ORANGE - Quarterback Erik Abramson ran for three touchdowns to lead Frontier Regional School past Athol in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 semifinals Tuesday night at Mahar Regional.

"I was really pleased with our effort," said Abramson, whose team won 18-7 and will now meet Mahar (11-0) in the Super Bowl at 10 a.m. Saturday at Westfield State College. "Our offense was able to move the ball better than we have in other games this year."

Abramson got things going with 2 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first quarter, when he broke through a would-be Red Raider tackler on a quarterback sneak and took it 23 yards to give the Red Hawks a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

"We wanted to make sure we scored first and that we were in control," said Frontier coach Scott Dredge. "That was the difference I think tonight."

The Red Hawks (10-1) doubled that lead when Abramson, who accounted for 120 yards of offense, took another quarterback keeper into the end zone, this time from 12 yards out for a 12-0 advantage with 3:18 remaining before halftime.

Athol quarterback Eric Lafountain (16 carries, 94 yards) guided his team down the field with time winding down in the half, and faced a third-and-goal from the Frontier 8. Lafountain's pass fell incomplete with 11 seconds left, and the Raiders were flagged for an illegal chop block. The 15-yard penalty would have sent Athol back to the 23 to repeat third down, but Frontier declined the penalty, setting up fourth-and-goal from the 8.

That strategy backfired however, as Lafountain hit Matt Kuniholm on a nifty slant pattern in the end zone, cutting the Red Hawks' lead to 12-7 with just seven seconds left before halftime.

"I didn't want to give them extra opportunities with another down, I wanted to make that their last chance," explained Dredge about his reason for declining the penalty. "The kid make a heck of a catch, what can you do? I was kind of disappointed in the coverage. We knew that's a short zone there, you've got to expect slants."

The Red Raiders (9-3) was unable to get anything going in the second half against the Frontier defense. Athol turned the ball over on four of its six drives after intermission.

After Kyle Bryant recovered a fumble for the Hawks at the Raiders' 14 early in the fourth quarter, Abramson scored his third TD of the contest, putting the game away when he trotted in on the first play from scrimmage on yet another quarterback keeper. The conversion failed but Frontier led 18-7 with 9:33 left in the fourth.

"That's a play we put in probably in the middle to late half of the season," said Abramson of the running play that resulted in all three of Frontier's touchdowns. "It works out well for us. That's my line though, getting a good push and opening holes up front. I just go, I've got the easy job."

Dredge was pleased with the success of Abramson running out of shotgun.

"We noticed up in the box that they didn't make any adjustments out of that formation," Dredge said. "We threw once out of that formation to keep them honest but if it works, you keep running it in those situations."

Athol's passing game was unable to gain any rhythm, as Lafountain finished the evening 5-of-19 for 46 yards and two interceptions.

Tyler Hood, who entered the game with 39 catches for 653 yards, had just a pair of grabs for 19 yards.

"We know (Lafountain) is their number one back, so if you know that, you know what he's going to be bringing and you prepare for it," said Dredge. "It's nice to make a quarterback like that have to work for everything and chew up clock. He got us a couple times on some cutbacks but at the end of the day, I'll take giving up just six points."

After pulling out an 18-15 win over the Red Raiders on Oct. 23 and seeing them play again on Thanksgiving, Abramson said his defense was well prepared for Athol's offense.

"We scouted them on Thanksgiving, we know how they like to pass," Abramson said. "We got a good idea of the routes they run and when they like to run them so we knew what was coming a lot of the time and we were prepared for them."