WILLIAMSTOWN — After scoring just six points in the previous seven quarters, Mount Greylock erupted for 16 in the fourth quarter to defeat Mahar, 22-18, Friday night.
Mahar quarterback Noaha Chabot had no trouble moving the ball against the Mounties’ secondary for most of the night. With 20 seconds left in the game and the ball at the Greylock 18-yard line, it was freshman Ryan Goss who stepped up for the Mounties, sacking Chabot to end the game.
“That fourth quarter was crazy,” explained Mount Greylock head coach Andrew Agustini. “We had that great fumble recovery, a great kick return, and we started to play some good defense.”
Momentum in football is often unpredictable as it was a tail of two halves for both the Mounties and the Senators. Mahar is now 0-7 on the season, but they played a physical game from the opening kick.
Their first possession of the game was an 11-play drive where they had no issue moving the ball. When it looked like the Mounties were going to stop the Chabot-led offense on fourth-and-six, he found Charlie Barnes for a 36-yard touchdown giving Mahar a quick 6-0 lead.
While Greylock could move the ball in the first half, sacks and fumbles prevented them from finding any type of rhythm on offense. A Mounties’ fumble set up Mahar on the Greylock 31 yard line.
Mahar put together a methodical seven-play drive before Lucas Seney knocked it into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown and with six minutes left in the half the Senators found themselves with a 12-0 lead.
“We played a great game for 44 minutes,” explained Mahar coach Jim Woodward. “That was the first time we have done that all season. We have a lot of young kids, we’re getting there.”
Mahar converted every fourth down they had in the first half as Seney and Joey Brozell often found open holes in the running game.
Starting from their own 23 with just five minutes left in the half, the Mounties orchestrated a 10-play drive that was capped off by a 7-yard Sean Malloy touchdown run.
“I don’t think we could’ve played any more poorly in that first half.” Agustini said. “The message at half time was we are so much better than we were playing. ”
While the score remained tied through the third quarter, Mahar scored on the third play of the fourth quarter. Joey Brozell ran it in for a two-yard touchdown to give the Senators a 18-6 lead with just 10 minutes left in the game.
Everything clicked for the Mountie offense in the fourth quarter and it started with a big kick return from Melloy, giving Greylock a first down on the Mahar 25. Taylor Commings had 22 yards on the drive, which included a 10 yard touchdown run. He then added the two point try to cut the deficit to 18-14.
Mahar started the next drive from the 50 yard line and it was Seney moving the offense through Mount Greylock territory. At the 35 yard line Mahar took a shot down field but Chabot’s pass was intercepted by sophomore Collin Doyle, who returned it 17 yards.
With the Mounties down four and needing to go 48 yards to take the lead, the drive couldn’t have started any worse. A negative run followed by an offsides created a third and 16 situation, but quarterback Michael Wellspeak found Malloy for 36 yards.
Wellspeak displayed his command of the offense for the entire drive, later finding senior Zeke Locklear in the back of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown. He then hit Jason Betti for the two point try, giving the Mounties a 22-18 lead on their way to improving to 4-3 on the season.
“I am focused on next week,” Woodward said. “I told my guys that we are coming for Franklin Tech.”
Mahar welcomes Franklin Tech next Friday with kick off scheduled for 7 p.m.