D1 Mites Win Second Consecutive Super Bowl Championship

   The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Mites captured their second consecutive Super Bowl crown Sunday morning at Marshfield High School, defeating the Scituate Sharks, 12-0.

      In a game that was deadlocked at 0-0 halfway through the third quarter, Tedaro France scored what was the eventual game-winning touchdown when he jaunted 47 yards to make it 6-0. Manny Perry added the insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the D1 Mites ended with an unblemished record of 10-0.

      This gridiron contest boiled down to Barnstable's ability overcome field conditions and to finally take advantage of field position.

      Scituate, however, was able to move the ball on the vaunted Bullets Red-1 defense which only had given up 6 points for the entire season. But after gaining two first downs, Super Bowl nerves game into play as Scituate was called on an illegal motion penalty. The defense was then led by noseguard Andrew Ellis who clogged up the middle and forced Scituate to turn the ball over on downs.

      The Silver Bullets offense then showed Super Bowl jitters of their own with two illegal motion penalties, forcing them to punt. Mark Lambert's booming punt down to the Scituate 20-yard was misplayed by the Scituate receiver and Tedaro France alertly pounced on the loose ball giving Barnstable great field position.
      On second down, France showed some excellent moves in difficult field conditions sweep to his right following key blocks from tight end Ryan Litchman and fullback Bryan Hardy and drove down to the 7-yard line for first and goal. Unfortunately, the tough field and a muddy ball came into play the the center snap was fumbled with Scituate recovering ending a golden opportunity. At this point Scituate ran the clock out at the half with the score deadlocked at 0-0.
      The first half was marked by hard-hitting defenses taking advantage of the rough field conditions. The Barnstable defense was lead by the line, ends Hardy, Seamus Murray and the big boys up front, Lambert, Ellis and Litchman. After the first series they controlled the line and allowed the linebackers led by the big hits of France, Tyler Kennedy and Jake Kipnes to overwhelm the Scituate offense.
      Barnstable received the second half kickoff. The offense started much has it had in the first half, not having much luck moving the ball. Holes where there but were quickly closed. The field was getting muddy slowing down the speed of the Barnstable backs. Both teams struggled and pounded away at each other playing hard hitting defense till the 3rd quarter was about to come to an end when the biggest play of the day was turned in by the Barnstable defense.
      With Scituate punting from the 50-yard line -- trying to put Barnstable in poor field position -- Hardy put on a hard rush forcing the punter to take off and run. Hardy ran him down slamming the punter to ground putting the momentum in Barnstable's favor. It then became France's time. On first down, France plowed through for a tough, 4-yard gain. France's number was called on second down as well and with the line doing a great job -- Jonathan Eldredge, Lambert and Litchman -- the hard running France broke clear over right end and turned on the jets, outrunning the Scituate defenders to the goal line for a 47-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead.
      With the lead in hand, the Barnstable defense was fired up and applied added pressure to Scituate's running game.
      Hardy and Murray came up with big sacks and the cornerback combination of Colby Blaze, Gabe DeStefano and Eric Rogorzenski shut down the outside run attempts. The defense didn't allow Scituate any room to maneuver.

      With 2:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, Manny Perry punched one in to make it 12-0. The PAT failed, but Barnstable had achieved what it went to Marshfield High School to do.

      Perry's touchdown - he had collected at least one in each game this season - was due in large part to the key blocking of Ellis, Kennedy, Mike Dombrowski and Steven Zeglen, a 45-yard gem not soon to be forgotten.

      The Division 1 Mites were coached by longtime head coach Paul Hickey and his assistant coaches Trevor Peterson, Mark Gates, Chuck Kipnes and Kevin Kennedy.