Published: 10/7/2022 11:23:27 PM
ATHOL – Role reversals proved the theme of Friday night at Thomas J. O'Brien Field, where Athol came off an upset win last weekend, and Mahar looked to shake off a disappointing loss in the Intercounty League North opener for both.
This time Mahar got the early jump with the first score of the game, and although Athol rallied back to tie, the visiting Senators controlled the second half to secure Chapter 1 of this year's North Quabbin rivalry with a 22-8 victory.
Xander Roberts ran for two scores and Kaleb Lemcke added the third on the ground for Mahar (3-2, 1-1 IL North). Roberts ended with a game-high 95 rushing yards and Lemcke had 60, the biggest chunks of the Senators' 191 yards on the ground. Dom Cacciolfi helped out with 37 yards.
"I felt like that first drive was indicative of what we could do, and we tried to get back to that later in the game," said Mahar coach Chris Bailey. "We were able to move the ball and get some points and give us a little cushion. Our defense has turned into a strength of this team after we gave up a ton of points last year."
Mahar's first drive of the night, following an Athol punt, featured nine straight running plays from the Bears' 43. Roberts went the final 14 yards for the opening score, then ran in the two-point conversion, to put the Senators up 8-0 with 5:28 to play in the first quarter.
The teams then exchanged turnovers -- Mahar's Nathan Danielson recovered a fumble, then Athol's Aidan Melanson came up with an interception of Lemcke and a 24-yard return down to the Mahar 26. Athol would manage only one yard on that series and gave up the ball on downs, but the Bears would take over again after a short punt, starting in plus territory at the Senators' 42.
Riley Reed hit Jacob Knowles on a shovel pass for 11 yards and Logan Cormier connected for 15 yards to Sawyer Lefsyk to get the hosts close. With 53 seconds left in the half, Cormier ran it in from 4 yards away and Lefsyk tacked on the conversion run to lift the Bears into an 8-8 tie at intermission.
Athol's offense bogged down from that point, as the Bears' first four possessions of the second half ended with a lost fumble, two punts and an interception, with no first downs. Connor Sluder had the fumble recovery and Sayyid Roberts the pickoff for Mahar.
After Sluder jumped on the fumble, the Senators only had to go 28 yards in six plays before Xander Roberts cashed in a tiebreaking 7-yard TD run with only 31 seconds left in the third. Athol stuffed the two-point try to leave the score at 14-8.
Both teams then punted and Mahar mounted its clinching drive from the Athol 47. Lemcke hit Jayden Delgado for 8 yards and a first down, scrambled for 15 yards to create first-and-goal at the Athol 9, and scored on the very next play. Lemcke and Delgado then combined for the two-point conversion pass and a 22-8 Senators lead with 3:46 remaining.
The Bears managed to get into Mahar territory on a 21-yard completion from Cormier to Shea Brennan to the Senators 36. That was Athol's only first down of the second half before time expired.
"We're pretty frustrated right now, for sure," said Athol coach Josh Talbot. "We never executed the plan that we put in place. It was hard to get guys up for this game for some reason. It's my job to get them fired up and ready to go. We were definitely there last week, and we were far from it this week."
Cormier completed 7-of-17 passes for 65 yards and Reed led the Bears' rushers with 35 yards.
Mahar finished the night with 225 yards of total offense compared to Athol's 126 yards.