Hatalsky anchored tough Mechanicville defense
MECHANICVILLE — The Mechanicville Red Raiders did away with a five-man front a few years ago, which forced then- sophomore nose tackle Nate Hatalsky to drop back to middle linebacker.
“I just loved it,” said Hatalsky, now a senior. “I was in the middle of everything it felt like. If there was a pass, I could drop back. If there was a run, I could step up. I was making my own decisions.”
More often than not, Mechanicville coach Kevin Collins said, those decisions were the correct ones.
There were multiple times this sea- son when Collins and his coaches were preparing to signal a call to their defense, only to realize Hatalsky had beaten them to the punch. Then, the senior would win the race to the ball carrier, finishing 2012 with 126 tackles. That was nearly 40 more than his next closest teammate.
“He was just everywhere,” Collins said. “No matter what call we signaled in.”
Hatalsky anchored a stingy Mechanicville defense that held opponents to eight or fewer points in five of its nine games. For his efforts, he has been named The Saratogian’s Defensive Player of the Year.
“He was our defensive leader,”
Collins said. “He took that to heart and did a fantastic job with it.”
Hatalsky handled the role of leader in an interesting way. From Monday through Thursday, Hatalsky was relatively quiet and reserved. When the lights turned on Friday night, however, it was all motivation.
“Come Friday night, I’m screaming at my team,” he said. “I’m kind of like a big brother to them.”
Perhaps that is because Hatalsky’s elder sibling, Chris, was also a defensive stalwart for Mechanicville, recording double- digit sacks as a senior in 2011. Now a graduate, the elder Hatalsky had a heart- to- heart with his little — if a 6-foot1, 215- pounder can be called that — brother before the season.
“He told me there’s nothing like high school football,” the younger Hatalsky said. “I realized that, realizing it’s my last season and knew I needed to step up if we wanted to win games.”
At no time was that more evident than in Mechanicville’s Week 2 match-up with Tamarac.
The Red Raiders had four two-way starters suffer injuries in a Week 1 blowout loss to eventual state champion Hoosick Falls, but Hatalsky elevated his game to record 27 tackles — nearly double his season average —and Mechanicville rallied around that performance to come from behind and win in overtime.
The Red Raiders rode the momentum to wins in five of their next six and posted two shutouts. Including the Tamarac victory, opponents averaged less than 10 points against Mechanicville during that span.
They shut out Watervliet 40-0 in their Section II playoff opener and held a highoctane Chatham offense to a then-season-low 23 points in the semifinals, but ultimately lost 23-20.
Regardless, Collins said, the defensive success Mechanicville enjoyed in the season’s closing weeks was rooted in Hatalsky’s inspiring performance against the Bengals.
“We were an entirely different team defensively after that game,” Collins said.