As always seems to be the case with the winter sports season, it’s over before you know it. 

While the season began just a few weeks ago, most teams are around one-third of the way through their regular season slate. League title races are shaping up as teams are hoping to find their stride heading into the final month of the season. 

Here’s a closer look at how each title race is shaping up (note: a high school basketball notebook will run in this space each Thursday throughout the rest of the winter sports season):

Hampshire League South once again looks competitive

For the last two years, the Hampshire League South was hyped as one of the most competitive boys basketball leagues top-to-bottom in Western Mass. 

So far, that hype has been mostly warranted.

Pioneer, Mahar, Greenfield and Drury all have winning records. Frontier is 1-3 but its three losses have been by a combined 11 points, while Lenox and Hopkins Academy have struggled out of the gate. 

While a competitive league, so far it looks like it’s going to be tough to knock off the Panthers. Pioneer has opened the season with seven straight wins, and outside of a tightly-contested game at Nichols Gymnasium against the Green Wave, it hasn’t been particularly close. The Panthers beat Renaissance by 45, Turners by 48, Lenox by 42, Smith Academy by 29, Mahar by 27 and Mount Greylock by 47 on Tuesday. 

The defending Western Mass. Class D champs look the part, and another run at a state title is in the cards. Brayden Thayer leads the area with 20.1 points per game while Josh Wood (17.4) and Kurt Redeker (11.7) join him in double-figures. 

Greenfield, which far and away gave Pioneer its toughest test thus far, is still in the mix for the HL South title. 

The Green Wave are 3-1 in league play, with wins over Drury, Frontier and Hopkins. Jon Breor has been a force inside for Greenfield (18.8 points per game) while Caleb Thomas (15 ppg) and Caleb Murray (9 ppg) have helped the Green Wave get out to their strong start.

Also 3-1 in the league is Mahar, which is coming off a comeback victory over rival Athol on Tuesday. The win was another in a long line of tightly contested games for the Sens this year — they’ve also won close ones against Frontier (66-60) and Drury (54-49).

Those close wins will serve Mahar well down the road, as the club is learning different ways to find victories. It was patented Chad Softic defense that helped the Sens in their comeback against the Bears, holding Athol to seven points and just two field goals in the fourth quarter after trailing by 10 heading into those final eight minutes. Mahar’s size with Jayden Delgado (12.5 ppg) and Will Barnes (10 ppg) coupled with guards Morgan Softic (8.8 ppg) and Lucas Isrow (10.7 ppg) make the Sens a tough matchup for anyone. 

Hampshire League North up for grabs 

The aforementioned Athol is off to a stellar start to the season. It might not feel that way after blowing a fourth quarter lead to their arch rival, but the Bears are well positioned to take the Hampshire League North this winter. 

Athol is 3-0 in league play, holding an 18-point win over Turners, a 30-point win over Lee and a 22-point victory over Franklin Tech. The Bears hung on late for a win over Frontier and for three quarters were the better team against Mahar. Athol’s start has been spearheaded by Angel Castillo and Ben Kearney; Castillo is scoring 16 points per game while running the point and Kearney leads the Bears with 19.2 points per game. 

After knocking on the door of the North title the last two years, Athol has the squad to get over the hump and win it this fall. Mount Greylock went unbeaten in league play the last two years, and while 3-0 in league action to start this year, the Mounties aren’t what they were after graduating seven players from a season ago. 

Smith Academy is also 3-0 thus far in the Hampshire League North, meaning the race is shaping up to be between the Bears, Falcons and Mounties. 

Next week will help decide if Athol can win the league, as it hosts Greylock on Tuesday and travels to Hatfield to face Smith Academy on Friday. 

Frontier girls open season unbeaten

The Redhawk girls basketball team has been on fire to open the season. 

After a pair of close wins against Southwick and Amherst to open the 2023-24 campaign, Frontier followed it up with blowout victories over Ludlow (64-13), Franklin Tech (64-24) and Hopkins (55-14). The Redhawks then knocked off Mahar to improve to 2-0 in the Franklin County League North and 6-0 on the season entering this week’s slate. 

It’s been a total team effort for Frontier thus far, with Whitney Campbell, Skyler Steele, Claire Kirkendall, Harper Modestow, Hailey Hutkoski and Jazzy Hayes each having at least one game where they finished with 10-plus points. 

With a balanced offense, the Redhawks have really shined on the defensive end of the court. Frontier is surrendering a mere 25.6 points per game thus far, a number that any team would like to have from its defense. 

That defense will have been tested on Wednesday against Greenfield. The Green Wave are led offensively by Amber Bergeron, the leading scorer in the Recorder area last winter. Through three games, Bergeron looks like a near lock to repeat that honor, as she scored 25 points in both games against Mohawk Trail while recording 27 points in a loss to Lenox last Friday. 

Outside of Greenfield, Easthampton and Lenox loom as threats to Frontier’s quest for a FCL North title. The Eagles are 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the league while the Millionaires are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the league. 

Franklin Tech picks up big win in FCL South race

The Franklin County League South came down to Franklin Tech and Pioneer last year. That meant the showdown between the two last Friday was going to have big implications on the title race this winter, as both the Eagles and the Panthers began the season 2-0 in league play. 

Like the games last year, it went Franklin Tech’s way. The Eagles built a lead and held on while Pioneer charged late, ultimately pulling out a 41-36 victory in Northfield to take a one-game lead in the South standings. 

Franklin Tech (6-2) had been led offensively by Lea Chapman (11.1 ppg), Hannah Gilbert (11.1), Cordelia Guerin (6.4) and Kait Trudeau (5.9) this season while its defense continues to give opponents issues. 

Addie Harrington is averaging 15.3 points per game as a freshman for Pioneer, trailing only Bergeron in the area. Kyler McClelland (11.8 ppg), Natalie Rios (6) and Fota N’Diaye (6) have chipped in offensively for the Panthers. 

Pioneer will have a chance to avenge the loss to the Eagles on Jan. 25, when the two foes meet in Turners Falls for the second time this season.