Agawam pounces early with defeat over Northampton

Agawam scored three quick touchdowns in the first quarter ignited by a 65-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Kevin Fruwirth to junior running back Tesfaye Bihonegne as the Brownies rolled to a 40-6 win over its AA conference foe.

Northampton continues to struggle now 0-6 on the season and 0-4 in the conference.

Check out the full game recap in today's Republican.

Chicopee backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid pace 27-8 football win over Putnam

Senior running backs Eddie Green and Raheem Kelly-Reid ran for a combined 312 yards and scored two touchdowns as Chicopee paced itself past Putnam 27-8 in a Suburban League match-up at Szot Park Friday night.

Chicopee improved to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in the league. 

Click here to read the full recap.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 4

This week's topic features defense.

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held recaps key defensive plays that led to wins.

Highlighted plays

Casey Blachard's blocked punt for Pioneer Valley Regional who came from behind to beat Ware, 20-16.

Quarterback D'Shane Smith intercepted an intended touchdown pass as Central held on to defeat Westfield 34-26.

Jacory Gonzalez had an interception at the Holyoke 1 yard line with 52 seconds to play to seal the deal for the Purple Knights as they upset Agawam 21-14.

I covered the Central/Westfield game. You can check out the game recap here.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 3

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held highlights the Commerce Red Raiders this week as they picked up its first win since the 2007 season.

After an 0-2 start, Commerce won 9-7 over city rival Putnam.

Other topics include streaks and Longmeadow is nowhere to be found this time.

The honors go to Frontier Regional (3-0) who holds the longest active winning streak in Western Massachusetts with nine dating back to last season.

And if you missed it, here's my recap of the Agawam vs. Taconic game from last Friday.

The Brownies were 45-14 winners in a game that took two and a half hours to play.

Monday Afternoon Quarterback Week 2

The Springfield Republican's Russ Held has the second installment of high school football happenings across the state in Monday Afternoon Quarterback.

Some tidbits

In Western Mass. Longmeadow got trounced by St. John's of Shrewsbury 42-12 in its home opener.

In Eastern Mass. No. 1 Everett fell to Dracut 48-14.

Along with Longmeadow, Westfield, Agawam, Central, and Minnechaug all lost on the same weekend for the first time in decades.

Tyler Hood and Athol top Pathfinder

PALMER - Senior wide receiver Tyler Hood scored three touchdowns and intercepted two passes as Athol powered by Pathfinder Regional Vocational 39-7 in independent football action Friday night at Saint Joseph's Field. 

Hood (five receptions, 63 yards) caught two touchdown passes from senior quarterback Eric LaFountain (102 yards passing, three TDs) and ran for a score.

To continue reading click here.

Western Mass. high school football coverage

I've honestly completely forgot about this blog, but since I'll be covering high school football again this season for The Springfield Republican, I'll be sure to tack on some notes from my respected games.

All of my recaps will be posted on here as well.

Every Monday, school's editor Russ Held will recap the week in "Monday Afternoon Quarterback," in The Varsity Voice high school blog. The same article will be printed in Tuesday's paper.

Looking forward to another good season.

If you're looking for Eastern Mass. football coverage, check out Boston.com's high school sports blog.

Pat Donnelly commits to Brown University

From The Republican's Russ Held, former Longmeadow High School quarterback, Pat Donnelly has commited to attend and play football at Division 1 Ivy League champion Brown University.

Donnelly is currently studying as a post graduate at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H.

During football season the 6 foot 3 inch quarterback led Exeter to a 6-3 record coming off a tremendous senior year at Longmeadow where the Lancers won its third straight Division 1 Super Bowl title.

Mike Moverman named Gatorade...Runner of the Year; Mansfield football update

The Boston Globe's high school sports editor Bob Holmes reported today that Oliver Ames boy's cross country runner, Mike Moverman was named the 2008-09 Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year by Gatorade and ESPN RISE Magazine.

Mansfield football update:

You can also see in the same post about the latest news of Mansfield High School and football coach Mike Redding.

If you haven't been following that story, well, where have you been? In a nutshell, Mansfield used an ineligible player its last two games and was forced to forfeit, which cost them its runner-up trophy in the Division 2 Super Bowl and also Hockomock league title.

The MIAA punished the Mansfield's football program, by canceling the 2009 season.

Here are some articles about this ongoing and blown out of proportion story.