NORTHAMPTON — Looking to spoil Senior Night on the road Friday night, visiting Frontier danced its way back to South Deerfield with a 42-0 victory over Smith Vocational to snap a two-game skid.
With Mother Nature turning in a peculiar April day, combining whirling wind, cold temperatures, and a substantial amount of rain, there were no clean jerseys left on either team by the end of Friday’s tilt.
Looking for a much-needed bounce back game, Frontier came out of the gates both quickly and aggressively, scoring on all six of its opening first half possessions. After the Vikings fumbled on the opening play of the game, Red Hawks junior and starting tailback Josh Semaski took a pitch and found the end zone from one yard out. This was a small sign of things to come for Semaski, who ended the contest with 81 yards and four rushing touchdowns.
“This was the first game where we were able to put everything together successfully,” offered Frontier head coach Scott Dredge. “We ran various offensive formations that all worked well, and we really wanted to get Semaski the ball a lot and get him churning. The more touches he gets, the more he warms up and the better he is.”
The combination of several first half Smith Vocational miscues along with Frontier’s offense clicking on all cylinders led to a decisive 42-0 halftime advantage.
Frontier senior quarterback Jake Dodge was pulled after the first quarter, but not before adding 67 rushing yards, including a remarkable 45-yard house call to propel his team to a huge first quarter lead that would continue to be built upon.
Everyone who suited up for both the Vikings and Red Hawks saw action, which pleased Dredge and the Hawks coaching staff.
“We don’t have a whole lot of numbers, so I was really glad we were able to get our freshmen and sophomores into the game and play a significant amount of time. They’ve been practicing just as hard and just as often as everyone else has, so it felt good to see them out there competing,” Dredge said.
As for the Vikings, they were battling with injuries throughout the entirety of the game, and the stingy Frontier front seven held the hosts to just five total yards while forcing four turnovers. Freshman starting quarterback Alex Martinez and the versatile Tanner Smith both left the game early in the first half and would not return, and starting running back Jon Castro was unavailable from the start.
Sophomore Sean Kirkendall and freshman Ian Burt combined for 92 yards in the Red Hawks win, with Kirkendall navigating his way to paydirt from 21 yards out in the second quarter. Junior Sam Schreiber and freshman Aiden Dredge both saw time at quarterback due to Dodge’s early departure.
Frontier hosts the undefeated and scorching hot Athol Bears on Friday night in what is sure to be an entertaining, high-scoring affair. Smith Vocational looks to regroup and heal some key players quickly as they are set to host Ware.