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Mount Greylock finished off the perfect season with a 34-14 win over Athol on Saturday.

Perfection For Mount Greylock Football

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The Mounties hoist the school's first Super Bowl trophy in a decade.
WESTFIELD, Mass. — Mount Greylock achieved gridiron perfection Saturday with a dominating 34-14 win over Athol in the Division III Super Bowl.

The Mounties finished the season undefeated, 12-0, and captured the school's first title since 2000 on a cold evening at Westfield State University's Alumni Field.

Senior Jason Pilot led the way with 204 rushing yards and a touchdown in his last high school game.

"It feels great to go out like this," Pilot said after the game. "Our offensive line played great and we just overpowered them."

Athol had no answer for Greylock's running game. The Mounties marched down the field with the game's first possession and quarterback Kent Hanson finished it off with a 10-yard touchdown run. But Athol came right back and it only took the Red Raiders a few plays before quarterback Eric Lafountain found Dakota Melanson for a 41-yard touchdown pass.

The Mounties came back with another touchdown run by speedster Kurt Schultheis, who finished the day with 82 rushing yards and a touchdown, and then the team's defense came alive. The Mounties stopped Athol's lethal passing attack to get the ball back. Pilot broke off a 45-yard run and then pounded the ball in from the 4-yard-line to take a 22-8 lead.

On Athol's subsequent positions, Greylock forced and recovered a fumble and then Tyler Picard picked off Lafountain and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown, sending Greylock into halftime with a 28-8 lead.

"We want to be a fast, hard-hitting defense that stops them before they can even run a play and that's what we did," senior Kevin Agostini said.


Jason Pilot dives into the endzone. The senior ran for 204 yards and one touchdown.
The Mounties shut down Athol's offense in the third quarter and drove down the field for another touchdown when Hanson connected with Kyle Byrnes in the back of the endzone.

Desperate to climb back into the game, Athol pulled out its bag of tricks and came out throwing in the fourth. Lafountain connected with Melanson again for a touchdown cutting the lead to 34-14. Melanson, who leads Western Massachusetts in receiving yards, finished the day with 105 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

But the hook and latters, reverses, onside kicks and flea flickers were not going to be enough for Athol to climb back. Greylock linebacker Marston Albert cemented the win by picking off Lafountain late in the fourth.

There was nothing tricky about the Mounties offensive game plan, the Mounties attempted only four passes all game.

"I'm really impressed with the kids. Athol is big and tough and physical but our offensive line had a great day," head coach Shawn Flaherty said. "Jason had a great day."

Hundreds of Greylock fans braved the 20-degree weather to see the school's first championship in a decade and Flaherty's first as head coach.

"These championships don't come often so you have to enjoy them," Agostini said. "I'm ecstatic."

More photos can be seen here.

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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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