ATHOL — The rushing onslaught started early for the Mahar Regional football team on Friday night.
On the Senators’ first play from scrimmage, running back Jake Tenney went 55 yards for a touchdown in the Senators’ 41-0 win over Athol High School at O’Brien Field in the Intercounty League North crosstown rivalry contest under the lights.
Tenney did it all for Mahar (2-1, 1-1 ILN), rushing for 138 yards on 16 and snaring two interceptions on defense.
“We game-planned all week for that,” Tenney said. “Working hard all week. It felt really good to produce in the game. It’s good when it pays off in the game.”
Tenney scored two more times on the ground, a 15-yard touchdown in the second quarter before a 1-yard touchdown in the third.
“We still have a lot of things to clean up,” Mahar coach Jim Woodward said. “We seemed to be able to recover from the mistakes we did make. That’s a sign of a good team.”
Mahar rushed for over 300 yards as a team, but that certainly wasn’t the only offensive weapon on display.
Quarterback Noaha Chabot had two touchdown passes to Charlie Barnes. The first was an 11-yard strike with Barnes all alone in the end zone in the first quarter to give Mahar a 14-0 lead.
The second was a 54-yard bomb in the second quarter. Barnes wrestled the pass away from Athol corner Jacob Smith, broke a tackle and turned on the wheels to get the touchdown.
“The run really opened up the pass,” Barnes said. “We pounded the ball at the beginning.”
Tenney added two tough catches over the middle for 55 yards.
“He was all over the place,” Barnes said of Tenney. “I love Jake Tenney, he is a great kid. One of my favorite people on the team. He works so hard. He deserves it more than anybody.”
The Red Raiders (0-3, 0-2 ILN) couldn’t get anything going with their passing game. But things got going behind Manny O’Lari playing quarterback, where the big man would take off running inside or off-tackle.
O’Lari broke a tough 38-yard run in the third quarter, barrelling down the left sideline before a host of Mahar defenders brought him down.
“I thought Manny O’Lari ran the ball nice,” Athol coach Bill LaRose said. “He ran downhill. That was a nice surprise.”
Tim Casavecchia replaced Riley Paine at quarterback in the second half for Athol, going 0-for-7 but had receivers drop a couple passes.
“He looked pretty good,” LaRose said. “First time. A little nervous.”
The Mahar starters spent most of the fourth quarter standing next to coach Woodward while the reserves like Jayden Carey (seven carries, 59 yards), Domanic Cacciolfi and Jacob Murphy picked up carries.
Cacciolfi scored in the third quarter for the Senators on a 9-yard touchdown, plowing through an Athol defender at the goal-line to score.
Eli Spencer ran hard for Mahar, finishing with six carries for 46 yards.
Jakob Carron had two sacks for the Mahar defense.
Kyle Notre went 5-for-6 kicking extra points for the Senators.
