TURNERS FALLS — At halftime of Friday night’s game, a defensive battle was brewing between Franklin Tech and Mahar.
The Eagles held a 6-0 lead before the Senators’ offense found a rhythm in the second half, scoring on three straight possessions after the break to come out with a 20-6 Intercounty North victory.
After trying different things offensively in the first half, Mahar coach Jim Woodward went back to doing what his team does best in the second half, and that ultimately led to the trio of scores.
“I told them to play the way they were playing,” Woodward told his team at the half. “We had made some adjustments from what we saw in film, and I think we over-adjusted. We went back to what we had been doing, and it seemed to work better. We missed some blocks here and there, but we were able to straighten that out at halftime.”
Following a failed fake punt by Franklin Tech (2-5, 2-3), the Senators took over at their own 44 trailing 6-0 early in the third quarter. Quarterback Noaha Chabot hooked up with receiver Charlie Barnes twice to set Mahar up in the red zone, where fullback Jacob Murphy bulldozed his way through three Eagle defenders to score from seven yards out. Kyle Notre tacked on the extra point to give the Senators a 7-6 lead.
Franklin Tech’s Donte Rosewarne returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but the score was ultimately called back for a block-in-the-back penalty.
An Eagle punt set the Senators (5-2, 4-1) up at midfield, where a 28-yard Chabot run got them down to the 20. From there, running back Jacob Tenney got the edge and bolted in for the 20-yard score, and Notre added the extra point with 27 seconds left in the third quarter for a 14-6 advantage.
On the third play of the ensuing Franklin Tech drive, quarterback Owen Bashaw found Colby Mailloux in the flat, and the tight end dashed up field for 21 yards before fumbling the ball upon contact.
Mahar recovered on the plus side of the field and drove into the red zone, where Chabot ran it in from 12 yards out. The extra point was blocked, keeping the lead at 20-6.
“Hats off to Mahar,” Eagles coach Joe Gamache said. “They clearly made some adjustments in the second half and they came out to play a lot tougher than they did in the first half. They’re a good football team and to beat a good football team, you have to play good football.”
Turnovers and penalties were the story of the night for Franklin Tech. After driving into the Senators side of the field on the following possession, Bashaw threw a pick to Barnes.
It was the second interception of the night for the Eagles, the first coming with 20 seconds left in the first half. Franklin Tech was driving at the Mahar 12 and attempted a halfback pass with Hunter Wozniak, but his pass was picked off by Tenney, preventing the Eagles from taking a two-score lead going into the halftime break.
“It’s the story of our season,” Gamache said. “We get a lot of opportunities but unfortunately we’re not capitalizing. We’re committing costly penalties at inopportune times, we’re committing turnovers at inopportune times. That’s on us. As coaches, we need to do a better job of putting a disciplined product on the field.”
The lone Franklin Tech touchdown came in the first quarter. Bashaw threw a pass to Rosewarne in traffic that was nearly intercepted, but the ball bounced back up into the arms of the senior wide out, and he proceeded to sprint up the sideline and get into the end zone for a 30-yard score.
From there, the Senator defense locked the Eagle attack down.
“We had them defended pretty well,” Woodward said. “Early in the first half, we wanted to stop their quick pitch to the outside. They got a couple of spurts on us but we were able to stop them enough to get the ball back. I know any team that Joe coaches, they’re scrappy, tough kids. They had us on the ropes there for a while.”
Winners of three straight, Mahar now faces a tough Easthampton (4-2, 4-1) team next Friday in Orange as the two teams are currently tied for second place in the IL North behind Frontier (5-2, 5-0). Franklin Tech takes to the road next week to play at Greenfield.