SOUTH DEERFIELD — After two weeks of having to claw their way from behind, the Frontier Regional School football team was itching to lay a good old fashioned beat down on some hapless, unsuspecting opponent.

That role on Friday night belonged to Palmer High School, which the Red Hawks dominated on both sides of the ball in a 35-6 independent drubbing in South Deerfield.

“It felt great finally to have some breathing room to work with,” Frontier senior running back Aaron Landry said. “I think the first half was a little iffy, but once we got going it got easier.”

Landry did as much as anyone to create that breathing room, rushing for three touchdowns and 255 yards on 25 carries — 190 of which came in the first half. Fellow senior Steve Worthley also got in on the action, rushing for 96 yards on 16 carries. But Worthley’s biggest contribution of the night came on defense, where the Red Hawk gap blitz created major problems for the much-vaunted Palmer passing attack led by junior quarterback Jeff Pardo.

“We knew they were a pass-first team so we knew we had to step it up in that part of the game,” Worthley said. “We worked hard on it in practice this week and it paid off.”

Pardo finished 10 for 24 passing for 106 yards and one interception, but didn’t complete any passes over 10 yards until midway through the second half, when the game was out of reach.

Frontier (2-1) got the ball to start the game, and rode the legs of Landry and Worthley straight down the field, only to turn it over on downs at the Panther 1. Palmer’s first drive ended when Pardo was intercepted by Red Hawk sophomore defensive back Ito McMillan. From there, Frontier quarterback Matt Hildreth engineered an eight-yard, 41 yard drive which ended in a Landry 10-yard touchdown run, followed by a Landry PAT run to make it 8-0. 

Following another Palmer three-and-out, Frontier would score again on the next series on a five-yard Landry run. The point after run failed to keep the score 14-0.

Palmer put up its best offensive showing of the first half on the next series, thanks to some help from a Frontier roughing the passer penalty which gave the Panthers the ball at the Frontier 39. But they would get no further than the Red Hawk 14 before turning it over on downs.

Despite the dominant performance, Frontier had some undisciplined moments in the first half, committing six penalties worth 50 yards. One of those penalties would up negating a 41-yard touchdown run by Bryce Dobosz.

Frontier scored again on its first offensive series of the second half on a nine-yard Landry run. A bad snap on the conversion run kept the score 20-0.

Worthley broke away for a 49-yard touchdown scamper as time ran out in the third quarter. A Hildreth kick made it 27-0.

Frontier rounded out its scoring early in the fourth, when sophomore Garrett DeForest converted a two-yard touchdown run. The Hawks faked the Hildreth point-after-kick, allowing Worthley to roll out and hit junior Kiernan Freeman in the back of the end zone to make it 35-0.

Palmer broke the shutout with less than 30 seconds left on a Kyle Mastalerz two-yard touchdown run. The Frontier defense sacked Pardo on the two-point conversion attempt to create the 35-6 final.

Frontier hosts Mahar Regional School (1-2, 1-2) Friday night as the Red Hawks resume IL North Division play. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.