Week 7 Football: Athol takes over in the second half to defeat Mahar, 26-16 (PHOTOS)

ORANGE — The Athol football team had been waiting for Friday’s showdown with Mahar for nearly a year. 

After the Senators pulled off a pair of wins over the Bears last fall, Athol was chomping at the bit to get back out there and avenge those losses to their rival. 

They did just that. 

The Bears took a 14-10 lead at the half before Aidan Melanson tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the second half, helping Athol earn a 26-16 Intercounty League North victory over Mahar on a rainy night at the Woodward Complex on Friday. 

“They beat us twice last year so it was important for us to not only play a good football game but come out with a victory,” Bears coach Josh Talbot said. “They were able to run the ball on us early. We made an adjustment at halftime with our front and it seemed to work. As we’ve done a lot this year we dominated the second half. It was great to see that continue. Mahar will be ready in a few weeks when we play again [on Thanksgiving].” 

Trailing 26-10, the Senators got the ball back with 2:44 to play and quarterback Morgan Softic drove them down the field, completing a pair of passes to Sean Ramos before hooking up with Jayden Delgado for a 17-yard score on a fourth-and-8 with 59 seconds to go. 

Softic’s pass on the two-point try was incomplete, as the Bears defense assured it stayed a two-score game. Athol recovered the onside kick and was able to run out the clock to get the win.

While never fun to lose to your rival, Mahar coach Percy Eady said he saw plenty of positives for his young team to build on moving forward. 

“You want to be upset with the result but there were some offensive wins,” Eady said. “The run game was strong. Even when they stacked the box and took our run game out we had answers. To be able to have them go down and score and us to score again and be within eight points, there’s something there. I’m here to help them find that killer instinct and curate that feeling to make that jump.”

The Bears (4-3, 2-2) took advantage of a turnover to take the opening lead of the game. 

Blitzing off the edge, Athol’s Dom Curtis tipped a Softic pass to the flat up in the air and caught it himself, giving the Bears the ball at the Mahar 34. Melanson connected with Raydin Sousa for a 22-yard gain before Curtis came in and ran a quarterback keeper in from the 12. Bernie LeBlanc’s extra point put Athol ahead, 7-0, with 6:53 to play in the opening quarter. 

Following a trio of long Ronnie Stone runs, Mahar (3-4, 1-3) got down to the Bears 1, but penalties and a big stop behind the line of scrimmage forced the Sens to attempt a field goal and Mitch Krasco drilled it from 27 yards out, cutting the lead to 7-3 with 7:41 to go in the half. 

Then it was Mahar’s turn to take advantage of a turnover. The Sens got a strip sack that was recovered by Owen Carl, giving them the ball at the Athol 25. 

Softic hit Ramos for a 15-yard gain before Stone ran it in from the 10, with Krasco’s extra point giving Mahar a 10-7 lead with 6:01 to go in the second. 

The lead didn’t last long. The Senators kickoff was hit short to Anthony Lopez-Hippler, who caught the ball at the Bears 40 and raced down the left sideline into the end zone. LeBlanc’s extra point put Athol ahead, 14-10, a score that held until the half. 

“Special teams are a wild card in high school football,” Talbot said. “We lost at Lee because of special teams. That’s the first time all year we’ve gotten the special teams break.” 

Both teams went on long drives to open the third quarter, but both ended in fumbles. Following a Senators punt early in the fourth quarter the Bears got the ball at their own 20 and Talbot dialed up a play to get the ball to his top receiver. 

Melanson dropped back and lofted a ball to Sousa, who was running a go-route up the left sideline. The junior used his speed to get behind the defense, tracked the ball and outran everyone to the end zone to put Athol up, 20-10, with 9:58 to play. LeBlanc’s extra point was blocked. 

“Our offense has the potential to be explosive,” Talbot said. “We’ve given our guys a lot of autonomy. We’ve coached them to understand football and communicate with us what they see. Raydin told me they were playing him tight and to throw him the ball. We dialed it up and it was there.

“Raydin has been outstanding all year,” Talbot added. “He led us in receiving last year and added another 100 yards today. We love the football he’s playing. Him and Aidan are best friends and are locked in with each other. It’s great to see their success.” 

The Bears got the ball back following a punt and put the ball into running back Sawyer Lefsyk’s hands. The junior — who finished the game with 158 yards rushing — had runs of 23 and 15 yards to set Athol up in the red zone. 

With the ball on the Sens 13, Melanson hit Aaron Ouellet on a back shoulder throw for a touchdown, giving Athol a 26-10 lead with 2:46 to play. 

“This was a good football game,” Talbot said. “They controlled the first half. We marched down and scored early but they really took it to us in the first half. We were lucky to be in the position we were in and were able to control things in the second half.” 

Stone, who exited the game with an injury in the fourth, led Mahar with 101 yards rushing, 91 coming in the first half. Eady said he was pleased with his offense’s performance, saying they’re continuing to make strides as the season progresses. 

“I felt so much better about our offense,” Eady said. “It was one of our smoothest games. I felt more comfortable calling the games and things were going our way.” 

It won’t be long before the two foes meet again, as they’ll square off on Turkey Day next month. 

“It’s great to have a rubber match,” Eady said. “We know how close it is. It’s a good matchup and a historic matchup. It’s one you want to win. You want to fight to the bitter end and I’ll give it to the kids. They pushed through a drive and kept fighting. There were wins to take out of that.” 

Until then, Athol will host Greenfield while Franklin Tech travels to Mahar next Friday to close out both teams’ regular seasons.