It’s time for the postseason and at least one area team is guaranteed a shot at a Western Massachusetts championship as Week 9 of the area high school football season commences tonight.
The marquee game takes place tonight at 7 at Edward J. Bourdeau Field in Turners Falls, where fourth-seeded Pioneer Valley Regional School heads to take on unbeaten and top-seeded Turners Falls High School in a Division IV-A semifinal.
Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Frontier Regional School prepares to make its journey to Dalton tonight for a Division IV semifinal matchup against top-seeded Wahconah Regional High School at 7 p.m.
The assigned non-playoff slate of five games includes an intriguing contest at O’Brien Field in Athol, where Hoosac Valley High School and Athol High School will clash tonight at 7 in a meeting of playoff-caliber teams that just missed out on postseason berths.
Other games tonight include Smith Vocational at Greenfield at 6, Monument Mountain Regional at Mahar Regional at 7, and Mohawk Trail Regional at Belchertown at 7. On Saturday, Franklin County Tech hosts Drury at 2:30 p.m.
Here’s a closer look at the two local playoff games:
Pioneer at Turners Falls — Can the Indians put last year’s shortcomings behind them and win their second WMass football title in four years, or can the upstart Panthers keep the good times rolling and continue their surprise season?
Those are a couple of questions surrounding tonight’s semifinal game in Turners Falls. The top-seeded Indians (8-0) come in as experienced veterans when it comes to tournament football, having qualified for the sixth straight year. In 2013, the Indians won the WMass title during the inaugural season of the statewide tournament, but have lost in the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
That included last year’s semifinal loss to McCann Tech when the Indians were in a similar situation — hosting the game as the top seed. Turners Falls coach Chris Lapointe said his team is focused entering this game, as it tries to avoid another upset.
“We understand Pioneer is excited,” he said. “The year that we were the four seed, we were able to win out and earn the title. We know we need to give our all to win this game.”
Pioneer (5-2) happens to be in the same position that Turners Falls found itself in 2013, when the Indians won the WMass crown as the fourth seed. First-year Pioneer coach Paul Worth said that he knows his team will be the underdogs going into Turners Falls, but it’s a position his team has been familiar with this season, and they have overcome that to put together a great year.
“It has been a wonderful season and now we have a great opportunity to play a great football team,” Worth said. “I love the way that they play football in Turners Falls. They bring it to you, they punch you in the mouth.”
Worth’s team has been doing just that and might be the surprise of the postseason among the four western Mass. Divisions. With just 21 players on the roster (and just 16 who see playing time), Worth and the Panthers are making the most out of what they have to work with, and the coach said it’s a credit to his team.
“They work hard and are getting the job done,” he explained. “We still make mistakes but I don’t think there is a team out there that doesn’t make mistakes. We have a small nucleus that seems to be working because they have played their hearts out.”
The game could come down to whichever defense has the most success at bottling up the other team’s running back, something both have done well. Pioneer has been strong defensively all season, having not allowed more than 14 points in any game. Both of the Panthers’ losses came to tournament teams in Palmer High School and Ware, and both were the result of fourth-quarter trouble, when big plays hurt the defense, something Worth has addressed.
“We’ve made some big mistakes in some big games, but we’ve played well this season,” Worth said. “Two or three weeks ago, we moved Bryce (Dobosz) to safety, and we haven’t given up that big 70-yard play that we did against Ware or Palmer. Those are things you learn as you begin to learn you kids. … But we are going to be tested on Friday night.”
That test will come in the form of an Indians’ offense that has been one of the most consistent point-producers in the Intercounty League North this season. Led by running back Quinn Doyle, who enters the game with an area-leading 1,249 yards, the Indians have scored 20 points or more in all but one game (the regular-season matchup against Greenfield) this season. Doyle left last week’s game against Frontier, but is back this week and Worth said his team must find a way to bring the bruising running back down.
“Doyle is a great running back; he will run right over you,” the Pioneer coach said. “The Turners Falls offense just executes so well. We are just going to have to play solid, solid football. And (Jack Darling) is a good back, too. They both scare the hell out of me.”
