SOUTH DEERFIELD — Entering Friday’s game against Commerce, the Frontier football team knew it needed a win to stay alive in the Intercounty League South – and keep its playoff hopes alive.
Behind a stingy defense and three touchdown drives, the Redhawks did just that.
Aiden Dredge tossed a touchdown pass, Brayden Arsenault and Indya Lewis found the end zone, and the Frontier defense forced two turnovers and came up with a late safety, leading to a 22-16 victory.
The win makes it two victories in a row in league play for the Redhawks (4-2, 2-1) following a loss to Lee in their league opener.
“When we look at how the league and playoffs are set up, starting with tonight, our next three games are big games for us because they’re against teams in higher divisions,” Redhawks coach Scott Dredge said. “We want to get those wins and get those points. We feel they’re winnable and we can compete.
“We feel our loss to Lee was a fluke,” Dredge continued. “We just needed to start playing our brand of football and tonight it finally clicked. All season long I’ve been saying we’re almost there. We were throwing the ball tonight, we were running it. Aiden played a great game. We’re finally there and we need that going into Belchertown and Easthampton.”
Frontier looked like it was about to ice the game with three minutes to play. The Redhawks got the ball back at the Raiders 36 following an Ian Burt interception, leading 20-16 with 8:27 to play in the fourth. Behind runs from Arsenault, Sean Kirkendall and Ian Burt, picked up a few first downs to kill clock.
With the ball on the Commerce 2, Kirkendall was stopped about a foot from the end zone, bringing up a fourth-and-goal. Aiden Dredge kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, but the officials marked him short of the goal line, giving the Raiders back the ball with 2:52 to play.
That’s when the Frontier defense stepped up. Commerce quarterback Chase Johnson kept the ball on a read option but the Redhawk defense swarmed him. Johnson tried to extend past the goal line but a pack of Frontier defenders held him back, forcing a safety to put the Redhawks up 22-16. It was the third safety of the season for the Frontier defense.
The Redhawks recovered the onside kick and Arsenault dashed for a first down to allow Aiden Dredge to kneel on the ball and end the game.
“Our team was upset because they were adamant they were in the end zone,” Scott Dredge said of the play on fourth down. “Aiden swore he was in. They were very angry and went and took it back. We know we can rely on the guys on our defense to shut things down when need be.”
The Raiders got the ball to open the game and broke off a series of big runs, capped off with a 44-yard touchdown scamper from Josiah Morales. Johnson ran in the two-point try to give Commerce an 8-0 lead.
Frontier responded with a touchdown drive of its own, with Aiden Dredge capping it off with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Burt in the right corner of the end zone. Kirkendall was stopped on the conversion, with the Raiders holding an 8-6 lead.
The Redhawks forced a punt and took over at the Commerce 46. A facemask call two plays later put the ball in the red zone, where Arsenault dashed into the end zone from 14 yards out. Burt ran in the two-point try to put Frontier ahead, 14-8.
The Redhawks nearly broke the game open on the next possession, recovering a squib kick to take over at the Commerce 15. A false start set Frontier back and Aiden Dredge was unable to connect with Burt on the fourth down try, giving the ball back to the Raiders.
Commerce then went on an 11-play scoring drive, with Johnson running in a quarterback keeper from five yards out. Morales ran in the two-point try, putting the Raiders ahead, 16-14, with 2:16 to play in the first half.
It’d be the last time Commerce found the end zone. The Redhawks held the Raiders to just six yards in the second half, with Commerce possessing the ball for a mere 3:37 over the final 24 minutes of action.
“We made the adjustments we needed to make on defense,” Dredge said. “They started hitting us out on the sweeps and they were crashing down. They were blocking well and had a good design. Once we made our adjustments things settled down for us.”
Frontier regained the lead with 41 seconds to play in the third quarter, going on an 11-play scoring drive that culminated in a 1-yard touchdown run from Lewis.
Arsenault led the Redhawks with 67 yards on the ground. Aiden Dredge ran for 46 yards and added 89 yards passing in the win.
Scott Dredge said he’s hoping to see his team continue to play full 48 minute games, not getting too high or too low early on.
“One of the things I continue to preach is that there’s four quarters of football,” Dredge said. “Settle down, go play the game and we’ll make the adjustments. They get worked up and energetic which is great for defense, but we need to be calm on offense and execute.”