ATHOL — Through the opening 30 minutes Thursday night against McCann Tech, it looked like the Athol boys soccer team was going to cruise into the Western Mass. Class C semifinals. 

The second-seeded Bears scored twice in those first 30 minutes of its quarterfinal game against the No. 7 Hornets to take control with a 2-0 lead. 

A flurry from upset-minded McCann changed the whole complexion of the contest. 

The Hornets answered with two quick goals to knot the game at two at the break. McCann scored early in the second half and Athol was unable to find the equalizer, with the Hornets pulling off a 3-2 win at O’Brien Field. 

“We took a 2-0 lead but they capitalized on it and scored three straight,” Bears coach Justin Brown said. “We had opportunities but we couldn’t finish them.” 

It was Brady Vallieres who scored the game winner for McCann (8-7-2) in the 55th minute. 

Zach Gelinas raced up the right sideline and sent a cross into the box to Vallieres, and the senior blasted it just over the hands of Athol keeper Drake Wing to give the Hornets their 3-2 lead. 

The Bears (13-4) had multiple chances late to even the score, but McCann keeper Jesse Brazee came up with multiple big saves to keep Athol off the scoreboard in the second half. 

Brazee finished with 10 saves in the win. 

“We started shooting from outside the box,” Brown said. “We got inside and their goalie made some great saves. All credit to McCann. They played their hearts out. Our guys just have to get better at finishing these balls instead of trying to finish through the goalie.” 

It was Athol that opened the scoring in the 25th minute, doing so on a penalty kick. 

The Hornets were called for a handball in the box, and Athol’s Blaise stepped up and blasted a shot into the right corner of the goal to give the Bears the opening lead of the contest. 

Athol rode that momentum and tallied a second goal just three minutes later. 

Blaise used his speed to race down the left side, dribbling and weaving through the McCann defense before sliding a cross that made it past Brazee and onto the foot of an oncoming Nathan Parayson. The eight grader knocked the shot home to give the Bears their 2-0 lead in the 28th minute. 

The advantage didn’t last long. Gelinas sent a cross in to Rocco Cellana who knocked it home to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 30th minute. 

In the 37th minute McCann won a corner and Gelinas booted it into the box, where Vallieres skied up and got his head on the ball, directing it into the back of the net to even the scoring at the half. 

The good news for Athol is the season isn’t over yet, as it has qualified for the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament, which kicks off next week. 

In the meantime the Bears will play a consolation game against Smith Voc, and Brown said he hopes his  team can gain some momentum in that contest. 

“States starts next week so we’ll have our consolation game against Smith Voc in the meantime,” Brown said. “We have to keep our heads in that game. We started out hot, lost guys along the way but I’ll work with what I have. We’re next man up.” 

It’s never fun bowing out in the opening round of Western Mass., but Brown noted how many strides the Bears made this season to get to this point. 

“We’re heading in the right direction,” Brown said. “The last three seasons they’ve won a total of two games. This year we went 13-3. We got in our own heads our last game against Pathfinder and lost the league title. We answered today with sportsmanship throughout and I have no problem with how our guys played.”