Division 5 Mites Turn In Decisive Playoff Victory to Earn Super Bowl Honors
     The last time the Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 5 Mites faced Scituate, the end result was a defensive battle and a slim, 8-0, Barnstable victory.
      Last Saturday night at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field in Hyannis, the Silver Bullets opted to make this victory a more decisive one, defeating Scituate in the Old Colony Youth Football League playoffs, 34-6.
While the offense was prolific, the defense played incredibly hard and staged, perhaps, its best performance of the 2004 season. To date, the Division 5 Mites remain undefeated at 8-0-1, heading into this Sunday's OCYFL Division 5 Mites Super Bowl at Hingham High School at 11:00 a.m. versus second place Hingham. This is the first time since the inception of the Silver Bullets in 1987 that a Division 5 Mites team had made to the Super Bowl.
      The last time Barnstable met Hingham was in the regular season, resulting in a 22-22 tie.
      Halfback and outside linebacker Marcus Cunningham played phenomenally throughout the game, followed by tailback Darien Kaski who scored two touchdowns (including a 70-yard kickoff return touchdown), fullback/outside linebacker Conor Walsh, quarterback/defensive end Hayden Murphy, defensive end Rob Stuart, defensive/offensive tackle Clyde "Butchie" Perry, noseguard Lee Hickey, defensive tackles Josh Bestford and Justus Chaffee and cornerback Matty Lambert.
      Kevin Huska notched the first touchdown of his career with a brilliant, back-breaking, 80-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
      Other points were scored by Cunningham (touchdown), Walsh (two-point conversion), Murphy (touchdown), and Matty Lambert (two-point conversion). Kaski finished with 117 all-purpose yards on the day, while Huska collected 80.
      The Silver Bullets' defensive exploits was a veritable Who's Who of Division 5 Mites players.
Cunningham collected three tackles - two of them for deep losses on perfectly executed stunts - while Hickey picked up 3.5 tackles and caused one Scituate fumble. Walsh recovered two fumbles and collected two tackles, followed by Rob Stuart - who played an amazing game - with 3.5 tackles and Clyde Perry who picked up three assisted tackles (1.5) and was a determining force in the middle interior on defense.
      Other defensive stalwarts for Barnstable included Justus Chaffee who had four assisted tackles (2.0 total),
      Cornerback Matty Lambert played his best game of the season to date, collecting three tackles in all and earned high praise from his coaches. Kristian Luchichinsky, Josh Bestford, Timmy Omerzu, Riley Ashe and Greg Harris all contributed great tackles late in the game to help seal the victory.
      The hardest hit of the game came from defensive end Hayden Murphy (2 tackles) who delivered such a blow to the Scituate ball carrier deep in Scituate territory that the game was delayed for a good 10 minutes.
      Matt Tracy delivered his best moment of the 2004 season when Quarterback Hayden Murphy was stripped of the ball on the goal line and the Scituate runner took off, heading for looked to be a sure touchdown. Turning 180 degrees off his blocking assignment, Tracy chased the starry-eyed, impromptu Scituate ball carrier and tackled him, leaping midair to do so.
The Play-by-Play
     With a strong wind at its back, Barnstable opted to kickoff to open the 2004 Division 5 Mites playoffs, and thanks to another fine boot by Hayden Murphy, the Silver Bullets' defense stood poised to hammer Scituate hard and deep in its own territory.
      Noseguard Lee Hickey got things rolling by causing Scituate to fumble on the first snap to bring up 2nd and 10, followed by a vicious combo tackle by defensive end Rob Stuart and outside linebacker Conor Walsh. On 3rd and 9, Stuart went in solo, hammering the Scituate ball carrier for a loss to bring up 4th and 12. On the ensuing play, outside linebacker Marcus Cunningham and defensive tackle Clyde Perry converged upon the ball carrier and converged hard, giving Barnstable the ball deep in Scituate territory.
      On its first play from the line of scrimmage, Walsh took the ball five yards to bring up 2nd and five, then on the ensuing play found nowhere to run to bring up 3rd and 5. Cunningham took it next, jaunting 30 yards for the first down. Darien Kaski took the ball next on 1st and 10 and picked up two yards to bring up 2nd and 8. Cunningham garnered another Barnstable first down on the next play, this time going 15 yards. On 1st and 10, Kaski gained three to bring up 2nd and 7, followed by Walsh who gained two yards to bring up 3rd and five once more. Again, Walsh was given no room tot run and the Bullets were in a tough, 4th and 5 scenario. An offsides penalty on the hosts would make the situation even tougher at 4th and 10, but to quarterback Hayden Murphy - who seemed all day to feast upon dire odds - took the ball himself and ran it into the end zone, 20 yards for the touchdown. Barnstable had its lead, 6-0. The PAT failed on a Matt Lambert attempt, but a penalty on Scituate negated the attempt. Regardless, Barnstable had its lead, 6-0.
      Murphy kick off and made a nice solo tackle on the kick returner and the Barnstable defense went to work once more.
