Div. 5 Pee Wees Silver Bullets Show Defensive Prowess at Scituate

The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 5 Pee Wees staged a sound defeat of host Scituate Sunday afternoon, 14-0, with special thanks to a staunch defensive effort. The D5 Pee Wees now stand at 3-1-1 on the season, while Scituate falls to 1-3-1.

              Tailback Charlie Rice scored the Bullets' first touchdown of the game on the last play of the second quarter, a six-yard pass from quarterback Damon Blake. The two-point conversion attempt failed, but Barnstable led, 6-0.

              Theo France notched the Bullets' second touchdown when he ran the ball in from the five-yard line with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter. Rice added the two-point PAT to make it 14-0, Barnstable.

              Noseguard Cam Crocker, defensive end Everett Walsh, defensive end Bob Melley and linebacker Damon Blake led the defense with a combined 10.5 tackles on the day to help the Bullets register their third win of the season. Crocker and Walsh also collected one sack apiece while Melley and Blake were routinely wrecking havoc in the Scituate backfield throughout the affair.

              Other rock solid defensive efforts were turned in by defensive tackle Zach Stevens (1.5 tackles), linebacker Joe D'Olimpio (2.0 tackles) and cornerback Curtis Collopy (1.5 tackles). Solid individual defensive efforts were also turned in by cornerback Kevin Hardy, cornerback Rob Dombrowski and safety Charlie Rice. Defensive end Nick Cincotta applied great pressure on the Scituate running back on the game's final play for a loss of five yards. Josh Morton registered his first solo tackle of the season.

              Blake led the offensive backfield with 62 yards on nine carries while Rice picked up 32 yards on seven carries including a touchdown reception from Blake and a successful two-point conversion run. Ostrom picked up nine gritty yards on three carries, while Theo France gained 14 yards on five carries and PJ Crosby gained nine yards on three carries. Blake was 2-4 passing, including a touchdown pass to Rice. Walsh had one reception of five yards. Crosby was 0-1 passing with one interception.

 

The Play-by-Play

              Barnstable 's Zach Stevens set the defensive tone on the game's first play from the line of scrimmage when he hammered the Scituate running back for a loss of four yards to bring up 2nd and 14.

              Defensive end Bob Melley quickly followed suit with a nice solo hit of his own for no gain to bring up 3rd and 14. Noseguard Cam Crocker and middle linebacker Kevin Ostrom then converged on the Scituate ball carrier to bring up 4th and 9. Blake then made the final stop and Barnstable took over on downs at midfield.

              Ostrom got the opening nod on offense but could not gain anything to bring up 2nd and 10, but Blake – who alternated throughout the game between the halfback slot and quarterback – picked up 10 yards on the ensuing play to bring up 1st and 10.

Tailback Charlie Rice then followed suit and picked up a nice run of 18 yards to put the ball at the Scituate 32-yard-line with 3:32 remaining in the first quarter. Blake quickly gained another 12 yards on the ensuing play and Barnstable appeared to be rolling and rolling hard toward paydirt.

At 1st and 10 on the Scituate 20, PJ Crosby then took a hard hit at the line of scrimmage and fumbled, but Barnstable recovered to bring up 2nd and 10. Blake picked up two yards on the next play to bring up 3rd and 8. Ostrom bulled his way for two yards and Barnstable suddenly stared at a 4th and 6 situation on the Scituate 16-yard line.

           Blake stepped in and quickly fired a pop pass to tight end Everett Walsh, but the play did not develop fully and Walsh wound up one-yard short of a first down. Scituate took over possession at its own 11-yard line.

          Sensing a great defensive opportunity on the final play of the first quarter, Crocker smashed through the Scituate line to pick up a beautiful sack and loss of three yards to bring up 2nd and 13.

         On fire, Crocker then made another nice hit at the line of scrimmage on the first play of the second quarter to bring up 3 rd and 13. Scituate then attempted a reverse, but Blake was their to meet the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage and Scituate picked up just one to bring up 4 rd and 12. Walsh then stepped up and made the final stop of the series and Barnstable regained possession of the ball.

        Rice got the nod on two successive plays and on each carry picked up four yards to bring up 3rd and 2 on the Scituate 12. Blake then busted free on a broken play and just made it back to the line of scrimmage to bring up 4th and 2. On yet another fine run by Blake, the ball spot placed Barnstable just shy of a first down. Scituate took over on downs at its own 10-yard line.

