It’s been a few years since the Franklin Tech and Frontier football teams have faced off on the gridiron.
The Eagles and the Redhawks played each other every year from 2016 through 2020, but after the 2021 league realignment, Franklin Tech found itself competing in the Intercounty League North and Frontier competing in the IL South. Thus, the only way for the two to play would be an independent game, which didn’t happen the last two seasons.
That’ll change Friday night, with the Redhawks set to make the trip to Turners Falls to face off against Tech at 7 p.m.
“We’ve been waiting to play Tech for a long time,” Frontier’s Kaden James said. “We’re excited for this one. I’ve wanted to play Tech for years.”
It’s not just the Redhawks that held that sentiment.
The Eagles opened their season last week with a 20-0 shutout victory over McCann Tech to get their season going on the right foot. That victory helped build up their confidence heading into Friday, where they’ll facing off against a Frontier team that won all five of those matchups against the Eagles between 2016-2020.
It’s easy to see why Franklin Tech has had this game circled on its calendar since the schedule came out. The squad is hoping to prove itself against one of the traditional powers in the area.
“We’re feeling great,” Eagles quarterback Gabe Tomasi said. “We put a lot of good work in this week and moved people to new positions. We feel really strong and ready to face maybe our toughest competition of the year. We’ve been talking about this game for a long time.”
“It’s going to be our toughest competition,” Franklin Tech running back Josiah Little added. “It gives us a chance to show everyone who we are.”
While Franklin Tech opened its season on a high note, Tomasi said there were plenty of things to clean up. McCann held the Eagles to 40 yards passing on eight pass attempts while limiting Little — who has had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons — to 54 yards on 16 carries. Little still found a way to make a big impact with a 48-yard punt return touchdown.
Defensively, the Eagles were nearly flawless against the Hornets. Tech finished with 10 tackles for loss, five of them by senior Landen Hardy. Getting contributions in all three phases is a recipe for success, and the Eagles are hoping to replicate that effort on Friday.
“Last week was a little sloppy for us,” Tomasi said. “It’s going to be like that for everybody during Week 1. Our defense was eating all night and our skill position guys were great. We all need to work as a team and if we do, we’ll be unstoppable this year.”
With many returning players, the chemistry on the Franklin Tech roster is high. Little said if they keep playing like a team, the success will come.
“We just need to keep the team work and morale up,” Little said. “Everybody needs to keep hyping each other up. If we work as a team we should be all set.”
Frontier wasn’t able to have that same success in its opener, falling to Lunenburg — which made the Div. 7 playoffs a season ago — by a score of 32-6. The game took place over the course of two days, with play suspended during the first quarter on Friday due to lightning and resuming on Saturday.
Redhawks quarterback Aiden Dredge said his young team is hoping to learn from Friday’s game, and now they’re ready to flip the page to Franklin Tech.
“We just have to move on,” Dredge said. “A little chip on the shoulder never hurt anybody. We have some new faces on offense so it was good to see what we have to work on for team chemistry and what we need to chip away at and work toward.”
Dredge scored the lone Frontier touchdown against Lunenburg on a quarterback counter. Getting protection and a push in the run game from the guys up front are areas Dredge said would be key to getting a win over the Eagles.
“Pass protection and run blocking,” Dredge said when asked about the key to victory on Friday. “Definitely up front, those guys know the play starts and ends with their positions. They need to set the tone. I believe in them. They’re dogs.”
James noted the pass defense as an area to improve in, as Lunenburg was able to have success throwing the football on Saturday.
“We have to clean up our pass coverage,” James said. “We have a new secondary and we’re young back there.”
Cleaning things up defensively was a focus for Frontier at practice this week. Dredge, who also plays cornerback for the Redhawks, said that the offense the Eagles run is different than the Lunenburg offense, presenting a different type of challenge to prepare for.
“Tech’s offense is very different from last week,” Dredge said. “Lunenburg runs a very sophisticated, spread offense. Tech runs a different kind of spread offense. It’s an offense we’re more used to seeing around here.”
The Eagles and the Redhawks aren’t the only show in the area on Friday. Greenfield, which earned an 18-15 win over Chicopee in its opener, will look to add a second tally into the win column when South Hadley comes to Vets Field on Friday for a 7 p.m. contest. The Tigers lost their opener to Wahconah, 26-14.
Athol will also be at home for the second week in a row, taking on Pathfinder at O’Brien Field at 7 p.m. The Bears opened their season with a 34-6 triumph over Murdock and will face a tough test against the Pioneers, which beat Athol 26-6 a season ago.
Mahar will play its home opener on Friday, hosting McCann Tech at 7 p.m. at the Woodward Complex. It’ll be the second straight Berkshire County opponent for the Sens, which fell to Hoosac, 38-7, in their opener last Saturday. Mahar beat McCann 48-12 a season ago.