WESTFIELD — Senior captain Doug Hanieski positioned the Frontier Regional boys soccer team perfectly.
The Red Hawks lined up for a free kick in the 37th minute in a scoreless Western Massachusetts Division 3 final Sunday. Ben Morse floated a free kick toward the far post. Connor Waitkus tracked it and knocked it to Hanieski with the side of his foot. Hanieski turned on a dime and fired through two Belchertown defenders and to the left of keeper Chris Tilton.
“I brought it down with my chest and just tried to strike it through,” Hanieski said. “I tried to believe it was gonna go in and hit it hard.”
With the way Frontier’s defense has played in the postseason and keeper Peter Bronke on the goal line, the Red Hawks figured one goal would hold.
“Our defense has been our rock all year. You would think a 1-0 lead would be good enough for us, but we tried to keep pushing,” Hanieski said. “I think if we got that second one it would be a different outcome.”
Jarod Bolton and the second-seeded Orioles had other ideas. He scored two goals, including the game-winner in double overtime, and Belchertown reclaimed the Western Mass. title, 2-1, at Westfield State University. The Orioles will face Central Mass. champion Nipmuc (17-2-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Chicopee Comp.
“I’ve been playing soccer and been a part of soccer most of my life,” Frontier coach Evan Horton said. “In 30-plus years, that’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of.”
The teams also played for a title in 2016, and Frontier won by the same 2-1 score. It was a meeting between winners of six of the past seven Division 3 titles. Southwick won last year, but the Red Hawks claimed the previous two after the Orioles won four in a row. They’ve played in the postseason three times in the past six seasons.
“We showed that we’re right there. We deserve to be in the conversation,” Horton said. “There’s a rivalry between these two teams, but there’s a lot of respect.”
On Sunday, Belchertown (15-5-1) scored both goals off corner kicks. Evan Fournier served a juicy ball from the left corner to the back post in the 69th minute. Bolton leapt and met it with a header, firing across the goal to the left and a level the game.
“Even does three different kinds of balls, my favorite one is the loft curl,” Bolton said. “That’s perfect for what I want to go in and win.”
Frontier (11-8-2) earned two free kicks in the game’s final seven minutes, but Tilton got his hands on the resulting attacks both times, sending the game to overtime.
“We played exactly what we planned on doing,” Horton said. “It was right there. We were 13 minutes from it going our way.”
In the 95th minute, Fournier teed up another corner kick, this one from the right side. He put the ball right on Bolton’s chest. He controlled it down to his feet, kicked it up with his heel and carried it across the line with his hip. Game over.
“It was a great ball by Evan, you’ve gotta give credit where credit is due,” Hanieski said.
It was the final game for eight Frontier seniors: Connor Bagdon, Bronke, Hanieski, Noah Jacques, Ryan Loveland, Kip Newman and Ari Vanegs. They’ve overseen the most successful period in Frontier soccer history, reaching three sectional finals in four years. A Franklin County soccer team had never even played for a Western Mass title before Frontier’s run.
“The difference is now we expect to be in these games. Five years ago, we would be happy to be in this game,” Hanieski said. “It hurts because we expect to be here.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.