Darling has emerged in the past two weeks as a great compliment to Doyle. When Athol shut Doyle down two weeks ago, Darling picked up his play to the tune of a career-high 189-yard rushing performance. And when Doyle went down last week, Darling again stepped up and finished with 160 yards and two touchdowns.
“Jack is another example of the “next man up” attitude that our team tries to take on,” Lapointe said. “He runs hard and works hard and he’s a player who will do whatever is asked of him.”
The Turners Falls defense has also been stout over the past month-plus, having held its last five opponents to 14 points or less. That comes after an up-and-down early-season performance.
“We have really worked hard on defense and tried to home in on what we needed to improve on,” Lapointe said.
Linebacker Tahner Castine is the heart of the defense, while ends Kyle Bergmann and Owen Ortiz have both done a great job according to Lapointe.
They will have their work cut out for them with Dobosz, who went over the 1,000-yard mark in last week’s win over Mohawk. Dobosz enters the game with 1,058 yards on the season, and he has rushed for 185 yards or more in four straight contests.
“He’s a good athlete, I think he runs the ball hard and well,” Lapointe said. “They are not only going to try to run with him, but they will try to pass it to him in the slot. They will try to get their playmaker as many touches as they can.”
Pioneer also has versatile quarterback Alex Tyson at its disposal; he can get it done through the air and with his legs.
The winner will play in the WMass championship game next Friday or Saturday against the winner of tonight’s other semifinal between Ware High School and Mt. Greylock Regional High School.
Frontier at Wahconah — The Red Hawks suffered a pair of key injuries in addition to the usual bumps and bruises in a hard-hitting affair with Turners Falls last week, a 28-12 loss.
Running backs Seth Gewanter (ankle) and Steve Worthley (concussion) — who have a combined 837 yards and 11 touchdowns between them — are both out for the year, cutting the Red Hawks’ running back stable in half.
Frontier’s body of work was still good enough to garner a postseason berth, although the reward is a trip to face the 7-1 Warriors, who possesses one of the most potent offenses in Western Mass. (39.5 points per game). Their only loss was a 28-18 setback to Berkshire County rival Taconic, the top seed in the Division III playoffs.
Frontier head coach Don Gordon said he has watched the Warriors on film and knows his team will need be at its very best to slow down Wahconah’s multi-faceted attack.
The Warriors are led by quarterback Will Genaway, who has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns, and added 330 yards rushing with six scores.
Wahconah can get things done on the ground, between Genaway and running backs Conner Noyes (597 yards, 4 TDs) and Tanner Hastings (550 yards, 9 TDs), and his stable of receivers includes big-play threats Connor Washburn (19 catches, 471 yards, 9 TDs, 24.8 yards per catch) and Conner Mathews (10-190, 3 TDs).
“They’re very athletic,” said Gordon. “They’ve got tall receivers, a quarterback who’s a running and passing threat on every play, and they use a lot of formations and misdirection. … They do it all.
“They’re one of those teams we’ve seen over the years where, even if you can get them in a third-and-long situation, they can score a touchdown on you,” he added.
The Warriors are also stout defensively, holding six of their opponents under 15 points. They’re also familiar with the Red Hawks’ offense, having faced the double wing against Holliston in the 2014 state final.
“We need our quarterback to be more of passing threat,” said Gordon, referring to Myles Freeman. “He could also be a running threat (tonight).
Freeman has only attempted 31 passes, but has 15 completions for 394 yards and three touchdowns. He threw his only interception of the season last week.
He has spread the ball around to several different players, including running back Aaron Landry and tight ends Cole Price, Joe Morawski and Kiernan Freeman.
The Red Hawks’ Achilles heel, at times, has been defense. Including its shutout of offensively-challenged Mahar, Frontier is allowing 20.3 points a game and needs to come up with its best performance against Wahconah to pull the upset.
“The offensive and defensive lines just have to hold their own,” said Gordon. “Hopefully we can keep them honest inside with those 3- and 4-yard runs and open up the outside with some passing. … We need to get in those third-and-short situations, make first downs and keeping moving the chains.”
Gordon is confident his team will be ready.
“We earned the right to be there,” said Gordon. “We have nothing to lose. We can’t go up there with any fear, we just have to go out and play the game.”