and immediately stepped on its own tail with a holding call to make it first-and-20. But Julius Hebenth got all that yardage back and then some, carrying people with him for back-to-back 19-yard pickups and setting the Tigers up at the Taconic 28-yard line.

On first down, Griffin Soderbaum uncorked a deep bomb for a wide open Chase Pecia in the end zone for a 28-yard strike. Hebenth ran in the conversion and it was 8-0 South Hadley just over 2 minutes in.

But Taconic’s offense got a massive play from Ceasar Santos. He weaved through the defense for a 50-yard pickup, being dragged down at the South Hadley 11-yard line to prevent a touchdown. The Tigers defense held strong, Jasiel Ramos tackled quarterback Evan Roccabruna for a 7-yard loss on a QB option on first down. On fourth down, Roccabruna was under pressure and threw it to Santos, who tried to carry multiple defenders near the line to gain.

The Tigers poked the ball loose and while Taconic recovered, it recovered short of the yard marker and South Hadley took over on downs to spoil the earlier big play.

But the Thunder defense stiffened. Hayden Strassel and Christian Aldrich combined for a tackle for loss on first down and then Ben Sykes got a solo tackle for loss on second down. A third down run went for a yard and it was fourth-and-16 at the 2-yard line. South Hadley tried to punt but Caio Lahey blasted through the line and sacked Soderbaum for a safety.

“We made a key defensive change with positions and overall scheme. We knew they were a run-heavy team. I’m used to seeing Wing-T, double wing,” said Taconic head coach Justin Bailey. “When I was younger, that was what was effective, the 5-man front.”

But South Hadley didn’t let that mistake snowball. After Taconic got the ensuing Tiger kickoff, the Thunder turned it over on downs. South Hadley punted and then Taconic punted it back and the Tigers got a nice return to make it first-and-10 at the Taconic 38-yard line.

Hebenth ripped off a 34-yard run, had the ball poked out, and managed to fall on it — avoiding disaster and giving South Hadley a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line. Nehemiah Marrin got the next carry and took in the 4-yard touchdown run, although Taconic prevented the 2-point conversion, to make it 14-2.

South Hadley’s defense reigned once again, harassing Roccabruna in the pocket and pushing Taconic to a backbreaking third-and-45 late in the second quarter. Another great return on the ensuing punt set the Tigers up at the Taconic 23-yard line.

Aldrich sacked Soderbaum on first down and he got a tackle for loss on second down. On third down, the blitz came and Soderbaum threw into traffic, trying to avoid a sack, even worse, the pass was picked off by Omar Lewis. Unfortunately for the Thunder, they couldn’t do anything with the ball on offense and had to punt it back to the Tigers.

South Hadley made it as far as the 18-yard line and with 50 seconds left in the first half, the Tigers called a timeout. They elected to send in Cooper Wall, who came out and drilled a 35-yard field goal to the delight of his teammates, giving the Tigers a 17-2 lead at halftime. After that, South Hadley’s defense was suffocating and its offense put up two more touchdowns, both on runs, in the third quarter to put the game away.

Soderbaum had to leave the game in the second quarter and Hebenth and Hambley carried the offense. Hebenth had 8 carries for 93 yards and a score while Hambley had 9 carries for 44 yards and a touchdown. Ramos also had 1.5 sacks and a tackle for loss while Lincoln Belsky had a tackle for loss, a sack and an interception.

“Julius is one of our captains. Once we get him into the right mindset of offense, defense. We get them moving in the right direction. We give it to Julius, he’ll find a hole if it’s out there,” said Couture. “[Ramos] he’s a great linebacker for us. Loves blitzing, he sees the field well.”