Division 5 Mites Shut Down Scituate, 8-0, to Remain Undefeated

The Barnstable Division 5 Mites defeated the Scituate Stingrays for the first time ever Sunday morning, 8-0, and in so doing maintained their unbeaten record at 4-0-1. The Silver Bullets welcome Hanover to W. Leo Shields Memorial Field on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 5 p.m.

              Halfback Marcus Cunningham notched the Silver Bullets' lone touchdown and quarterback Hayden Murphy collected a two-point PAT to seal the deal. Cunningham had 69 yards on 11 carries while Matt Lambert had one 20-yard run late in the second half.

              The Barnstable defense, however, proved its true mettle Sunday, with the “Red” defense not allowing a single first down and the “White” defense allowing just one. The defense was led by Cunningham and Conor Walsh who combined to make nine of Barnstable 's 20.5 total tackles. Walsh and Cunningham each collected a sack and Walsh added a fumble recovery. Noseguard Lee Hickey arguably had his best game of the season, fighting through a constant double team to collect two critical tackles as well as a fumble recovery. Defensive end Hayden Murphy played phenomenally well, picking up three hard tackles. Other solid defensive efforts came from defensive tackle Clyde Perry, free safety John Hardy, cornerback Justus Chaffee, defensive end Rob Stuart, cornerbacks Matt Lambert and Darien Kaski, defensive tackles Brandon Wilkinson and Josh Bestford, strong safety Nathan Yingling and free safety Dan Skala.

Play-By-Play
The Silver Bullets came out firing on all cylinders, but getting into the end zone proved difficult. In fact, Barnstable ran 13 plays in its first series, chewing up the first quarter clock and appearing to be in total control of its fate, but 13 plays was not enough to punch it in.
     Tailback Darien Kaski picked up 12 yards on the first play of the game on a reverse, quickly followed by a six-yard Marcus Cunningham run. Cunningham was facemasked on the takedown and Barnstable picked up another five yards. He then gutted out two more yards on the ensuing play. But successive runs by Conor Walsh and Hayden Murphy resulted in a loss of yards as the Scituate defense turned it up a notch and broke through into the Barnstable backfield.
     No matter, on 3 rd and 5, Cunningham broke free for 14 more of his 69 yards on the day, picking up a critical first down. Kaski followed suit with an eight-yard run of his own to bring up 2nd and 2 to go. Again, Cunningham broke free for eight yards and Barnstable 's fourth first down in three minutes. Again, Walsh and Murphy went nowhere on successive runs to the same holes. A Murphy run on 3rd down left Barnstable at 4th and 6. Cunningham's attempt to get another first down netted only one yard. Scituate took over on downs.
     Walsh, Cunningham, Murphy, nosegaurd Lee Hickey and cornerback Justus Chaffee then got busy shutting the door on Scituate on four consecutive plays. Barnstable took over on downs at midfield.
     Barnstable could not capitalize, however. Kaski got dropped for a one-yard loss and on 2nd and 11, fumbled and Scituate recovered. The Scituate defense was getting through to the usually fleet afoot tailback who just a week earlier collected 171 yards rushing against Hingham .
     Again, Cunningham, Walsh, Hickey and Murphy went to work, collecting all tackles on Scituate 's next possession. It took four plays of dropping Scituate for loss after loss before Barnstable regained possession.
     Barnstable would not lose sight of paydirt this time around as Cunningham took the rock on 3rd and 13 and went into the end zone to make it 6-0, Silver Bullets. Murphy followed on a QB sneak for the two-point conversion and Barnstable had all the lead it would need at 8-0.
     On defense following the kickoff, and with time running out on the first half,   defensive end Rob Stuart got into the mix, as did middle linebacker Johnny Hardy. Walsh, Hickey and Cunningham again showed their mettle and on 4th and long, Hickey came up with a Scituate fumble to give Barnstable the ball once more.
     While Murphy would pick up 15 valuable yards on 2nd and 10, time simply ran out on the Silver Bullets. The first half had ended.
     In the second half, the Barnstable defense spent the bulk of the time on the field and the job it did was nearly flawless.
     Dan Skala and Max Lambert chased down the Scituate ball carrier on Scituate 's sole first down of the game, but aside from that single play, Barnstable 's defense allowed Scituate negative yardage on the remainder of the day. Defensive tackle Clyde Perry, Hickey, Walsh, Cunningham, Murphy and cornerback Matty Lambert all connected on hit after hit, stopping anything Scituate would throw Barnstable's way.
    The end result: The Division 5 Mites' third shutout of the season.