ATHOL — Friday night's rough-and-tumble first half gave no hint whatsoever of the track meet that soon followed.

Ware held the narrowest of leads at 7-6 after 24 minutes, but Athol roared back with 28 unanswered second-half points — carried on the legs of Sawyer Lefsyk, in particular — to build a 34-7 advantage. The Bears then rocked with the late counterpunches from the Indians to command a 40-24 victory in Intercounty League North action at Thomas J. O'Brien Field. That snapped a two-game losing skid for Athol.

Lefsyk's first half was decent enough, with 10 carries for 35 yards and the Bears' lone score, coming on a 1-yard run with 3:02 left in the first quarter. He opened the second half with runs of 10 and 15 yards, then latched on to a swing pass from Aidan Melanson and went 23 yards for the touchdown that put the hosts ahead for good, 14-7, just over three minutes into the third quarter.

The senior was just getting started. Athol turned the ball over on downs on its next series, but Lefsyk then snapped off touchdown runs of 35 and 33 yards, lifting the Bears into a 28-7 lead with 1:08 still to play in the third.

Dominic Pope came up with an interception of Ware quarterback Brady Dyer at the Athol 2 on the first play of the final quarter, leaving the Bears with first-and-98. No worries for Lefsyk, though; he took Melanson's handoff and bolted straight up the gut to go the length of the field for a 34-7 Athol lead.

That 98-yarder jumped Lefsyk's total to 264 rushing yards at that point, and he would tack on a few more later to finish the night with 273 yards on 21 tries.

"It's just the hard work our team put in," said Lefsyk. "Our offensive line just started to rip off, and I just trusted them. Week 1, I missed because of injury, and I didn't see myself here today and dropping that many yards. I'm grateful for the support of my family and my team. I think we look strong."

Ware scored the next 17 points, including a gift safety on an Athol kneeldown in its own end zone, behind the nonstop slinging of Dyer (14-of-31 passing, 216 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions). His 2-yard TD run with 1:06 remaining, with a two-point conversion pass to Sean Bernier, pulled Ware within 34-24. The inevitable onside kick found its way into the hands of Athol's Damian Howard, who fielded the ball at the Ware 45, behind the first line of kick coverage, and took it home to create the 40-24 final score.

"We felt like we were a lot closer than the score showed the last two weeks," said Bears coach Josh Talbot. "We picked up our level of intensity and physicality out on the field, and I'm super proud of our guys to get to that level. Hopefully we can get healthier next week, but it feels really good to get a win after a couple of tough losses.

"Sawyer was an absolute monster tonight, and I'm so happy to see him have that moment. He's such a big load and he runs so hard. Sometimes vision has kind of held him back, but he showed great vision all night. He was everything we know he can be, just phenomenal."

Both teams are now 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the IL North with Friday's result.

Athol outgained Ware 344-292 for the night, with 319 yards coming on the ground. Logan Cormier added 37 rushing yards and Melanson threw for 25 yards on 3-for-6 with an interception. Defensively, Pope had two interceptions and Ethan Okeke also came up with a pick.

Jadrien Berthiaume led Ware with 50 rushing yards and Dalton Marquis pitched in with 35. Marquis also hauled in a pair of TD passes from Dyer and Alex Orszulak was Ware's primary target with six catches for 94 yards.