GREENFIELD — One touchdown in 22 seconds, two touchdowns in a minute and 19 seconds, three touchdowns in the first 4:48 — far more than enough for Athol High School to impose its will early on in Friday night’s Intercounty League North football game.
Robbie Nelson got the visiting Red Raiders off to a blistering start with a 68-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage, and Nick Casella added four first-half scores of his own as Athol rumbled to a 40-8 victory over Greenfield High School at Veterans Memorial Field.
Nelson and Casella each topped 100 rushing yards in the first half alone, and finished the night with 133 and 110 yards respectively. The Raiders’ victory didn’t come without cost, however, as Casella left the game early in the third quarter with an apparent right leg injury.
Athol improved to 5-3 overall, 4-1 in the IL North, and remained in contention for the fourth and final Western Mass. Division IV playoff spot. The Raiders entered the weekend in the No. 6 position in Division IV, trailing No. 5 Frontier Regional School, which lost Friday night and which Athol has beaten head-to-head. Hoosac Valley Regional School currently holds the No. 4 spot and hosts top-ranked Wahconah Regional High School this afternoon.
“I don’t understand the Walker system. I’ve tried to figure it out, and we’ve just gotta wait and see,” chuckled Athol coach Bill LaRose. “I’m just happy that we won the ball game and our kids bounced back from a tough loss last week.”
The Red Raiders took a commanding 33-0 halftime lead before the teams exchanged single scores in the third quarter.
RJ Byrd led Greenfield (1-6, 1-4 IL North) with 86 rushing yards on 11 carries and scored the Wave’s only touchdown, a 19-yard run with 7:51 to play in the third quarter. That was set up moments earlier by Byrd’s 42-yard burst that put the ball at the Athol 22.
“They came out and smashed us in the mouth,” said Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski. “Good teams do that. With young kids, it’s tough to overcome stuff like that. We’ll turn it around. They played hard in the second half, and I’m proud of that. But against good teams, you’ve gotta make plays right away.”
Athol amassed 354 rushing yards and 383 yards of total offense, compared to Greenfield’s 152.
From the Raiders’ 32, Nelson took a handoff from Trever Mousseau and turned a left-side dive into a 68-yard scoring run on the first play from scrimmage. He then ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead only 22 seconds into the action.
Greenfield then lost a fumble on its first offensive play, with Casella recovering at the Wave’s 29. Two plays later, Casella swept the right side and turned up the sideline for a 22-yard TD, good for a 14-0 Athol edge with 9:41 left on the clock.
The Wave went three-and-punt on the next series and Athol started at its own 48 after a personal-foul call during the runback. Casella did the honors once again on second down, taking a counter handoff 48 yards to paydirt to make it 20-0.
Another Greenfield punt followed by and a lost Athol fumble gave the Wave possession at its own 6. Tyler Miner aired out a 51-yard punt, but Nelson returned it 48 yards to the Greenfield 11. After a personal-foul penalty set up first-and-25, Tyler Lutz (61 yards) got the Raiders close with runs of three and 14 yards before Casella went the final nine yards to give the visitors a 26-0 lead with nine minutes to go in the half.
That brought about Greenfield’s best drive of the half, helped along by a 27-yard gainer by Byrd and a fake-punt 22-yard pass from Miner to Nate Haselton that put the ball at the Athol 32. The Wave bogged down from there, though, and Miner’s short punt went out of bounds at the 20.
Athol promptly zipped back downfield after gains of 23 yards by Lutz, 11 yards by Casella and 30 yards from Nelson. After a 4-yard loss, Mousseau handed to Lutz, who slipped a second handoff to Casella on a counter play that turned into a 20-yard TD run. Kris Selanis booted the extra point to boost the Raiders into a 33-0 spread with 1:16 to play before halftime.
At the break, Athol held a 306-48 advantage in total yardage.
Greenfield finally struck to begin the third quarter with a five-play, 69-yard drive, on which Byrd carried for 66 yards and the 19-yard score. Miner found fellow “Tyler Twin,” Tyler Townsley, with the two-point conversion pass to make it 33-8.
The Raiders put the wraps on the scoring with 4:23 remaining in the third, following gains of 20 and 12 yards by Mason Barrieau and a 17-yarder by Lutz that created first-and-goal at the 1. Nelson slammed into the end zone on the next play, with Selanis tacking on his second PAT of the night.
Miner finished 3-of-6 passing for 34 yards for Greenfield, while Mousseau completed the only pass he threw, a 29-yarder to Nelson.
Athol will wait for other Division IV results today to help determine its playoff potential, while Greenfield is destined for a pair of assigned non-playoff games over the next two weekends.