Football
After Frontier’s 24-6 win against Commerce, there seemed to be a chance for redemption for the football team, especially with some rising defensive leaders such as Collin West, Noah Poreda, and Jack Phillips. Despite the optimism conjured up by the team’s first victory, the Redhawks’ football team is sitting at 2-5, squarely in the middle of their conference thanks to ongoing injuries on both sides of the ball. Considering that they have not been able to have a consistently starting quarterback or center the past two weeks, it’s no surprise that the Hawks were unable to find the endzone for two weeks straight until their most recent 20-0 win against Belchertown. They have three more games to play in the year, the last two being consolation games instead of MIAA State Tournament games.
Girls Volleyball
The rough start to the season for the girls’ volleyball squad ended in a rough match against Wahconah in the Western Mass semifinals, which they lost 3-1. This loss broke their 18-year Western Mass title streak, which was started by former Coach Sean MacDonald. Despite their early exit from the Western Mass tournament, the volleyball team was able to put together a very solid regular season: a 14-6 record and an 8-game win streak in the back half of the season to earn themselves the 6th seed in Division IV for the State Tournament. The only thing these girls can do after their devastating Western Mass elimination is turn their focus to making a long redemption run in States.
Boys Soccer
Many people who got to watch this team play in the regular season would have predicted a deep playoff run, but just like the girls’ volleyball team, the boys’ soccer squad had an early exit from the Western Mass tournament: the 2-0 game against the Chicopee Pacers handed the Redhawks their second loss of the year. Despite having many chances on goal in the first half of the game, the Hawks couldn’t capitalize, which has been an issue for them in the past couple of weeks. These kinds of shortcomings also prevented them from scoring against South Hadley two weeks ago and barely grabbing a tie against them just a few days ago. Those games forced the two teams to become co-champions of the Moriarty League. If this group, who had one of the best records of the regular season for Frontier, wants to perform well in the postseason, they’ll have to find a way to complete passes late in their offensive chances and score on more opportunities. Otherwise, the backline will be forced to bail out the Redhawks’ forwards until they make a fatal mistake.
Girls Soccer
Yet another quick elimination from Western Mass for the Redhawks. The girls’ soccer team’s promising regular season record of 14-4 proved to be false hope on the state level. Their weak strength of schedule allowed them to take home easy victories with a couple of rare exceptions, but it severely affected their power rankings for the postseason. They will be one of the lower seeds in the State Tournament, but regardless of the outcome, it has been an impressive turnaround from last season for girls’ soccer, where they didn’t qualify for either Western Mass or States. They also were one of two Frontier teams who won their league undefeated.
Field Hockey
Perhaps the best varsity team out of Frontier this fall, the field hockey team finished the regular season with a 14-2-2 record, the league title, and it was a historic milestone for Coach Missy Mahar. This year marked the first time in Coach Mahar’s 23 years at the school that Frontier has beaten Longmeadow. Their veteran backline and strong forwards have propelled this team to their third Western Mass title in three years, and all of those championships were won against Greenfield. They are currently the 4th seed in Division IV and are expected to have a long run in the States Tournament to complement their Western Mass run. They’ll play Franklin Tech in the Round of 32 this Friday at 2:30 to begin the States Tournament.
Golf
The Hawks’ golf team had a very successful season, taking second place in the Suburban West League and qualifying for Western Mass. There, they took 6th place as a team with Camden Skiffington and Ryan Cetto tying for 28th individually in the tournament. With the junior Cetto and his classmate Jacob Cornelison placing well in Western Mass, along with several impressive performances from 7th graders, the golf team will be looking forward to a strong next season.
Boys Cross Country
Another successful season from longtime cross country Coach Flynn, as his team propelled itself to another league title with an 11-2 record. They placed 3rd as a team at the Western Mass meet and were led by sophomore Evan Hedlund and junior Luke Howard. Hedlund placed 2nd with a 16:00.88 5K time and Howard ran a 16:13.67 to place 4th.
Girls Cross Country
The girls finished the season undefeated and league champs once again. On their trip to Western Mass, they placed 5th as a team and were headlined by senior Sylvie DiBartolomeo, who placed 3rd while running a 19:45.54 5K time. They will move forward to the State Qualifiers meet along with the boys’ team and hope to have a good run at States with a strong veteran roster.