Football season is finally here.
After three weeks of practice, the high school football season officially gets underway tonight with a slate of five local games.
Greenfield High School travels to Mahar Regional School tonight at 7 to kick off the Intercounty League North Division schedule.
IL North favorites Frontier Regional School and Athol High School open up with independent games. The Red Hawks travel to Pittsfield High School to take on the Generals at 7 p.m., while the Red Raiders play host to Narragansett Regional High School at 7.
Defending IL North and western Massachusetts champion Turners Falls High School heads to Lee High School at 7, and Franklin County Technical School travels to Mohawk Trail Regional High School at 7.
The weekend wraps up Saturday afternoon with one game as Pioneer Valley Regional School opens its season at home at 1 p.m. against Ludlow High School.
The Mahar/Greenfield tilt not only kicks off the IL North schedule, it is also a chance for the two teams at the bottom of the league to put last season firmly behind them.
“I’m excited about getting started,” Green Wave coach Mike Kuchieski said. “Let’s find out what we have.”
Greenfield finished 3-7 last season and had just one win in the league, that coming over Mahar, 20-12, in the second week of the season last fall. The Senators finished winless in the league and went 1-9 overall.
Tonight’s game could be decided on offense by whichever star shines brightest. For Greenfield, that is junior running back RJ Byrd, who is coming off a big sophomore season that saw him run for over 1,000 yards. Kuchieski said that he is looking for Byrd to be more consistent this season, which means running more north and south, and running through contact and over defenders. Last season, Byrd had five games in which he eclipsed 100 yards, and five in which he did not. He did torch the Mahar defense for 180 yards and three touchdowns one year ago.
“I hope RJ is going to be a great junior football player and a great leader,” Kuchieski said. “It’s up to him. It’s in his court, now.”
Mahar coach Chris Bailey said that his defense needs to take away the big play by Byrd, something that hurt his squad when the teams met last season.
“RJ is a good back. He really is,” Bailey began. “I felt like last season he was either 65 yards or it was minus-2, it wasn’t one of those ground-and-pound games, but you sleep on him, he is going to take it to the house. You need to have multiple guys going after him, and you need guys to wrap up.”
For Mahar, the player to watch is senior quarterback Sam Paul, who was the only area quarterback to throw for over 1,000 yards last season. Paul also threw for 14 touchdowns. He was forced to carry the offense due to the team’s lack of a rushing attack. Sophomore John Gariepy led the Mahar backfield with 358 yards on the season.
“Paul is a tough player and he has a lot of varsity experience,” Kuchieski said of the opposing quarterback. “He’s an athlete and we need to contain him to have a shot to win.”
Bailey said that Paul will be a major contributor but he wants to see more balance out of his offense this season after injuries took their toll last fall.
“I was really excited at the beginning of last year because I thought I had a stable of backs, but injuries derailed that pretty quick,” he said. “We switched up our offense a little bit, and my line is different. We are not big by any means, but I’m quick.
Greenfield junior Owen Phelps will make his anticipated debut at quarterback. Phelps has a strong arm, but must protect the ball as he tries to distribute to a brand new receiving corps this season.
Both defenses are also going to look to be more consistent. Mahar struggled to stop opposing offenses all season last fall, allowing 34 points or more in all but three games. Greenfield was better, allowing less than 20 points in seven of 10 games, but there is still room for improvement, according to Kuchieski. Both teams will use many of the same players on defense who play on offense, especially a Greenfield team with only about 20 players on the varsity roster.
“The kids know the situation; they know they are going to be playing a lot of football here,” Kuchieski said. “They are going into it with a great attitude.”
Bailey said that a win tonight would put last season to rest. He said the biggest thing would be for his players to put in-game mistakes behind them and focus on each play.
“It’s the first game of the year and it may sound cliche and ridiculous, but (today) goes a long way in defining how the season goes,” he concluded.
