BUCKLAND — As early season high school football games go, they don’t get much more exciting.
Mohawk Trail Regional School senior defensive tackle Adam Hallenback blocked what would have been a game-winning 30-yard field goal with less than two seconds left to give the Warriors a 14-12 win over visiting Pathfinder Vocational-Technical High School at Pollard Field last night.
“We knew he was going to kick it straight on,” Hallenbeck said of Pathfinder placekicker Andrew Roman, who made a 43-yard field goal kick earlier in the fourth quarter. “So I had my tackle go out and block that guard, so I could have a direct path to the ball. Everyone did their job and it worked.”
Hallenbeck’s heroics snatched victory from the jaws of what looked like pretty certain defeat, and gained a measure revenge for Mohawk, who lost to Pathfinder by the same score last season. It also was a fitting conclusion to a nip-and-tuck battle of two powerhouse offenses with multiple weapons.
“It was just a great high school football game,” Mohawk Coach Doug McCloud said. “It came down to a blocked field goal. What more do you want?
Mohawk got on the board first when senior running back Alex Shippee capped 12-play, 80-yard opening drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0. Pathfinder’s Barry Goudreau managed to intercept Mohawk quarterback Kamron Hoff’s PAT pass and run it back 83 yards to make the score 8-2. The Warriors would extend the lead to 12-2 on a Hoff one-yard touchdown run on the next series. Hoff then hit sophomore John Demech with the two-point conversion pass to make it 14-2.
Pathfinder would answer on their very next offensive play when junior back Keanon Decker took it up the right sideline for a 63-yard touchdown run. Roman’s point-after kick made it 14-9 at the half.
Both teams were unable to generate much sustained offense in a scoreless third quarter. The Pioneers would trim the Mohawk lead to 14-12 midway through the fourth on Roman’s aforementioned 43-yarder. The Warriors came very close to putting the game away on the next series, getting as far at the Pathfinder one before a costly holding penalty followed by a fourth-down fumble gave the Pioneers the ball back at their own ten with just over three minutes to go.
Pathfinder methodically moved the ball into Mohawk territory, aided in large part by a Decker 54-yard run on fourth and three. The Pioneers got as far as the Mohawk two before they were knocked back five yards on an illegal procedure penalty. Quarterback Roman then took a knee back at the 14 to set up the 30-yard field goal attempt, which was blocked by Hallenbeck. Mohawk recovered the ball back at the 40, and one Hoff knee later, moved to 2-and-0 on the season.
“It feels great, especially after we lost last year by the same score,” Hallenbeck said. “For us to be able to come back and make a statement to the league this year feels really good.”
Mohawk travels to Franklin Tech next Saturday to renew an old rivalry with the Eagles. Kickoff is at 2 pm.