ORANGE — Frontier Regional School junior running back Aaron Landry came into this game needing 205 rushing yards to get to 1,000 for the season. It took him less than two quarters to get there.
Landry ripped off a 29-yard run up the middle late in the second quarter to cross the 1,000 yard threshold as Frontier thumped Mahar Regional School, 48-0, in an Intercounty League North Division football game on a rainy Booster Night at the Woodward Athletic Complex Friday.
“It feels great. I’m so proud,” Landry said of joining the 1,000-yard club. “I owe it all to my line. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Reaching the milestone was the cherry on the sundae that was yet another awesome performance by the junior speedster, who finished with 243 yards and three touchdowns on just eight carries. Landry got almost a quarter of the way to his milestone on the first play from scrimmage, when he took it 57 yards down the left sideline for the touchdown. Mahar managed to block the point-after kick to keep the score 6-0.
The Senators went three-and-out, with a short punt giving Frontier the ball back at the Mahar 32. Two plays later, Frontier quarterback Myles Freeman connected with fullback Seth Gewanter (8 carries, 26 yards) for a 26-yard touchdown pass, followed by a Steven Worthley run to make the score 14-0.
From there, the torrential rains started to fall, but it did little to cool off the Red Hawks offense. Landry scored again on the next series on an 84-yard run. Freeman’s point-after pass kept the score 20-0. Landry scored again early in the second quarter on a 31-yard run, followed by a PAT pass from Freeman to Cole Price to make it 28-0.
Worthley (9 carries, 55 yards) got into the act on the next series with a 13-yard run, which came six plays after a Mahar fumble set Frontier up on the Senator 26. Freeman’s point after run came up short, creating a 34-0 score going into halftime.
Mahar got the ball to start the third quarter and promptly fumbled the ball back to Frontier, which needed 12 plays to get into the end zone again, courtesy of a 1-yard Gewanter run on fourth-and-goal. The nearly successful goal-line stand was one of Mahar’s few bright moments on an otherwise dreary night, along with the strong north-south running of sophomore back Lucas Seney, who finished with 37 yards on 11 carries.
“He did run well for us, but overall, I didn’t think we played well,” Mahar Coach Chris Bailey said. “That’s taking nothing away from Frontier. They pound people into submission, but I told our guys what they do isn’t complex, but this was going to be an ‘effort’ game, and the effort just wasn’t there.”
Worthley rounded out the scoring on the next series with a five-yard touchdown run, followed by a Freeman run, creating the 48-0 final.
“I was happy with what we did tonight,” Frontier Coach Don Gordon said. “We had a good week of practice coming off that loss last week, and we didn’t have any mental mistakes, which was the problem in that Athol game. We also threw in some new wrinkles on defense and it worked.”
Frontier hosts Turners Falls Friday night in a game which could have playoff implications for both teams. Mahar hosts Franklin Tech Friday night. Both games start at 7pm.