Silver Bullets Open Season With Three Big Victories

Sept. 9, 2007

HYANNIS — The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Pee Wees, Division 5 Pee Wees and Division 5 Midgets each posted big victories in their season openers Sunday, with the Division 1 Pee Wees routing Hanover, 20-6, the Division 5 Midgets blanking Middleboro, 28-0 and the Division 5 Pee Wees coming home with a 24-0 win versus Middleboro.
      The Division 1 Pee Wees took home Barnstable’s only win Sunday from three visiting Hanover teams.
      The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Midgets — captained by DJ Crook and Everett Walsh — fell quickly and hard to a gifted Hanover squad, 44-6. Crook notched Barnstable’s sole touchdown of the day.
      The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Mites fared slightly better and had a handful of opportunities to win but ended up on the short side with a 12-8 loss.
      Nathan Balthazard scored his team’s sole touchdown of the day. Tyler Shibles notched the two-point conversion.
Free safety Jack Pipatti played phenomenally well throughout the game with numerous tackles.
      On the road, the Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 5 Mites fell 22-8 to Middleboro. Ironically, the Bullets had an 8-6 lead at halftime and things looked promising for a win, but Middleboro came out in the second half with all cylinders firing.
      Barnstable’s Chris Holcolmb had a 68-yard touchdown run and his team’s two-point PAT was netted by quarterback Matt Teague.
“Middleboro scored on the opening kickoff in the second half and it was all downhill for us from there,” said head coach Fran Sayers. “Our defense did well in spite of having no rest due to turnovers.”
      The Division 1 Mites fumbled five times.
      The other two Barnstable teams that faced Middleboro Sunday, fared very well, posting back-to-back shutouts of their hosts.
The Division 5 Midgets posted a 28-0 shutout, followed by a 24-0 pasting turned in by their counterpart Division 5 Pee Wees.
      The Division 5 Midgets kicked off to Middleboro and the defense immediately took charge. After Ryan Litchman stuffed the Middleboro running back for a two-yard loss on the first play. Linebacker Jake Kipnes recovered a fumble in the Middleboro backfield giving the Bullets the ball in excellent field position in Middleboro territory.
      After a run of four yards by Tedaro France and two yards by Manny Perry, fullback Bryan Hardy busted up the middle for seven yards and a first down. After a short gain by France on 1st and 10, Perry followed a key block by Litchman and bounced outside and sprinted down the side line for a beautiful 35-yard touchdown run.
      Quarterback Eric Rogorzenski outran the Middleboro defense to the end zone pylon for the two-point conversion giving Barnstable an 8-0 lead.
      On Middleboro’s second possession a hard rush by defensive end Terrance Mudie caused the Middleboro Quarterback to force his pass which was alertly intercepted by Kadeem Bailey bringing the ball back to midfield for the Barnstable boys.
      On 1st and 10, Rogorzenski kept the ball for a nice seven-yard gain around left end. This was followed by a pitch to France who lugged the ball around right end for a 14-yard gain. This was followed up for any other first down with a nice burst up the middle by Hardy for 15 yards behind key blocks from center Mike Dombrowski and guard Trevor Sayers.
      After a short gain by France, fullback Gabe DeStefano powered up the middle for a gain of 12 and another first down behind the blocks of Dombrowski and Litchman. Bailey then ran off tackle behind tackle Andrew Ellis and tight end Mudie for a 10-yard gain.
      Running back Connor Jones was the next in line of the powerful and deep Barnstable backfield to carry the ball to the Middleboro seven-yard line behind the blocking of tackle Tom Harrington and tight end Mark Lambert.
      On second down Hardy made a nice cut through the hole and busted a six-yard gain for a first down on the 1 yard line. On the next play on first and goal Rogorzenski sneaked it in for the touchdown. France followed up with run off tackle run led by DeStefano and Perry behind Ellis and Mudie for the 2 point conversion. This put that score at Barnstable 16 Middleboro 0.
      After a nice four downs and out stand by the defense on the first play of the Bullets’ next series, Perry broke outside behind Harrington and Lambert with 2 crushing blocks downfield by France and sprinted for a 35 yard gain. Hardy then bulled up the middle for a gain of 5 followed by a 5 run off tackle by France. Perry then went for 3 yards and for a first down at the 3 yard line. On the next play Rogorzenski displayed a nice ball fake then passed to Mudie for the touchdown. The point was no good leaving the score at half time as Barnstable 22 and Middleboro 0.
      The second half was more of the same. Led by a strong defense and a powerful running game, quarterback Andrew Falacci capped off the Silver Bullet scoring with a nice sneak into paydirt, leaving the final score Barnstable 28 and Middleboro 0.
      The defense was lead by captains Ellis, Mudie, Litchman and Hardy who left Middleboro no place to move. The linebacking corps of Kipnes, France, Kelsey Medeiros and Perry were all over the field. Defensive backs Jones, Timmy Rodrigues and Bailey were lights out both on the pass and the run. Fine contributions were made by Jason Frieh and Chris Billings as well.
      Offensively, the blocking of the line led to a team total of 240 yards rushing. Perry lead the way with 72 yards and a touchdown, followed by Hardy with 42, France with 33 and a 2 point conversion, Bailey with 31 yards, DeStefano with 27 yards, Jones with 18, Kipnes with 12 and quarterbacks Rogorzenski with 18 yards, a touchdown, a 2 point conversion and a touch down pass and Falacci with a touchdown of his own.
      The Barnstable Division 1 Pee Wees team (1-0) staged an equally impressive performance versus the visiting Hanover team, ending with a 20-6 victory.
      Quarterback Hayden Murphy paced the offense with 115 yards rushing and three touchdowns and he went 4-7 passing for another 50 yards.
      Rob Stuart gained 35 yards on the ground and Derek Estes had three receptions for 35 yards including a two-point conversion pass from Murphy in the first half.
      The offensive line of Josh Bestford, Noah Johnson, Lee Hickey, team captain Brandon Wilkinson, Patrick Thompson, Seamus Murray and Nathan Yingling provided outstanding blocking throughout the day.
      Solid blocking was also turned in by the power backfield of Marcus Cunningham, Conor Walsh and Matt Lambert.
      Defensively, linebackers Walsh, Cunningham, Matt Lambert, Max Lambert and defensive ends Stuart and Murphy turned in exceptional performances, with Walsh tacking on a nice interception to start the second half.
      All totalled, Barnstable’s defense did not allow a single yard gained by Hanover in the first half while Barnstable turned in 222 yards rushing.
      Team captain John Hardy played exceptionally well in the secondary, providing sold pass coverage.
      Other standouts included Mike Bilodeau at tight end, Drew Lambert at safety, Kristian Lucashensky at quarterback and linebacker, Colby McWilliams, Mike Vazquez on the defensive line, Justus Chaffee at cornerback and at halfback, Brian Reid at halfback and Darien Kaski at halfback.
      Barnstable was the benefactor of good field position throughout the affair, as afforded by the defense, but it did fumble three times on offense. It also had two passes intercepted.
      The Barnstable Division 1 teams play at home again this Sunday versus Hingham, while the Division 5 teams head to Bridgewater.
Games begin at 11:30 a.m. Admission is $3.00.