The Pioneers played their best football of the season while Belchertown was at its worst, Thanksgiving morning.
BELCHERTOWN - Two unbeaten teams entered Thanksgiving Day football, but only one could come out with the win.
The Pathfinder Regional High School football team remained perfect, beating host Belchertown 30-8 Thanksgiving morning.
Pathfinder (11-0) played its best football of the season, while Belchertown (10-1) played its worst, suffering its first loss. The story of the day was turnovers for the Orioles.
"The turnovers put us in the drivers seat," Pathfinder coach Chris Pope said. "You create your own luck and we were pushing them."
Pathfinder had a good first possession, holding the ball for about four minutes to start the game. The Pioneers didn't score on the drive, but there would be plenty of scoring to come.
After the punt, Belchertown took over at their own nine yard nine for their first possession of the game.
Belchertown quarterback Nick Leduc was intercepted on the drive by Pathfinder's Cody Hess. The Pioneers took advantage, scoring the first touchdown of the game, a two yard rush by Hess for an early 6-0 lead.
Just two plays later, the Pioneers defense struck again. Devan Beane hit Leduc hard, causing a fumble and another turnover. The Orioles defense didn't let Pathfinder capitalize that time, as Joe Sarno ended the run, sacking quarterback Matt Stafford on a fourth down attempt.
The Orioles gave the ball away again though, as Leduc threw his second interception of the day. The Orioles had three turnovers on their first three possessions.
"It's not the way you want to play on Thanksgiving, going into the playoffs," Belchertown coach John Mayo said. "They wore us down and they outplayed us in every area. I can't say enough, they did a great job, they're a good team."
The Orioles locked up the top seed in the D-III playoffs last week and clinched the Intercounty League, so a win wasn't necessary.
Pathfinder needed the win to guarantee the top seed in the D-IV tournament. The Pioneers had already clinched the Tri-County title entering Thursdays game.
"It's a good feeling," Hess said. "We prepared well for them. We knew they were going to try to run a lot of blasts. I credit a lot of this to our line."
Late in the first half, Belchertown got a big break, recovering a Pioneer fumble. The Orioles went three and out, though and were forced to punt.
Pathfinder got one more chance before the first half ended, as the Belchertown punt went just seven yards. The Pioneers took advantage again as Stafford connected with Brad Lord for a 13 yard score. Pathfinder converted for two points as Stafford found Trystan Davis in the end zone for a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Late in the third, the Pioneer defense made a huge play as Belchertown's Joe Sarno was tackled in the end zone on an attempted run, Pathfinder got two points for the safety and a 16-0 lead.
Belchertown finally got on the board in the third. Leduc made a fantastic play, avoiding a sack and found James Ryan on the run for a 46 yard touchdown.
Leduc connected with Steve Boudreau for the conversion and the Orioles cut the lead in half. With a 16-8 Pathfinder lead, it looked like the Orioles were making a comeback.
Pathfinder was too much for the Orioles to handle and the Pioneers put up two more Hess touchdowns in the fourth quarter to run away with the game.
"When the playoffs come next week we're going to have to be more prepared," Leduc said. "This is the first time we faced adversity and we weren't ready to come back from it. So we'll prepare better for that."
Pathfinder ended a Belchertown Thanksgiving Day win-streak of three straight, bringing the annual series to a 7-5 Oriole lead. The teams began the tradition in 2001.