Frontier gives up lead in Super Bowl loss
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WESTFIELD - The Frontier Regional football team could not hold a 12-point third-quarter lead and gave up 20 points to Mahar Regional in the fourth quarter of the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Super Bowl on Saturday.
That added up to a 34-19 victory for the Senators at Westfield State College to cap their undefeated season at 12-0.
The Red Hawks finished at 10-2, with both losses to Mahar.
Senior Tim Chandler's 68-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 11 seconds left in the third quarter helped spark a 27-0 second-half run by the Senators, who found themselves in a 19-7 hole early in the third quarter - mainly the result of four turnovers in the first-half.
Mahar coach Jim Woodward turned to his little-used back to help solve the problem.
After fumbling twice in the Western Massachusetts semifinal win over Greenfield on Tuesday, Chandler wasn't about to give up his opportunity for redemption. The Senators' third option at running back took a handoff up the middle on a first-and-10 at the Mahar 32-yard line, and quickly hit the hole created by his offensive line to get into the Frontier backfield. He broke an attempted tackle by Chris Bowman near midfield before scampering the rest of the way to the end zone with a group of Red Hawk defenders in pursuit for a touchdown that cut the deficit to 19-14.
The touchdown run helped ignite the Senators' offense that had struggled until that point, and 20 more points in the fourth quarter cemented the team's place in school history by finishing off a perfect season.
Until then, the Red Hawks' defense forced a total of five turnovers to help keep the high-powered Mahar offense at bay.
After taking a 13-7 lead into halftime, Frontier received the second half kick and immediately increased its lead. On the third play of the drive, Red Hawk quarterback Erik Abramson (6-for-10, 108 yards, two touchdowns) connected with Seth Dellert on a 15-yard pass. Dellert turned it into a 66-yard touchdown after he broke an attempted tackle by Ryan Matthews at the Senators' 30-yard line to put Frontier on top 19-7.
However, the Red Hawks failed to turn good field position on their next two drives into any points, setting the stage for the Mahar comeback.
"We didn't capitalize when we needed to," Frontier coach Scott Dredge said. "We had lots of opportunities, that's for sure, but we just weren't able to capitalize on them.
"We started letting up a little bit (on defense) in the second half," he added. "I think we were thinking too much about offense and scoring points and we forgot about defense a little bit."
Even in the first half when the Senators turned the ball over four times, the Red Hawks were only able to come away with 13 points. Frontier did convert the first Mahar turnover into points, courtesy of linebacker Kyle Bryant.
With first-and-10 at the Frontier 38. Brian Beauchemin, running the Senators offense out of the wildcat, took a snap in the shotgun and faked a handoff to Isaiah Jones. As Beauchemin went to tuck the ball into his side to start his run, it popped loose and went right into the hands of Bryant who caught the ball in stride and ran 60 yards to the end zone for a 7-0 Red Hawk lead.
Mahar tied the game with eight seconds left in the first quarter on an 18-yard run by Beauchemin, but Frontier went back on top on the very next possession. The Hawks moved the ball 60 yards in eight plays, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Abramson to Matt Chamberlain that put Frontier on top 13-7.
The Senators' next three drives all resulted in turnovers (one fumble by Jones, two interceptions on pass attempts by Beauchemin), but Frontier was unable to put any more points on the board before the break.
After the Chandler run late in the third quarter it was all Mahar. The Senators went on top for good on their very next drive which took just two plays. Mahar took over on its 44 after a Frontier punt and on the first play, Beauchemin (23 carries, 179 yards) ran 55 yards to the Red Hawks 1. He then took a handoff on the next play and powered into the end zone to give the Senators a 20-19 advantage.
Jones (19 carries, 127 yards) then scored on a 1-yard run and Beauchemin tacked on the two-point run to make it a two-possession game with Mahar on top 28-19.
Things got worse for Frontier as starting running back Austin Watroba had to take over for Abramson under center. Abramson had injured his throwing shoulder earlier in the game and tried to play through the pain but was unable to throw the ball. He lined up as a receiver, but on Watroba's first pass attempt, Senators defensive back Nick Adams stepped in front of Abramson and intercepted the ball, setting up Mahar at the Red Hawks 40.
A couple of plays later Abramson's day was ended when he was injured on defense and had to leave the game. One play after Abramson's exit, Jones carried the ball 22 yards for his second touchdown of the game and the icing on the win.
The Senators wound up with 364 rushing yards on 51 carries for all of their offensive yardage.
Frontier managed only 46 rushing yards on 27 attempts, on top of its 108 passing yards.
