SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier Regional football team ran into a different brand of football in its 46-6 loss to KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate in the MIAA Division 8 tournament Round of 16 on Friday night.
The ninth-seeded Panthers dominated the game from beginning to end as No. 8 Frontier had negative yardage until the second half and did not have a non-penalty first down until the end of the third quarter.
“They are super athletic and fast,” Frontier coach Scott Dredge said. “They were doing a great job with changing their plays based on what defensive alignment we were in. We couldn’t get going on offense. They scouted us well.”
Frontier trailed almost immediately. After a three-and-out by the Frontier offense, the Panthers scored three plays later. KIPP Academy’s first play from scrimmage was a 63-yard completion from quarterback Elai Machado to Joan Ortiz. At halftime, Frontier trailed 32-0.
“They were not ready to have their backs in the corner the way it was at the start of the game,” Dredge said. “We have to figure out how to respond to that. It’s one of those situations where we hadn’t been in that position this year. It was a hard adjustment for them to make.”
Frontier (8-1) will play a non-tournament game next week.
“We need the actual Frontier football team to show up next week,” Dredge said. “We need to return to who we are. I think they got a little star-struck tonight.”
Machado and the KIPP Academy offense presented many problems for the Frontier defense. The Panther’s offense consists of the zone-read, something Frontier has not seen all season. Machado’s ability to run and pass kept Frontier off balance throughout the game.
“We don’t see a lot of that zone-read stuff either,” Dredge said. “We have enough film on them, but it doesn’t show up the same way on the field. We tried playing assignment football. They were just fast and played a brand of football that we weren’t ready for tonight.”
Frontier finished the regular season undefeated, won a league championship and had two players eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in Brady Poreda and Garrett Dredge.
“I am still super proud of these guys,” Dredge said. “To put together what we did this year was really great for Frontier football. It hasn’t happened in a while. It’s a great way to build off next season. We got one more game to go. I told them, let’s not end our season like this. Let’s end with a win.”
Garrett Dredge had a 48-yard touchdown in the third quarter for the Red Hawks, while Poreda had an interception in the same frame, serving as Frontier’s most dynamic plays of the outing.
Konnor James also caught a 23-yard pass from Dredge in the second half and Poreda’s 16-yard rush in the third gave Frontier its initial non-penalty first down with a minute, nine seconds left in the third quarter.
Elai Machado went 9-for-12 for 247 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Machado added three rushing touchdowns for the Panthers. Aavian Pena had over 150 yards rushing for the Panthers and added two rushing touchdowns. Ortiz caught four passes for 201 yards.
KIPP Academy’s first scoring drive covered three plays and 65-yards before Machado’s 6-yard rushing touchdown. Machado found Ortiz for a 44-yard touchdown later in the first quarter to make the score 13-0. Machado scored on a 20-yard rush with 11:05 left in the second quarter to increase the lead to 19-0.
Pena caught an 8-yard touchdown from Machado later in the second quarter. Machado closed out the first half scoring with a 5-yard rushing touchdown. Pena scored twice in the second half on touchdown rushes of three and 13 yards to close out the scoring.
KIPP Academy advances to play top-seeded Nashoba Valley Tech.
