SOUTH DEERFIELD — It lived up its billing as the “Game of the Year” in the Intercounty League, but it also may wind up being the most costly.
The Turners Falls high school football team rode a solid offense and an exceptional line performance to a dominant 28-12 Intercounty League North championship-clinching win over Frontier Regional School on Senior Night on Friday.
It was a physically punishing contest, which saw three of the top running backs in the league go down to injury, the most serious of which occurred in the game’s final moments, when Frontier junior running back Steven Worthley (12 carries, 39 yards) took a handoff up the middle and collided with Turners Falls defensive lineman Tahner Castine. The hit was completely clean, but one from which Worthley did not get up.
Officials called the game with 37 seconds left, and Worthley remained on the turf for several minutes before being removed on a stretcher while a number of his teammates stood by, some weeping openly. The diagnosis on the field was a neck injury, the severity of which has not yet been determined.
The Worthley injury was a sad way to end what was otherwise one of the better high school football contests in recent memory. Turners got things started with a dominant opening drive, which saw them march 67 yards on 14 plays before senior back Quinn Doyle (20 carries, 76 yards) ran it in on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Quarterback Tionne Brown hit Ricky Craver with a two-point conversion pass to make it 8-0.
The Turners line made a statement on that drive, as well as Frontier’s first, when they forced the Red Hawks to experience a rare three-and-out. A short Worthley punt gave Turners the ball on the Red Hawk 34, and five lays later, Brown and Craver hooked up for a 13-yard touchdown pass. The PAT pass fell incomplete, keeping the score 14-0.
Frontier got on the board on the next series, when Seth Gewanter ran it in from 2 yards out, but the Red Hawks then lost their stud fullback to an ankle injury on the ensuing unsuccessful point-after run. Gewanter remained on the turf for several minutes before being removed by a stretcher with what is believed to be a severe ankle injury.
The combined Frontier and Turners Falls squads stood by Gewnater’s side while waiting for the stretcher in a show of unity and good sportsmanship.
Frontier opened the second half with what appeared to be an emotional spurt triggered by their captain’s injury. They moved the ball well on the first series of the third quarter, getting as far as the Turners’ 36, before turning it over on downs. The Indians got into the end zone again 10 plays later on a 30-yard touchdown run by Jack Darling, which took place two plays after Turners lost Doyle for the night to an unspecified injury. Coach Chris Lapointe did not elaborate on its nature, except to say Doyle is listed as “day-to-day.”
Doyle’s departure opened the door for Darling, who turned in another dominant performance, rushing for 160 yards on 30 carries, 124 in the second half.
“It’s a team effort, but I knew I had big shoes to fill,” Darling said. “We all did what we had to do and did our jobs and executed.”
Darling was helped by an offensive line which blew open huge holes, physically dominating a Frontier line which has been used to doing that to pretty much everyone else this season, but not on this night.
“Our line is gritty and they want to work,” Lapointe said. “We knew we had to meet their physicality and I think we did that.”
Frontier junior back Aaron Landry (13 carries, 91 yards) would round out the Frontier scoring on the next series with a 40-yard touchdown run on a rare moment where he got some daylight from an otherwise smothering Indian defense. A fumbled PAT snap would keep the score 22-12. Darling would score on a 1-yard touchdown run late in the fourth, but the Red Hawks managed to stop Darling’s point-after run to create the 28-12 final.
Turners now waits to see who they will play in next week’s playoff opener. The loss effectively eliminates Frontier from post-season contention, and they will wait to see whom they will face next week, which will be announced by the MIAA Sunday morning.