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 seemingly unstoppable offense of Mahar Regional will meet the virtually impenetrable defense of Frontier Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Super Bowl at Westfield State College
The story lines for both teams have been well documented this season. The Senators (11-0) have a running game that averages 341 yards per game this season.
WESTFIELD - In rolling through its Berkshire County schedule undefeated, the Hoosac Valley football team had never trailed all season.
So when South Hadley took a five-point lead late in the second quarter of Tuesday's game, there was some question about how the Hurricanes would respond.
Hoosac and star senior running back Austin Alibozek responded with a vengeance.
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.
When the Western Massachusetts Division 3 football playoffs kick off this evening at Mahar Regional in Orange, it's going to look a lot like an Intercounty League championship tournament.
The top four teams in the league beat out the other seven teams in Division 3 for the right to battle for a title.
South Hadley football coach Ray Ferro is well seasoned in dealing with short weeks to prepare for a postseason matchup.
With six trips to the playoffs and four Super Bowl berths, the Tigers' leader has had to prepare for 10 games with only three or four days to get his team ready.
PALMER - Belchertown football coach John Mayo said his team was a strong second-half squad all season.
The Orioles showed that Thursday morning in their season-closing 41-6 victory over Pathfinder at St. Joseph's Park in Thorndike. Belchertown took a 5-4 lead in the Thanksgiving Day series.
The Easthampton football team did what it needed to do to qualify for the postseason on Thursday, soundly defeating Dean Tech 42-6 in Holyoke.
But the Eagles (4-6, 4-3 Tri-County) were still eliminated from playing in the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Tournament when Belchertown defeated Pathfinder. That gave Mohawk Trail (4-6) the fourth and final spot in the playoffs.
SOUTH DEERFIELD - Frontier Regional shook off a first-half scare to score 13 unanswered points in the second half Wednesday night in its Intercounty League Thanksgiving Eve showdown against Mohawk Trail.
That was enough to give the Red Hawks (9-1, 6-1 Intercounty) a 13-6 win over the Warriors (4-6, 2-5 Intercounty).
SOUTH DEERFIELD - The Frontier Regional defense helped set up two touchdowns and scored a third to lead the Red Hawks to a 21-6 victory over Sci-Tech in an Intercounty League battle on Friday night.
Matt Parsons scored on an 3-yard run with 1 minute, 5 seconds left in the fourth quarter and D'Jon Andrews added the two-point conversion to give Northampton a dramatic 8-7 win over Central at home Friday night.
AMHERST - Senior running back Walker Nambu came up with the idea for the 45-yard reception that set up the fourth touchdown for the Amherst Regional football team Friday night.
Nambu, who had been running all over Ludlow for much of the contest, had a hunch that he could find success as a wide receiver.
CHICOPEE - Midway through the second quarter Friday night it appeared Chicopee Comp was going to hand the Amherst Regional football team another easy defeat.
But the Hurricanes had other ideas.
Amherst stood toe-to-toe with the likelyy playoff-bound Colts, led late in the third quarter and gave Comp a scare, only to succumb 35-24.
LUDLOW - In a dominating performance throughout the field for the South Hadley football team, it was the imposing figure of Mike Chieco that was in the middle of the everything.
GREENFIELD - His teammates told him to keep his head up, but when Frontier Regional quarterback Eric Abramson got back on the field, he did the exact opposite.
