ORANGE — The Mahar football team earned its first victory of the young season on Friday night, riding 20 second half points to a victory over Quaboag Regional. This win for the Senators (1-2) was also the first win in head coach Kyle Newton’s head coaching career.
A 55-yard touchdown run from senior running back Carter Hardy sealed the game for Mahar with just over three minutes remaining, which made the score 21-6. A successful 2-point conversion, also scored on the ground by Hardy, gave the Senators a 17-point edge over the Cougars (0-3) that would hold until the clock bled zero, with the home team pulling out the win, 23-6.
This was one of two touchdowns that Hardy had on the ground, as he ran off a 24-yard scamper to the endzone which put Mahar up 15-0 in the third quarter. An earlier 70-plus yard would-be touchdown from Hardy was called back in the second quarter due to holding on the offensive line as well.
“It feels great, these guys have been working their tails off since day one. We had a hard training camp, and it finally pays off,” Newton said. “We have a good young group; they’re excited, I’m glad for them right now.”
Friday’s game was dominated by the defense from both sides in the opening half. Heading into the break, the only points on the board came courtesy of a 30-yard field goal from Mahar’s Hunter Brooks.
Receiving the ball to start the second half, the Senators had a pedestrian first couple of plays to start the latter half of action, before chunk gains of 16 yards from freshman Harry Doody and 19 yards from Hardy put Mahar on the precipice of the red zone.
It would never enter the area, though, as senior running back Heyrlackmung Calypso took it 25 yards to the house for the first touchdown of the game.
“I thought in the first half we could’ve put up [a couple] touchdowns,” Newton said. “We had a couple of dropped balls, it was just the little things. At halftime, we told them ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing and stop making mistakes.’ We did that, and it worked out great. The message at halftime was just ‘Do your job.'”
Not much was going right for Quaboag’s offense, which racked up three false starts in the opening quarter. Combined with two fumbles over the course of the game, one of which was recovered by Mahar’s Isaiah Torres, the visiting team was on the verge of getting shut out with little time remaining in the fourth.
After three failed attempts on first, second and third and goal, Cougars’ quarterback Thomas Bellizzi found the end zone on a keeper, giving them their first points of the game and an opportunity to make it a one possession game with a successful 2-point conversion.
The conversion was stopped short of the end zone, keeping the Senator lead at nine, before an onside kick that was successfully recovered by Mahar led to the aforementioned Hardy touchdown run, all but sealing the game with a little over three minutes to play.
Up next for Mahar is a matchup with rival Athol, at Athol on Friday, Oct. 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“We have really good energy, and it’s a big one next week,” Newton said. “It’s a rival, so we should be up for it. Next one means a little more, so the message next week is to keep building.”
