EASTHAMPTON — In a battle of two of the area’s better running offenses, it was a screen pass which proved to be the turning point.
Frontier Regional School quarterback Myles Freeman hit running back Steven Worthley with a 39-yard swing pass out of the backfield to set up a 20-yard Seth Gewanter game-winning touchdown run that allowed the Red Hawks to escape with a 42-40 victory over Easthampton High School at White Brook Middle School Friday night.
“Coach hasn’t called that play in years, but I got a nice block from Cole Price and all I saw was green and just started running,” Worthley said. “I knew I had to get close to the sideline to stop the clock and it worked out.”
“I hope we don’t have too many of these this season,” a relieved Frontier Coach Don Gordon said. “I don’t know if my heart can take it.”
“That’s a really good football team,” Gordon said of Easthampton. “They’ve improved so much, even since last week, but I’m really proud of how our guys played tonight.”
The last-minute heroics were an appropriate nightcap for what proved to be one of the more dramatic, nip-and-tuck battles in the history of this budding rivalry. Frontier got on the board first when running back Aaron Landry scored on a five-yard touchdown run, and converted the PAT run to make it 8-0. Easthampton came right back on the next series when senior back Camden Kelly scored the first of his three touchdowns on a one-yard run. Kelly took in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 8-8.
Freeman came back on the next series and ran in a quarterback keeper for a five-yard score, hitting Joe Morawski with the PAT pass to make it 16-8. The lead would be extremely short-lived, as Kelly took the ensuing kickoff back 75 yards for the touchdown. Max Weir’s point-after run knotted the score again at 16-all.
Both teams would score again before the half, Landry with a 28-yard TD run for the Red Hawks and David Helems on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Weir. Both teams missed the point-after attempts, keeping the score tied at 22 going into halftime.
Easthampton opened the second half by recovering an onside kick, but only got as far as the Frontier 25 before turning it over on downs. Gewanter would put Frontier ahead on the next series with a one-yard run and a Landry PAT run to make the score 30-22. Just four plays later, Easthampton would find the end zone again, via a three-yard touchdown run by Nick Tausenfreud. The point-after pass fell incomplete, making it 30-28 Frontier. The Eagles would take the lead back early in the fourth when Weir found Helems again for a 21-yard touchdown pass. The Red Hawks intercepted the point-after pass to keep the score 34-30 Easthampton on the first of what would be four, fourth quarter lead changes.
Landry scored again on a 27-yard touchdown run on the next series, but Freeman was sacked on the PAT attempt, keeping the score 36-34 Frontier. Kelly ran for his third touchdown on the next series, this time from 29 yards out, but the Red Hawks stopped the point after run to keep the scored 40-36, setting the stage for the Freeman-to-Worthley screen pass and the 20-yard Gewanter touchdown run, which put Frontier ahead for good, 42-40.
Easthampton would get one more crack on offense with less than a minute left, but their comeback hopes were dashed when Worthley intercepted Weir on a fourth down pass which sealed the win for the Red Hawks, who head to Franklin County Technical School on Saturday at 1.