      Matty Lambert made a beautiful stop on an attempt outside, followed by a nice solo tackle by Cunningham to bring up 3rd and 10. On the ensuing play, Cunningham and Stuart combined on the hit to leave Scituate little room to ramble on 4th and 10. On 4th and 10, Hickey blitzed in and nailed the running back for a loss of five yards. Barnstable had regained possession once more.
      Sadly, a fumble on its first play was recovered by Scituate and the defense had to make a quick return to the gridiron.
      Scituate fumbled but recovered it on 1st and 10, followed by a vicious tackle by an angered Murphy, causing a 10-minute injury timeout for the opponent. On 3rd and long, Walsh blitzed in and scooped up yet another Scituate fumble, giving the Bullets ball control once more.
      On two successive run attempts, Murphy was nailed in the backfield for a combined loss of 10 yards to bring up 3rd and 20. On 3rd and 20, Cunningham got the nod, this time picking up just one to bring up 4th and 19. Cunningham took matters into his own hands, breaking three tackles up the gut and punching it in to make it 12-0, Silver Bullets. Walsh followed with the two-point conversion and Barnstable had its lead, 14-0.
      Switching back to defensive mode after Murphy's kickoff, Hickey again made a nice stop for zero gain to bring up 2nd and 10. Once more, Walsh blitzed in and scooped up his second fumble of the day to give Barnstable momentum and a chance to break the game wide open.
      Kaski took advantage of the momentum and bolted outside for 37 yards, almost punching it into the end zone before being brought down by a Scituate tackler. Matt Lambert followed but could not find an opening and it was 2nd and 10. Murphy gained five on a bootleg keeper, bring up 3rd and five, followed by a three-yard Cunningham run to being up 4th and 2. Murphy tried again, but time ran out on the half.

      Barnstable had its halftime lead, 14-0.
      Starting off the second half on defense, Matt Lambert and Stuart combined on the first hit for no gain to bring up 2nd and 10 for the guests. "Big" Clyde Perry and Hickey then joined efforts to once again offer Scituate nothing. On 3rd and 10, Hickey brought it once more, for a loss of one, to bring up 4th and 11 and on a perfectly executed blitz, Cunningham shut the door on the ball carrier for a loss of 5 and Barnstable regained possession on the Scituate 15-yard line.
      Walsh took the rock first, gaining five yards to bring up 2nd and 5 on the Scituate 10, then scampered into the end zone on the ensuing play but holding penalty pushed the hosts back to 2nd and 15 on the 20.
Murphy picked up five on the next play, to bring up 3rd and 15, followed by a Walsh run of two yards to make it 4th and 13. Murphy attempted a bootleg run, but to no avail. Barnstable had squandered its well-executed first two plays and turned it over to Scituate.
      Not too pleased with the lost effort on the called-back touchdown run, Walsh and defensive tackle Justus Chaffee hammered the Scituate ball carrier in the backfield for a loss of one to bring up 2nd and 11. Walsh then took matters into his own hands, stuffing the ball carrier once again for a loss to bring up 3rd and 13. Scituate then fumbled but recovered and lost 10 to make it 4th and 23. Defensive tackle Josh "Bulldog" Bestford then stepped it up and drilled the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage and Barnstable had made its point.
      Deep in Scituate territory, Walsh carried the ball first for a gain of one to bring up 2nd and 9, followed by a beautiful run by Kaski into the end zone. Barnstable had finally put a dagger in Scituate's hopes with a 20-0 lead. Matt Lambert raced into the end zone on the PAT to finalize the deal at 22-0.
      Lambert made a nice tackle on the ensuing play (following a nice Murphy kick), followed by a tough tackle by Stuart, but Scituate garnered he first down to bring up 1st and 10. Scituate fumbled in the backfield but recovered to bring up 2nd and 13, when Chaffee and Perry combined to level the Scituate ball carrier in the backfield for another loss. On third and 15, noseguard Tim Omerzu and Matt Lambert combined to make the stop and once more, Barnstable had the ball.
      Enter Kevin Huska.
      Itching all season to find some room to run, the diminutive albeit speedy tailback found an opening and made the most of it, galloping 80 yards to paydirt and the final straw that broke Scituate's back. Barnstable had a 28-0 lead. The PAT failed, but the Silver Bullets' could see "Super Bowl" right in front of their eyes.
      Linebacker Kristian Luchichinsky, cornerback Greg Harris and defensive tackles Riley Ashe and Chaffee each combined on a number of great tackles on Scituate's ensuing possession, but the Silver Bullets' could not stop the guests this time. Scituate scored to make it 28-6 as time had almost run out in the fourth quarter and the ballgame. The Scituate PAT attempt failed and the guests went to kick off.
The icing on the cake was presented by Kaski who, picking up the ball and waiting just a split second for the Scituate tacklers to dive past him, took off 70 yards into the end zone to make it 34-6 on the final play of the game.
      Barnstable heads to Hingham High School to face Hingham in the Division 5 Mites Old Colony Youth Football League Super Bowl Championship, Sunday, Nov. 14, at 11:00 a.m. Directions to the game can be found at www.barnstablesilverbullets.org.