ATHOL — When a team does not have to punt for an entire game, it’s usually going to end well.
That’s what happened for the Frontier Regional School football team in a 60-26 win over Athol in an Intercounty League North contest Friday night at O’Brien Field.
Garrett DeForest ran wild for the Red Hawks with 263 yards on 15 carries and five touchdowns. The game had playoff seeding implications for Frontier, which locked up a postseason berth with the victory.
“Wanted to come out with a ‘W’ tonight,” DeForest said. “Just thinking of how important it is to the rest of the season. I just put my head down and kept running, wanting to put points in the board. If we lost we probably would have had the four seed.”
Frontier (5-3 overall, 4-2 IL North) implemented some new looks for the game, including option plays.
“I didn’t know what team was going to show up tonight,” Frontier coach Don Gordon said. “But we came through and executed. Scoring every possession is a good thing. This will give playoff opponents something else to worry about.”
DeForest’s longest run of the night was a 75-yard run in the third quarter, while his longest touchdown was a 47-yarder in the fourth.
Athol (2-6, 1-5) moved the ball in the first half to stay with Frontier, but the defense simply could not get any stops against Frontier’s rushing attack.
Athol quarterback Caleb Cox threw a 41-yard touchdown to Joey Gray, which was Athol’s longest play of the night.
“We had a couple kids out,” Athol coach Bill LaRose said. “We moved the ball in the first half. I thought it might be a little closer than that. We have two freshmen (Cox and Gray) connecting on pass plays, more than I have ever had. We just couldn’t stop their offense.”
Cox connected with Gray four times for 99 yards.
The first half featured eight touchdowns.
Deforest scored first for Frontier on a 6-yard touchdown run.
Keegan Lutz followed for Athol with a 26-yard rushing touchdown to make it 6-6.
Matt Hildreth scored on a 1-yard keeper for the Red Hawks to make it 12-6 at the end of the first quarter.
DeForest added three more touchdowns in the second quarter, scoring two times on the ground and another on a 39-yard shovel pass from Hildreth.
For Athol, Dylan Castine scored on a 11-yard rushing touchdown while Cox tossed the TD to Gray before intermission.
The score was 36-20 at halftime.
Josh Semaski scored a 5-yard touchdown in the third quarter and added another in the fourth. In between was DeForest’s 47-yard touchdown.
Backup quarterback Tim Casavecchia hit Jacob Smith for a late touchdown for Athol.
