CHESHIRE – With neither team able to move the ball consistently on the ground, a few chunk plays helped Hososac Valley to two scores and a 14-0 win over visiting Frontier in an Intercounty League South contest on Saturday afternoon.
The Hurricanes keyed in on Frontier running back Josh Semaski and held the Redhawks to just 99 total yards of offense. The Hoosac defense allowed just 96 yards rushing on 27 plays, and three of the visitors’ first four runs were halted at the line of scrimmage for no yards.
“You want your guys to play right, stay disciplined and do their job,” said Hoosac coach Mike Bostick. “But when push comes to shove and you have a kid that sticks out that much on film, you have to gameplan to, at the very least, slow him down.
“I thought our guys did a hell of a job doing that today.”
Semaski managed 61 yards on 17 carries, but more than half of those handoffs went for 3 or fewer yards.
On the flip side, Frontier coach Scott Dredge said after the game that he thought it was the best his defense has looked this season.
“I thought we played well, overall best defensive game we’ve played,” said Dredge. “It came down to those two long pass plays. I told the kids, we played a good football game. Offensively, yeah, we need to do more. We need to block better on the perimeter.”
Those two chunk plays were passes involving the Hurricanes’ senior battery of quarterback Carson Meczywor and receiver Caleb Harrington. The first was a 32-yard touchdown pass with 1 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter. Harrington made a brilliant, athletic play on a ball thrown to his inside shoulder, reaching in front of the defensive back to come down with the grab.
Aaron Bush ran in the 2-point conversion and Hoosac Valley took an 8-0 lead into the quarter-change.
Meczywor and Harrington connected again for 32 yards in the fourth quarter, as part of a drive that moved the ball from the Hoosac 39-yard line to the Frontier 2. The seam route took the Hurricanes from midfield to the Frontier red zone, and Meczywor chipped away with keepers until he was able to dive in for six points. Hoosac went ahead 14-0 with 8:10 left in the game.
Frontier’s best shot to get on the board came courtesy of Dredge’s defense and special teams.
The Redhawks pinned Hoosac on its own 13 midway through the second quarter, and a personal foul slid the Hurricanes inside the 10. On third-and-12, the Hurricanes fumbled the snap and Sean Kirkendall recovered.
Frontier’s offense took over first-and-goal from the 9. Semaski’s first handoff went for nothing however, and the second tote picked up just two yards. Quarterback Sam Schreiber (2-for-8 passing for 3 yards) threw an incompletion and on fourth down was intercepted in the end zone by Meczywor.
“They beat us on the line of scrimmage today,” said Dredge. “We gave it our best, made some adjustments to run it weak side, and we did get some things going there, but when you get down like that you have to start putting the ball in the air a little bit to move down the field. The clock is not your friend.”
The Redhawks forced and recovered two fumbles in the game. They forced a punt after Hoosac received the second-half kickoff, but couldn’t garner a first down in the third quarter.
After the Hurricanes got their second score, Frontier was able to sustain a drive, but it was too little too late.
Schreiber had a 17-yard run during a 14-play, 65-yard drive, but he threw two incompletions while under pressure and was stopped after four yards on fourth-and-5 from the Hoosac 9 with 1:19 left in the game. The senior QB finished with 33 yards on eight carries.
The Redhawks fell to 0-5 after a pair of tight losses to Intercounty South teams in Berkshire County foes Lee and Hoosac.
“We knew that Lee and Hoosac were going to be tough games,” said Dredge. “I think we are where we belong. We’ve got some exciting middle schoolers coming up. I think we can compete in this new league. I feel good about next week and the back-end of our season, we feel like we can compete.”
Next up for Frontier is a trip to play Commerce Friday night at 8 p.m. The game will be played at Berte Field in Springfield.