Here’s a look at the rest of the games:
FC Tech at Mohawk
Former Turkey Day rivals, Franklin County Technical School travels to familiar foe Mohawk Trail Regional High School tonight at 7 for a showdown in Buckland. … The two teams have developed a nice rivalry in recent years, and they’ve played their share of grind-it-out contests. … After moving up to the Intercounty League North a year ago, Tech blanked Mohawk in the teams’ lone meeting, 28-0, in Week 3… FC Tech plays its first game without 1,000-yard rusher Dylan Mailloux, who rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s win over Mohawk. … The Warriors also graduated a 1,000-yard rusher in Jonathan Herbert. … Tech has held the Warriors scoreless the past two seasons, beating Mohawk by a combined 64-0 in a pair of wins. … Prior to those two losses, Mohawk had won six games in a row dating back to 2009. … Mohawk won its season opener last season with a 28-6 win over Smith Voke, while Franklin Tech dropped a 34-6 decision to Ashland High School in last year’s season-opener.
Narragansett at Athol
This is the third consecutive year that the teams have met in the season opener. Last year, Narragansett won 26-20, while in 2015, Athol won 25-20. … This marks the seventh consecutive season that the teams have played. The Warriors won four straight from 2011 through 2014. … Narragansett hired longtime assistant coach Wes Flis as its head coach during the offseason and Flis became the third head coach in four years at the school. … Narragansett finished 6-4 last season, winning three of its final four games. … Both teams welcome back some talented players in the backfield. Athol brings back fullback Robbie Nelson and running back Mason Barrieau, both of whom rushed for 41 yards against the Warriors last season, as well as running back Nick Casella, who rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown in last year’s loss. The Warriors return running back Jake Mott and fullback Dom Kallel. Mott rushed for nearly 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns last fall, while Kallel rushed for over 800 yards and also scored 12 touchdowns.
Turners at Lee
This is a matchup of the last two WMass Division IV-A champions. Lee won the title in 2015, while Turners Falls is the defending champion. … This is the third straight year the teams have met. Last fall, Turners Falls opened the season with a 20-0 victory over Lee in the Powertown. Lee won the 2015 meeting 27-7. … Turners Falls graduated nearly all of its starting offensive skill players from a year ago. The only player returning this fall who gained any offensive yards against Lee in last year’s season opener is fullback John Driscoll, who rushed twice for minus-1 yard and caught one pass for 8 yards. … Lee went 5-5 last season. The Wildcats return an experienced team with senior running back Lukas Loehr and junior quarterback Homer Winston. Head coach Keith Thomson, now in his 13th year, also has a big target in his receiving corps in 6-foot-5 junior Ben Harding, who is also the team’s safety.
Frontier at Pittsfield
This is the first meeting all-time between the two teams. … This is the second straight year that Frontier will open the season against a Berkshire County opponent after it hosted and defeated Drury High School, 36-18, in last year’s opener. … Frontier played three Berkshire County teams last season, losing to Wahconah Regional High School in the WMass Division IV postseason, and then falling to Hoosac Valley Regional School the following week. … Frontier has been a fast starter in recent seasons, going 4-0 to start the year last fall, and 3-0 to start the season in 2015. … Pittsfield finished last season 4-6. That came after a 3-0 start to the year. … Pittsfield did play another local team in 2016 when it lost to Athol, 18-13, in a non-qualifier game in November. Pittsfield’s last win over a Franklin County team came in 2015 when it defeated Mahar, 20-18. … Pittsfield is led by senior running back Edwin Rodriguez. … Frontier’s offense, which already has the potential to be the most dangerous in the IL North, got another boost this week when former Pioneer running back Bryce Dobosz won his appeal to become eligible to play this season. He will be in the lineup tonight.
Ludlow at Pioneer
The lone Saturday game on the local scene, Pioneer Valley Regional School opens with an independent test against Ludlow High School at 1 p.m. in Northfield. … The Panthers are seeking their third consecutive season-opening win, as they beat Drury High School, 28-6, a season ago and blanked Smith Vocational 6-0 in 2015… The two teams last played in 2013, when Ludlow captured a 42-20 victory late in the season. … Pioneer, which reached the postseason and finished 5-5 a year ago, plays its first game without 1,000-yard rusher Bryce Dobosz, who transferred to Frontier Regional School. … Pioneer junior QB Scott Perlberg returns under center after missing the majority of last season due to a dislocated shoulder suffered in Week 1. … Ludlow, which plays in the Intercounty League South this fall, limped to a 2-8 record in 2016. … The Lions opened the year 0-7 before picking up a pair of late-season wins against Pathfinder and Smith Voke, which finished as the two basement-dwellers in the Tri-County League with a combined 1-13 record. … Senior quarterback Justin DeBarge returns for Ludlow, and he has a veteran reliable target in Tod Holloway Jr.