       Curtis Collopy and Dominique Tillman converged on the Scituate ball carrier for a gain of only one yard to bring up 2nd and 9. Scituate then picked up five yards on a QB keeper to bring up 3rd and 4 with 3:27 remaining in the first half. Walsh then busted through, hammered the blocking back and then sacked the quarterback for a loss of two yards to bring up 4 th and 6. On the ensuing play, Crocker, Melley and Stevens converged and converged hard on the ball carrier to stuff Scituate 's running game once more. Barnstable took over possession of the ball.

       Still deadlocked at 0-0 with 1:44 remaining in the half, Barnstable would this time not be denied.

Rice carried it first for a gain of two to bring up 2nd and 8, followed quickly with a gain of four by Blake to bring up 3rd and 4. After a Barnstable time out, Rice picked up only one yard and the Bullets faced a 4th and 3 situation on the Scituate 11-yard line.

      Rice picked up the first down with a gutsy three-yard run to place the ball on the 8-yard line. Blake then rolled left and found Melley in the end zone. Leaping up in the corner and heavily defended, Melley came down with what appeared to be a beautiful catch, but the referee ruled the pass incomplete. There remained just 0:06 on the clock.

      Blake rolled left once more on 3rd and goal, but this time the pass fell short. The clock stopped at 0:01. Blake opted to roll right this time and this time he found Rice wide open on a naked bootleg. Rice rolled in for six points and a 6-0 Barnstable lead. The two-point PAT run was no good, but Barnstable had scrapped its way to a halftime lead, 6-0.

      Scituate attempted an onsides kick to open the second half, but Alex Grove covered the ball up. Barnstable found itself at midfield, poised to strike once more.

       Fullback Kevin Ostrom got the first nod and gutted out seven solid yards but the hit he took was too much and he was relegated to the sidelines with a temporary injury. Rice followed a gain of only one on the ensuing play to bring up 3rd and 1. Blake broke free on 3rd and 1 for the first down, then followed quickly with his best run of the day, a 29-yard jaunt to put the ball on the Scituate six-yard line. At 1st and goal with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, Theo France took the rock and put Barnstable on the board once more with his first touchdown of the season. Rice followed with a successful two-point conversion run to make it 14-0, Barnstable .

       Following a fine kickoff by Melley, Crocker thought he might toy with the Scituate offensive line once more, this time recovering a fumble to put the ball directly back into the hands of the Bullets' offense. An illegal procedure call made it 1st and 15 from the 44 with 3:35 to go in the third quarter.

      Ryan Desmond got the nod on the first play for a gain of three to bring up 2nd and 12. France followed, but could not get free to bring up 3rd and 13. Crosby then rolled to pass but opted to keep it instead and gained seven yards to bring up 4th and 6. With Melley open in the flat on the right side, Crosby went to the air but the Scituate cornerback was there to pick it off. The quarter ended with Scituate on the 30-yard line.

      Linebacker Joe D'Olimpio stopped the Scituate ball carrier on its first play, to bring up 2nd and 10, quickly followed by a nice solo tackle by Melley on the opposite side of the field for a gain of only one to bring up 4th and 9. The Scituate ball carrier broke free on the ensuing, last gasp play for the hosts, but safety Charlie Rice was there to force the ball carrier out of bounds just shy of a first down. Barnstable took over possession with 5:35 to go.

      France took the ball first and picked up eight yards to bring up 2nd and 2, but on the ensuing play he went nowhere and Barnstable faced a 3rd and 2 situation with 3:57 to go in the game. Blake got the nod and once more broke free for the first down.

      On 1st and 10, Crosby ran it for a gain of two yards to bring up 2nd and 8 with 2:21 remaining. France went to the well once more, but again, there was no hole to find. On 3rd and 8, Desmond got the nod but was hit hard in the backfield for a 10-yard loss to bring up 4th and 18.

      Punter Devin Broadley then lofted a 30-yarder to put the ball on the Scituate 5-yard line.

Walsh made the first hit after breaking off a Scituate double team in the backfield for no gain to bring up 2nd and 10. Scituate followed with an incomplete pass to bring up 3rd and 10 and then connected for a first down in spite of a fantastic hit by cornerback Kevin Hardy. Two more successive incomplete passes made it 3rd and 10. D'Olimpio made a nice combo stop with Desmond on he ensuing play to bring up 4th and 6 and Nick Cincotta finished up the day's work by applying great pressure on the Scituate QB for a loss of five yards on the last play of the game.