ORANGE — The Mahar football team had a season opener to forget last week. But like any good politician, the Senators pivoted, moved on, and acted like the past didn’t happen.
And in this instance, you could believe it.
Behind a hat-trick from quarterback Kaleb Lemcke, Mahar dominated in all facets of an independent game that visiting McCann Tech never seriously threatened in. One week removed from a 42-0 loss to Easthampton, the host Senators rolled to a 34-20 victory at the Woodward Complex.
A 25-yard touchdown run, which included the juking of multiple defenders, from Lemcke gave the Senators a 6-0 lead early in the first quarter.
They never looked back.
After a quick three-and-out from the Hornets and a punt that pinned them deep, Lemcke got the McCann Tech defense to jump with a hard count giving the Senators breathing room. The QB then threw a slip screen to Xander Roberts, who got almost 30 yards after the catch. But the Hornets held strong afterward, blitzing Lemcke on a bobbled snap and getting the junior to commit an intentional grounding penalty. A blitz on third down was successful and a poor punt set up McCann Tech at its own 44.
The Senators defense showed off too, and their defensive line made plays that proved to be the theme of the night. On third and 6, Jayden Carey rushed up the middle and hit the quarterback just as he managed to hand the ball off, but Carey reached out and dragged down the running back, forcing a punt.
A 17-yard run from Dominic Cacciolfi jumpstarted Mahar’s ensuing drive. On fourth-and-one, Lemcke took it himself up the middle, and after another Cacciolfi run, faked a handoff on a jet sweep before rushing to make it first-and-goal.
Lemcke ran it on the next play too, scoring his second touchdown and a two-point conversion gave them a 14-0 lead.
“I’ve never scored an offensive touchdown before, so to get three in the first [game] that I do, feels amazing,” offered Lemcke.
Seneca Bolte was McCann Tech’s best player in Friday’s game and he showed it on an impressive 45-yard touchdown run up the middle, breaking multiple tackles and stiff-arming a defensive back at the Mahar 5 to cut the deficit to 14-6.
But it was all Mahar from there, as the Senators scored 14 unanswered to take a 28-6 lead before the Hornets chipped away and closed the gap a bit down the stretch.
“Feels excellent,” said Mahar coach Chris Bailey of the team’s first win of the season. “We tell the kids our goal is get better every day, and we did that this week and we played much better tonight.”
Both Bailey and McCann Tech Coach Tony Skiffington commented on their respective teams’ youth. Mahar lists six seventh graders on their roster, while McCann Tech has 20 freshmen and sophomores on their squad.
“We have eight freshmen and sophomores starting on defense,” offered Skiffington. “We didn’t have a season in the spring or the fall. So the sophomores that are playing are like freshmen. They haven’t played since they were in youth [football].”
Inexperience was noticeable on both sides of the field. Mahar receiver David Vitello showed excellent speed down the field, but struggled to connect with Lemcke. The pair missed a connection early, but showed improvement as the game went on and eventually connected for a 35-yard touchdown strike.
“We finally got the rhythm down, got the bumps out of the way, got the touchdown,” said Lemcke.
McCann travels to play Lee next Friday, while Mahar stays on the Berkshire County grind with a Saturday tilt against Drury.