While traditional rivalries have diminished in recent years, one remains the same.
Athol and Mahar first got together on the gridiron in 1894 and have met on Turkey Day every year since 1953 (minus the 2020 COVID year). In 2016, with a new realignment, the Bears and the Senators began playing twice a year — keeping the Thanksgiving tradition alive while also playing a regular season contest — and their first matchup of the 2022 year will be Friday at O’Brien Field.
“This is always a big week,” Mahar coach Chris Bailey said. “Ever since we started playing twice a year, it’s really intensified things. People were worried having the two games would take away the importance, but it’s had the opposite effect. It’s another game the kids get up for. We’ve been stressing to the kids that just like every other year, the records don’t matter. What you’ve done previously doesn’t matter. You have to show up and play hard to earn a win in these games.”
Athol coach Josh Talbot has success against the Senators when he was playing with the Bears, and now coaching against them for the first time, is hoping he can continue coming out on top when playing in these rivalry games.
“I told my kids when I played football at Athol High School, we never lost to Mahar,” Talbot said. “I’d love to see that still be the case whenever I retire.”
The Bears have had the better of Mahar in recent years, winning both matchups a season ago and winning a thriller over the Senators in 2020. Mahar won both games in 2019 while the two teams split in 2017 and 2018.
This year, Athol enters with all the confidence in the world after earning a 6-0 overtime win over Greenfield last Friday in its Intercounty League opener, its first victory of the year. Sawyer Lefsyk ran in the game-winner from 10 yards out for the Bears.
While the win is a huge boost for Athol, Talbot is worried about being overconfident going into Friday’s contest with Mahar.
“We really prepared hard last week,” Talbot said. “The kids were super focused, especially on defense. We pitched a fresh start with league play starting and the kids bought into that. Now, we’re looking to get past last week. It feels like we forgot just how much work we had to put in to get ready to play Greenfield. We haven’t had the same focus this week.
“Last week it felt like our confidence came back a bit,” Talbot added. “With the way we’re working this week, we either think we’re the greatest thing in the world or we think we can just show up and beat Mahar and neither of those things are true. Hopefully we come ready to play Friday night.”
Mahar on the other hand opened its season with back-to-back victories over SICS and McCann Tech. It closed out its non-conference slate with a loss to Drury and in its Intercounty North opener, fell to Franklin Tech, 20-13.
Bailey feels his squad will need to be at the top of its game to come out with a victory Friday.
“We have to play our best game,” Bailey said. “Athol showed that last week [against Greenfield]. Some people thought that was an upset but I think Athol showed what they’re capable of. They’re on the rise and we’re coming off a couple losses where we didn’t play well. We have to right the ship.”
Talbot sees an athletic team when he puts the Mahar film on, knowing the problems they’ll present his defense.
“On film they’re fast, they’re quick and they move well in space,” Talbot said. “Offensively they do a lot of the same things we do but they do it better. That’s concerning for us. There’s some dynamic parts to them. On defense they bring a lot of pressure. I know we’re in for a tough challenge.”
Big plays — as well as starting quarterback Kaleb Lemcke going down with injury — hurt the Senators against the Eagles. Mahar scored twice to open the game and dominated possession, but Tech quarterback Gabe Tomasi found Nate Fuess for a 60-yard touchdown and Josiah Little returned a punt for a touchdown. Those explosive plays are what doomed Mahar and has been a point of emphasis this week.
Lemcke is expected to play Friday, with backup Morgan Softic ready to be called upon if need be.
“We played OK against Tech,” Bailey said. “We came out in the beginning and did what they wanted to do but Tech made a couple big plays. It’s not like they pushed us around. Kaleb going out hurt us. Morgan is a capable back up but he’s different and it changes our offense. It’s not an excuse — we need to perform no matter who is on the field. One thing we addressed this week is not getting on each other. There was a level of frustration on everyone’s part — myself included — and we got on each other and that can’t happen. We have to make sure we pick each other up.”
Talbot is hoping his offense can put some drives together this week. Athol hasn’t found the end zone in regulation since its week 2 loss to Pathfinder, and the job of getting there Friday won’t be any as the Bears have been down all five starting linemen during practice this week, with no guarantee all will be able to suit Friday.
“We’ll have to figure out how to score some points,” Talbot said. “A long time ago someone told me the best way to win is to score more points than the other team. We haven’t scored a touchdown in regulation since the Pathfinder game. It’d be silly to think we can win another game 6-0. We have to figure things out on offense and we’ve given up a bunch of points on defense. Hopefully things can come together.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at O’Brien Field.
■ Also on Friday, Greenfield will be looking to rebound from its loss to the Bears, hosting Palmer at Vets Field. When the two teams met last fall, the Panthers ripped off 20 fourth-quarter points to pull away with a 27-0 victory. Palmer opened league play with a 21-0 shutout loss to Ware.
Franklin Tech will head on the road to take on Ware, the defending Intercounty North champs, Friday. The Eagles will hope to get more of those explosive plays against a stingy Ware defense.
In the Intercounty South, Frontier is hoping to bounce back from its loss to Lee, hosting Hoosac Valley. The Hurricanes are the defending Intercounty South champs, but have gotten off to a 1-3 start this fall.