ATHOL — Riding three rushing touchdowns from Jacob Neumann, the Easthampton football team knocked off Athol High School, 41-6, in an Intercounty League North contest at O’Brien Field on Friday night.
Athol played Easthampton (4-2, 4-1 IL) close through the first quarter before the Eagles scored 33 straight points.
The score allowed the Eagles to get their bench into the game for most of the fourth quarter when the clock was running.
“It was good because this year with our numbers we weren’t able to field a JV team,” Easthampton coach Matt Bean said. “It was nice to get all those kids in and get them some Friday night time.”
The Eagles came out throwing the ball with varied success. Liam Burke opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Bennett Kelly.
Easthampton got the ball quickly after an interception by Nathan Hogan on Athol’s first drive.
Burke completed five passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns.
“Offensively the execution wasn’t there in the first half,” Bean said. “We’ve been throwing it a little bit more. Moving forward we are trying to get a little more comfortable with it.”
The Red Raiders (0-7, 0-5) answered with a 37-yard touchdown run by Jacob Smith to end the second quarter, the team’s lone score of the night.
From there, the Eagles went back to the ground to take over the game. Neumann finished with seven carries for 105 yards, while Kelly added 67 yards on six carries.
The Red Raiders, with 14 players, lost Manny O’Lari to a wrist injury.
“It is what it is,” Athol coach Bill LaRose said. “He took a shot to the hand. Decided to get him out of the game. When you have 14 and one goes out, it’s tough. We can stay with a team for about a half.”
O’Lari had five carries for 20 yards before coming out during the intermission.
Joshua Ayles and Vincent Gordon had sacks for the Athol defense.
Neumann rushed for two touchdowns in the second quarter, one from 6 yards and another from 32-yards out.
Matt Champagne recovered an Athol fumble just before the end of the half, leading to a Burke 15-yard pass to Hogan that gave Easthampton a 28-6 halftime lead.
Neumann punctuated a quick, three-play 59 yard drive to open the third quarter with a 12-yard score.
Athol had a 68-yard fake punt touchdown by Riley Paine called back due to a penalty in the second quarter.
“I give (Paine) him credit,” LaRose said. “He saw something and he made a great play out there. That’s part of the game and that’s out of our hands. The officials made the call.”
Easthampton went up 20-6 on the next possession.
Shea Brennan rushed for 36 yards on six carries and added two catches for six yards for the Red Raiders.
