The 2025 Athol football team will look different than the last few years.
Bears coach Josh Talbot has turned Athol into a power in the Intercounty League North, the Bears going from 3-7 in 2022 to 7-3 with a Div. 8 state tournament appearance in 2023. The momentum continued last fall, as Athol went 7-4.
Those strong seasons were powered by a big senior class, those players graduating in the spring. Now, Talbot and his staff are bringing together a young squad, though Talbot said he’s been impressed with their willingness to learn.
“It’s largely a whole new squad,” Talbot said. “We had 19 seniors who ended up graduating last year and those were kids who had been with us through the whole journey. From a skill perspective we graduated a lot of depth. We were two or three deep with seniors and now all our skill guys are doing it for the first time except [Ethan Goodwin]. I’m excited to see this group. They work hard and they’re coachable. The attitude has been good. We’ve had the consistent 25 guys here every day.”
Those losses start with Aidan Melanson and Sawyer Lefsyk. Melanson was a longtime starter under center for the Bears and set the Athol school passing touchdown record last fall. Lefsyk left as one of the best running back in the Intercounty League North.
Along with that, the Bears are replacing all their skill players outside of Ethan Goodwin, who caught four passes for four touchdowns a season ago.
“We had a great season last year,” senior Mathew Gould said. “After losing a lot of seniors, we have to focus on building up our new, inexperienced players to try to be the football team we want to be this year.”
Oliver Johnson steps in to replace Melanson under center. A senior, Johnson was the third string quarterback in 2023 and played golf last fall, but is back to lead the offense. Talbot said he likes Johnson’s ability to use his legs.
“It puts us back to what was a more efficient offense two years ago,” Talbot said. “We put up numbers last year in some games but we were really efficient two years ago. We think we’ll get back to that this year. [Johnson’s] the key to that.”
Up front, it starts with Nick LeBlanc and Gould. Both will start at guard while LeBlanc anchors the defensive line and Gould is a tackling machine at linebacker.
“They’re the heart and soul of our team,” Talbot said. “They’ll do a lot of the work inside. Teams will have to go through those two guys.”
Goodwin will be the go-to guy on the outside while his main strength is his play at defensive end, where he had 11 sacks a season ago.
It’ll be a pair of young backs replacing Lefsyk in the backfield. Freshman Logan Lashua and sophomore Liam Flynn will step into that role, both making strides throughout the preseason as they gain experience.
“It’s been great,” Johnson said. “Of course we’ve struggled trying to fill so many spots but we’re pushing through. Everyone is working, grinding through it and improving every day.”
With such an inexperienced team, Athol is hoping to build throughout the year to play its best down the stretch.
“We have a lot of younger kids that have stepped up,” Johnson said. “We have to grow together. Winning the league would be the greatest thing in the world but pushing together and not breaking up as a family is most important.”
Understanding the league goes through the defending champions, Talbot said he hopes his team can be in the mix at the top. Athol opens Friday night on the road at Frontier.
“We want to fight for a playoff spot and we want to battle for a league title,” Talbot said. “We know [the league] goes through Ware and Franklin Tech. That’s how it works. It’ll go through those teams until somebody does something about it but we hope to be in the mix.”