Aug 30, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Mapletown and Frazier entered their Week One non-conference game Friday night coming off much different results.

The Commodores were riding high, having opened the Tony Battaglini era with a thrilling 43-40 home win over Summit Academy under their first-year coach, while the Maples began George Messich’s 43rd season on the sidelines with a 41-6 loss at Avella.

Mapletown also had fallen at Frazier in Week One a year ago, 36-0.

While those trends seemed to indicate a Commodores’ victory was likely, the Maples, and most notably Carson Vanata, had other ideas.

Down 21-14 after Derek Diamond’s tiebreaking 3-yard touchdown run and Owen Searcy’s extra point with 4:39 left in the game, Mapletown marched 80 yards for a touchdown with Vanata powering into the end zone from 1-yard out with just three seconds left on the clock.

Messich, whose team had converted both extra-point kicks after its previous two TDs, opted to go for the two-point conversion and Vanata came through once more, diving into the end zone to give the Maples a 22-21 victory.

“I was so proud of our kids,” Messich said. “To drive 80 yards in the last four minutes of the game, that showed such determination. We had a rough game last week but I think it says a lot about our players how they bounced back so strong this week.”

Vanata wound up 24 carries for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

Key plays in the game-winning drive were a 15-yard run by Vanata, a 17-yard run by quarterback Colton McKnight and a halfback option pass by Vanata to freshman Landon Johnson down to the Frazier 1-yard-line.

The Maples spiked the ball to kill the clock with seven seconds and handed the ball to Vanata from there for the TD and the two-point conversion.

“We just ran it right off tackle both times,” Messich said. “We just went right at them.”

Messich lauded Vanata after the victory.

“He had a hell of a game,” Messich said. “Most of the time we were running out of an I and he was the tailback. We had Ashton Walker playing fullback and he did a great job as the lead blocker.

“Carson is a power runner but he does have some speed and he breaks a lot of tackles. Tonight a couple times he put his shoulders down and just ran some guys over to get another four or five yards. I was impressed with him.

“He has a little bit of everything you need in a running back and he’s only a junior. He’s shown so much maturity since his sophomore year, and he just loves to run the football.”

The teams exchanged scores the entire game.

Frazier (1-1) took a 7-0 lead when Chase Fulmer finished off an 85-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run and Searcy booted the extra point with 24 seconds left in the first quarter.

Mapletown (1-1) answered 41 seconds later, early in the second quarter when Vanata broke a 56-yard touchdown run. Vanata also added the extra point to tie it at 7-7.

Commodores quarterback Brady Secrest put the visitors back on top with 4:22 left in the second quarter when he ran for a 2-yard TD and Searcy kicked the extra point to make it 14-7.

Frazier threatened to score again late in the half but McKnight’s interception thwarted the drive.

The Maples pulled even once more, 14-14, on McKnight’s 8-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter with Coltin Halbert kicking the extra point this time.

Diamond’s TD run put the Commodores ahead again only to set the stage for Vanata’s heroics.

Diamond led Frazier with 66 rushing yards on 12 attempts and Secrest completed 11 of 22 passes for 135 yards. Fulmer had nine receptions for 114 yards.

The Commodores out-gained Mapletown 288 yards to 218, but the Maples had the stronger ground game with 35 attempts for 191 yards compared to 31 for 135 for Frazier.

“They hit some pass plays on us, but to tell you the truth I thought our D-backs had good coverage most of the time,” Messich said. “Some of the throws we were right there and they made some real nice catches.

“Frazier moved the ball on us but we came up with some key stops to keep us in the game. Our kids really tackled well tonight.”

Walker led the Maples in tackles with eight.

“We didn’t make the same mistakes we made last week,” Messich said. “We were focused and ready to play from the opening kickoff.

“I was just pleased overall with the whole game we played. You could just see it in their attitude and effort tonight. They just wanted it and refused to give up.”