WILBRAHAM — Evan Horton and the Frontier boys soccer team have been on the doorstep of adding a banner in Goodnow Gymnasium in the past few years, but have come up just short in accomplishing that goal.
That changed on Wednesday.
The Redhawks — which fell in the Div. 4 state championship game a season ago and lost in its last Western Mass. finals appearance to Belchertown in 2018 — entered the Western Mass. Class C championship game against Mount Greylock with all the confidence in the world after taking down Pope Francis in the semifinals.
That confidence showed early, with third-seeded Frontier applying the pressure to the No. 4 Mounties from the jump, culminating in the 17th minute of action. One moment of brilliance was all it took, as the Redhawk defense held on the rest of the way and Frontier took home the Class C championship with a 1-0 victory. It’s the Redhawks’ first Western Mass. title since winning back-to-back crowns in 2015 and 2016.
“This is the first real trophy that I’ve been apart of,” Horton said. “We’ve been in these games but it’s the first time I’ve been in one where we weren’t watching the other team grab the trophy. I’m impressed with the effort we put in. We had a couple guys go down and we had guys step in off the bench and keep the intensity up.
“[Goalie] Owen [Babb] hasn’t been challenged that much but he made two bigs saves today,” Horton continued. “That’s a good team and they took it to us in the second half. We had that one opening in the first half and Brady [Burch] put it home.”
It was Burch who scored the lone Frontier goal. Chanhee Son forced a turnover in the midfield, drew the Mounties defense toward him before firing a through ball down the middle to Burch. His run brought him alone behind the Greylock defense.
With just the goalie to beat, the senior fired a shot into the back of the net to give the Redhawks the ever important first goal in the championship contest.
“I expected it to be intense,” Burch said. “We played them before [a 2-1 loss earlier this season] so we knew it was going to be a good game. First goal always helps. It puts you on top. Chanhee played me a great ball. It was perfect. He pulled the defense, played it to me and I just had to take a couple touches and it was an easy finish. Our defense and Owen in goal putting up a shutout, it put everything together. Our defense and goalie stepping up has helped us get here.”
Frontier had a pair of chances to nearly add to the lead before the halftime buzzer went off. Burch stole the ball in the 20th minute in the box, but Mounties keeper Daniel Warren came up with the stop. Four minutes later ,Burch dished it to Fernando Saravia on a rush, but Saravia’s shot sailed just over the goal to keep it a one-score contest.
Greylock came with the pressure in the second half and got two good opportunities to tie the game, but each time Babb was there to keep the shutout alive.
The first shot happened on a rush with Greylock’s Everett Bayliss alone behind the Frontier defense, but Babb came rushing out of the net to make a sliding stop before Bayliss could get a good shot off.
With three minutes to go, Eamon Hetherington blasted a shot on goal that Babb was able to save, sealing the Redhawk victory. Horton said he was proud of the way his defense held on for the final 63 minutes, no easy task when the opposing team is playing even more aggressively while trailing.
“We held onto it for a long time,” Horton said. “In the Pope [Francis semifinal] game we held on for 20 but in this we had to hold on for 60 minutes. Our defense is a lot more shored up than it was a few weeks ago. It would have been nice to get the second one because they were pressing harder in the second half. If we played 10 or 15 more minutes it could be different. I’m proud we were able to hold on and keep it together after going up early. Holding onto a one goal lead for 60 minutes isn’t easy, especially against a good team.”
In big games against good teams, Horton said he understands that scoring opportunities will be few and far between, and being able to capitalize on them is the difference between going home early and winning a championship.
“We know the rest of the season we’re only going to get a few openings each game,” Horton said. “We have to put them away. We have to limit the chances they get. Limiting them to two or three chances and having Owen make the stops is all we can ask for.”
Frontier now must quickly turn its attention to the MIAA Div. 4 state tournament, where it enters with a bye into the Round of 32 as the No. 5 seed. Horton said he likes how his team is playing heading into it, as the Redhawks hope to make another title-game run.
“I’m really happy with where we’re at,” Horton said. “We’re grinding out wins against tough teams and we weren’t doing that a month ago. I’m comfortable with where we are heading into states. After the Pope Francis win we said we’ll find out if we’re clicking at the right time or if we just had one good game. I think this is evidence that we’re starting to click.”