Piazza delivery on offense
QB slices up Nobles ‘D’
DEDHAM — Defensive dominance seems to be the power that’s driven the Belmont Hill football team as of late, but it helps when the offense delivers alongside it.
Quarterback Mike Piazza tossed two touchdowns and added a score on the ground yesterday to propel Belmont Hill to a 33-7 win over Noble and Greenough. Greg Desrosiers used his electric speed to score two touchdowns of his own, all while the defense thwarted any attempt for consistent run success against a groundand-pound team. This comes one week after Belmont Hill’s offense struggled to get going until late against Milton
Academy, so Piazza was pleased the offense put up a 26-0 lead by halftime. Of course, he gave a lot of credit to the team’s defensive effort for that, too.
“Our defense is great, I think we have the best defense in the (ISL Large),” he said. “When they’re getting three-and-outs, when they’re getting turnovers, it’s huge for the offense. Obviously it’s a team game. The more the defense helps the offense, the easier it is for us to put up points.” The Belmont Hill defense held Nobles back Casey Phinney and the rest of the run attack to 107 yards on 28 carries through three scoreless quarters.
Meanwhile, Belmont Hill’s passing attack showed itself from the get-go.
Immediately following a slight overthrow on a deep ball in Piazza’s first pass attempt, the senior connected with Desrosiers on the same play call for a 31-yard touchdown just four minutes into the game. Piazza didn’t throw an incompletion the rest of the way. He finished 9-of-10 passing for 153 yards. He consistently found holes in the Nobles coverage, which also led to a 17-yard touchdown pass to Justin O’Neil-Riley for a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Nobles threatened to score early in the second, but a turnoveron-downs within field-goal range eventually set up a 20-0 Belmont Hill lead when Piazza punched in a 2-yard keeper. And once Desrosiers returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown with 2:09 left in the half, the game was well in control.
“I think for us, we just go out during the week and try to execute in practice,” said coach Chris Butler. “We did a good job during practice, and that’s sort of where we land on for games.”
It wasn’t until after Jaylen Bailey picked off Nobles quarterback John Grady midway through the third quarter that the Bulldogs found legitimate offensive momentum, but the score was 33-0 at that point. Phinney had 71 of his 122 rushing yards after Belmont Hill’s final touchdown, including a 3-yard touchdown run of his own.