ORANGE — A forgettable season opener in early September saw Mahar surrender 38 points to Hoosac Valley, but the Senators' defense since then has been nothing but stout, with only two scores allowed over its last four games.

Friday night at the Woodward Complex, Mahar jumped Greenfield barely four minutes into the game with a 48-yard scoring pass from Morgan Softic to Sean Ramos, and the Senators kept that lead safe over the final 44 minutes. Softic added a circus-style touchdown run later and Ronnie Stone rambled for 139 yards on 23 carries to boost the host Senators to a 13-0 Intercounty League North victory.

"We've been on point defensively all year," said first-year Senators coach Percy Eady. "Another goose egg on the board (Mahar's second shutout). Knowing where the heart of this team is, it's a beautiful thing to get control of the game early, hit the big one, and take advantage of those matchups."

Greenfield (1-4, 0-2 IL North) showed somewhat better than in its shutout loss to Ware last week, but the Green Wave were stopped on downs five times inside Mahar territory, managing only six first downs in the game and 161 yards of offense. Caleb Murray, who split time at quarterback with Keegan Fisher, led the Wave with 57 yards on 13 carries and connected on 5-of-12 passes for 64 yards.

"We didn't get better this week, and we've gotta try to get better next week," said Greenfield coach Mike Kuchieski. "I'm disappointed in the way we played. I felt Percy had them going in the right direction, and they were more aggressive than we were.

"We've got a lot of things to work on. It's a short season, only (three games) left and two play-ins. We've gotta take some really hard looks at practice."

Petru Cojocaru recovered Greenfield's squib kickoff to open the game, allowing the Wave to start at the Mahar 45, but they came up short on fourth-and-5 from the 40. The Senators took over at their 37 and were in the end zone four plays later, when Ramos came free on a post-corner route down the left sideline and Softic hit him in stride for an instant 6-0 lead at the 7:49 mark.

Greenfield's next four possessions in the half ended in a pair of punts and a pair of missed fourth downs. Mahar also found some tough going after its opening score, with two punts and a failed fourth-down try of its own.

The Wave punted on their first series of the third quarter, but got the ball back immediately when Sage Rudder intercepted Softic at the Mahar 34 and returned the pick to the 22. Greenfield bogged down from there, allowing Mahar to take over on downs at the 22 and start its biggest drive of the night. The Senators held the ball for the next 8 minutes, 30 seconds, going 78 yards in 13 plays despite committing three penalties.

Stone ran nine times for 53 yards during the drive and Softic converted a third-and-17 with a 21-yard pass to Jayden Delgado. Those two also had a 15-yard connection to create first-and-goal at the Greenfield 4. On third-and-goal from the 5, Softic started scrambling to his left, reversed his field completely and got a couple of downfield blocks to skid inside the right pylon for six. Mitch Krasco tacked on the extra point kick to make it 13-0 with only 15 ticks left in the third quarter.

Down by two scores, Greenfield went into desperation mode, faking a punt with Murray throwing an incomplete pass. He then hooked up with Ty Griswold for 27 yards, but lost the ball at the end of a 9-yard run with the Senators' Noah Bailey recovering.

Murray later scrambled for a 24-yard gain and lofted a 32-yard pass to Fisher to put the Wave in business at the Mahar 9. But two incompletions and a sack had the Wave going backward from there, and they ended the game at the 11-yard line after Murray's 6-yard carry on fourth down.

Mahar (3-2, 1-1 IL North) finished with 172 yards on the ground and 256 total yards. Softic was 6-of-12 passing for 84 yards with a score and a pick. Malaki Grummell added 41 rushing yards.

The Senators face a big league test next Friday at Ware, while Greenfield gets a home date with Franklin Tech Friday night.