DALTON -- Hank Barrett stood at midfield with one arm in a sling. The other clutching the Berkshire County championship trophy.
The senior quarterback had his football career cut short when his collar bone was broken in two places against Wahconah on Oct. 26. The same game in which the Warriors snapped the Mounties' 33-game winning streak. In the Berkshire County championship, Barrett couldn't play, but the Mounties' 22-16 victory over Wahconah -- giving them their third straight county title -- was a sweet one for Barrett.
"Of course I wanted to be out there, but this is what we wanted and we got it," Barrett said. "I couldn't be prouder of the boys. We were far from 100 percent, not just me, kids were hurting and fought through it."
At Tuesday's practice, lineman Andrew Leitch was on crutches with a bag of ice taped to his ankle. Leitch rolled his ankle on the third-to-last play of Monday's practice, but he wasn't going to miss the game. Leitch normally plays on both the offensive and defensive line, but played solely on defense Wednesday.
"Ice," Leitch joked about what allowed him to play. "A lot of ice and ibuprofen. Definitely the Number One goal was to get ready for today. I got it taped up, then the adrenaline rush took me through the game."
Leitch was part of a defensive line that struggled to make plays in the first half. Wahconah ran for 102 yards in the first half and passed for an extra 62.
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"I mean Andrew, that just kind of defines what we have had to do over the past few years," Barrett said. "When you have such low numbers, kids have to make sacrifices. He did and if I could have I would have been out there tonight. But, I wasn't allowed."
Some Mounties entered the game with revenge on their minds, but mostly the team just wanted a third straight county title as it heads into the Western Massachusetts Division III playoffs.
Wahconah had most of the momentum before Tyrell Thomas broke free for a 65-yard kickoff return to end Wahconah's 16-point run.
"That play right there," Barrett said of the kick return, "in just 8 seconds, it just put us back into it. Going into the half down two as a opposed to [10] is a lot different."
Thomas said that helped the Mounties focus in the second half. Perhaps a bigger motivator was having their injured captain with them every step of the way.
"In the locker room [at halftime], coach gave us a talk and said we needed to step up and do it for ourselves. And if we couldn't find it in ourselves then we needed to do it for that guy standing right there," Thomas said as he pointed at Barrett. "This all goes to him. This is his, he did everything to get us here. I'm just so glad to be a part of this."
Mount Greylock will play Greenfield on Tuesday, Nov. 27. The site and time have yet to be determined.
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