Three weeks into the high school football season and the picture is starting to come into focus. No, we don’t have all the information yet (at least I don’t, as evidenced by my gridiron picks from a week ago…), but some teams have started to separate from the pack. Others have, well, slid downward.
But so far, 11 of the 12 teams in the two local Intercounty Leagues (North and South) have won at least one game. Athol is the lone 0-3 squad in that pack. Conversely, none of the 12 teams are undefeated after three weeks, an eye-raising fact that could make for some interesting league title races in the weeks and months ahead.
League play opens this weekend, and we’ll have a better picture of where our local football programs stand once they get a chance to beat up on each other. For now, let’s look at three things we’ve learned from the non-conference/independent portion of the 2022 campaign.
It certainly didn’t look that way early in last Friday’s game at Frontier. In what was likely a game between the Recorder area’s top two teams, the host Redhawks led 9-0 late in the second quarter thanks to a safety and an Ian Burt 27-yard touchdown reception from QB Aiden Dredge.
Greenfield hadn’t lit the world on fire offensively in its first two games, scoring 12 points in an overtime loss to Chicopee in Week 1 and 14 in a tight Week 2 win over Belchertown. But with their backs against the wall, the Green Wave sprung to life. Quarterback Levin Prondecki & Co. responded with 30 unanswered points, rallying past Frontier for a decisive 30-9 win. A dominant Greenfield defense held the Hawks to just 88 yards of offense, and no points over the final two-plus quarters of action.
“We could have easily won the Chicopee game, and been 3-0,” Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski said afterward. “But we can’t dwell on that. As far as I’m concerned, we’re 0-0 going into next week. We’ll celebrate this one, because it’s a sweet win.”
Sitting at 2-1, Greenfield suddenly looks like a team to beat in the IL North. Circle this date on your calendar: Oct. 28, Greenfield at Ware. The regular season finale could very much be for a league crown.
Shorthanded programs throughout Western Mass. have led to some lopsided scorelines. On any given Friday, seeing finals like 48-0, 42-0 and 35-0 has become the norm.
Athol dropped to 0-3 with a loss to Monument Mountain on Friday, and head coach Josh Talbot said that injuries haven’t helped his inexperienced Bears find any sort of stability.
“We’re not healthy right now,” Talbot said afterward. “We battled a lot of illness and injuries these last two weeks. Hopefully we get a fresh start in league play and hopefully then we can play some better football.”
Finding consistency in a sport like football can be difficult at base line. Mix in some injuries, ailments, etc. and it’s even more challenging. It’s akin to ordering from one of the three Dunkin’ Donuts in Greenfield. You may order the same thing at all three locations, but it’s probably not going to taste the same at all. Let’s hope that players can return to some shorthanded squads in time for the stretch run here.
Entering league play, I could see five of the six teams (minus Hoosac Valley) winning the IL South league title, which is certainly unusual.
Frontier beat both Ware and Palmer in the first two weeks of the season, using a stout defensive effort to get the job done. The club should be in every game against IL South competition, though there will be no easy weeks across the next five contests. The Hawks take to the road for their first away game of the season on Friday at Lee, and I would probably handicap the Tigers as the favorite right now. Easthampton and Belchertown are other foes that should be in the mix, with Commerce as the ultimate wild card. It should be quite a league slate ahead.