We’re just a few weeks away from the Western Mass. and state tournaments, and teams are using these final two weeks of the regular season to fight for seeding.
For some, that fight also includes seeking a league title. Who’s in contention to take home their league crowns?
Let’s start with boys soccer, where Frontier’s loss to South Hadley on Monday put the Tigers in the driver’s seat to come out on top in the Moriarty League. The Redhawks (5-2-3, 5-1-2) need to hope South Hadley slips up in its final two league games while Frontier needs to win out against Mahar, Mt. Everett, Lenox and Wahconah to have a shot of sharing or winning the title.
Franklin Tech (9-4-1, 9-2-1) has a shot to win the Tri-County League, sitting atop the standings as of Tuesday. The Eagles have two remaining games in the league, both against Ware. It will need to win both of those, as Pathfinder — which handed the Eagles their only two league losses — hasn’t been knocked off in league play yet. The Pioneers (9-0-2, 8-0-2) have four games remaining in the league and will need to come out victorious in three of them to win the league.
The Frontier girls soccer team is in the mix in the Pioneer League North. The Redhawks are battling with Amherst and Easthampton for the top spot, and will face both of them (as well as Renaissance) to close out their league slate. Those two games against the Eagles and Hurricanes will help determine if Frontier can take home the title.
In field hockey, Pioneer, Belchertown and Franklin Tech are neck-and-neck in the County League standings. The Orioles (9-2-1, 9-1-1) are in the top spot, with the Panthers (6-1-1, 6-0-1) and Eagles (8-2-2, 6-2-1) just a few games behind. Belchertown and Pioneer are yet to play, with both closing the season with back-to-back games against each other. The Panthers will play Amherst, Palmer and Holyoke in addition to its two games with Belchertown while the Eagles finish with Amherst, Palmer and two games against Hampshire.
To the surprise of nobody, the Frontier volleyball team looks set to take home the Eastern League title. It can wrap it up on Thursday with a victory over Amherst. The Turners Falls volleyball team picked up a huge win over Wahconah last week, splitting its series with the Warriors. If the Thunder (with matches against Greenfield, Athol and Mohawk Trail) and Wahconah (with matchups with Greenfield, Mahar and Athol) both win out, it’ll force a tie at the top between the two schools.
Out on the links, Greenfield and Turners have positioned themselves atop the Bi-County East. The pair have one independent game remaining against each other. In the Bi-County West, Mohawk Trail and Westfield Tech have been atop the standings all season, and both have two matches left to determine if they finish in a tie or if one can take control to win the league.
On the trails, the Frontier cross country team’s wins over Mohawk Trail a week ago help put both its boys and girls team in position to take their respective Pioneer League North crowns.
Kudos to the Athol volleyball team and coach Donna Lajoie, who has the Bears in position to qualify for the state tournament. Athol went just 6-14 a season ago but has already surpassed that win total, sitting at 8-4. … Same goes to the Franklin Tech girls soccer team and coach Jason Butynski. After winning four games a season ago, the Eagles are now 6-5 this fall, looking to earn an automatic spot in the state tournament with a .500 record. … As of this writing, none of the five Recorder area football teams are in the most recent state tournament top 16. … In the Bi-County girls soccer league, Pope Francis is outscoring opponents 90-1 while Duggan is being outscored 104-0. Might be time for realignment. … The Turners Falls volleyball team was under-seeded a year ago and showed that by beating up three higher-ranked teams. It won’t be sneaking up on anyone this year, as the Thunder are No. 4 in the power rankings released Tuesday. … Get ready to travel if you want to watch local teams in the state tournament. As it stands on Tuesday, the only teams set to host non-preliminary round games are the Frontier and Turners volleyball teams, the Frontier boys soccer team and the Frontier, Greenfield and Pioneer field hockey teams.