BELMONT — Junior quarterback Réis Little threw for a pair of touchdowns, while Luis Kuehberger added a receiving and rushing touchdown as Belmont Hill (6-3) defeated Worcester Academy 38-7 to win the NEPSAC Bob Souza Bowl title.

“Réis has just been the guy this year,” said Belmont Hill coach Anthony Fucillo. “At times when we’ve been banged up and not really had it, Réis has had to carry the load a lot … love the kid to death and excited we get him one more year.”

Little and the Belmont Hill offense overcame a slow start with interceptions on their first two drives. Belmont Hill’s defense held Worcester Academy through the end of the first quarter before surrendering a 32-yard touchdown pass to Griffin Collins from Patrick Miller.

On the first play of their next drive, Little responded immediately, breaking a tackle in the backfield for a 61-yard rush, bringing the ball to the Worcester Academy one yard line. Marcus Griffin finished the drive with a TD run.

“It’s interesting, you go down 7-0 and you want to see how your kids react. They had Réis stopped in the backfield and he just made an unbelievable play to break free,” said Fucillo.

“I’ll be honest it was a bad read at first, but I got lucky enough to break the tackle and from there just running,” said Little.

On the ensuing drive, Trey Clayton picked off Miller to set up a Belmont Hill field goal from Dylan Casillo. Belmont Hill forced a punt on the following Worcester Academy drive, setting up another explosive Little play.

This time the junior quarterback found Jordan Summers on an 80-yard touchdown pass, increasing the lead to 17-7. With time in the half dwindling, the Belmont Hill defense forced another punt. Belmont Hill’s special teams stuffed a run on a fake punt.

“Defense really started that whole thing. To be able to start to lock in, get stops and get us the ball back,” said Fucillo. “Scoring before the half was huge for us to really keep the momentum going.”

Belmont Hill’s offense closed the half with a trick play, leading to a Kuehberger touchdown rush, with Little throwing a key block near the goal line. The touchdown capped off a 24-point second quarter and increased the lead to 24-7.

“We ran the, I hate to call it the Philly special but it was the Philly special. We told Luis if he had the edge, don’t throw it, go for the run and Réis recognized quick and threw the block,” said Fucillo.

“In practice, that was supposed to be a touchdown pass for me but we saw it was a broken play, just instinct kicked in, turned around, made the block and touchdown,” added Little.

Belmont Hill forced an interception on Worcester Academy’s first drive of the second half. This set up a five-play drive, culminating in a pinpoint seven-yard pass from Little to Kuehberger in the back of the end zone.

After another failed drive and punt from Worcester Academy, senior Miles Fritz finished off the day with a four-yard touchdown drive and a landmark victory for Belmont Hill and its seniors.

“It means the world to me that they got to play extra football,” said Fucillo on his seniors. “To finish them off with a win and the hard work they put in. I love those guys. I’ll really miss this class. They’ve done so much for this program.”

The bowl win marks a high note for Belmont Hill football after a disappointing season in the ISL and a loss in a NEPSAC bowl last year.

“Back-to-back bowls for the first time in almost 20 years. I think that it’s the kids and the culture of the school that really gives that competitiveness,” said Fucillo.

“This whole week we’ve been saying we want it,” added Little. “Last year we did win the ISL but came up short in the bowl game. This year we came short in the ISL but we needed the bowl game. That’s exactly what we did, we went and we got it.”