Cunningham Paces D1 Pee Wees in 14-6 Win Over Scituate
Oct. 7, 207 - Week 5
SCITUATE — Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Pee Wees halfback Marcus Cunningham punched a three-yard rush into paydirt Sunday afternoon on the road, rushed for four first downs and added an interception and 5.0 tackles to pace his team to a 14-6 victory over Scituate.
The win placed Barnstable in a tie for first place with Plymouth in the Old Colony Youth Football League. Both teams stand at 5-0 on the season and face each other this Sunday at Plymouth South High School.
Cunningham wasn’t the only player to shine in the Bullets’ 14-6 win.
Quarterback Hayden Murphy scored a touchdown on a two-yard plunge behind the blocking of Rob Stuart, Conor Walsh and Cunningham to put Barnstable on the scoreboard first at 6-0.
Murphy then dropped back and lofted a beautiful pass to Derek Estes in the back of the end zone and Estes made it look that much prettier as he completely laid out and cuaght the ball in midair for the two-point conversion. The score was 8-0, but Barnstable began biting its collective nails when Scituate countered immediately with a 60-yard touchdown run to make it 8-6.
Thanks to outside linebacker Matt Lambert, however, Scituate’s hopes of knotting it up were quickly dashed as the speedy Barnstable playmaker plugged the hole on Scituate’s two-point PAT attempt to keep the Red & White in the lead at 8-6.
Cunningham sealed the deal when he punched in his score after a lengthy drive downfield in the ensuing possession.
Matt Lambert finished the day with 4.5 tackles on defense, turning in his best, gutsiest performance of the season.
Estes also played exceptionally well, adding 2.5 tackles to his two-point conversion from his new spot at cornerback.
Stuart, Murphy and Walsh turned in the best defensive play of the day when Murphy and Stuart simultaneously sacked the Scituate halfback
on a halfback pass attempt and it was intercepted by Walsh, but the play was negated on a questionable roughing the passer call.
Nosetackle Lee Hickey led the defensive line with a brilliant performance, followed by Brandon Wilkinson, Noah Johnson, Nathan Yingling and Patrick Thompson.
John Hardy also played exceptionally well at cornerback. Kristian Lucashensky and Walsh also rushed well for the Bullets.
Darien Kaski turned in four critical carries for the Silver Bullets, picking up a 12-yard run for a first down deep in Scituate territory to set up Cunningham’s score.
Mike Bilodeau turned in a phenomenal pair of punts for Barnstable. The win earned the Division 1 Pee Wees bragging rights as the sole Silver Bullets’ team to remain undefeated thus far in the season.
Division 1 Midgets Go to 4-1 with 30-8 Trouncing of Host Scituate Sharks
The Silver Bullets Div. 1 Midgets rolled over Scituate last Sunday, 30-8, on their opponent’s home field, serving notice that they are a force to be reckoned with in the divisional championship race.
Following up their amazing comeback victory over Marshfield with a solid and sustained effort on both sides of the ball from start to finish, the Bullets improved their season record to 4-1.
Once again, quarterback D.J. Crook led the way. His second quarter 70 yard touchdown run, after scrambling out of pressure in the passing pocket, was a thing of beauty and the offensive highlight of the day. Crook also scored on a one-yard sneak early in the fourth quarter to complete another fine day’s work .
Rufus Hamilton also had two touchdowns. He capped Barnstable’s initial drive with a slashing dive into the end zone from five yards out early in the first quarter. The 35 yard drive was set up by Everett Walsh’s fumble recovery and featured a Crook to Tevin Hill pass for 18 yards on the Bullet’s first offensive play.
Hamilton hit paydirt again in the second quarter from the four yard line, following an interception and 15 yard return by Hill. D. J. Crook followed up with a perfect play fake and pass to a wide open Everett Walsh for the two point conversion and Barnstable had a comfortable 22-0 halftime lead.
Damien Johnson had a fine game at both running back and defensive end. He carried the ball 15 times for 71 yards and a PAT and was the key man in the third quarter as the Bullets grinded out the clock, allowing Scituate only four offensive plays in the quarter.
Sam Holway led all tacklers from his slot at nosetackle with 4.5 tackles on the day, followed by linebackers Chris Lawler and Everett Walsh who both had 4.0 tackles.
Zach Stevens and Matt Lounsbury also played exceptionally well , Stevens with 3.5 tackles and Lounsbury with 2.5. Crook turned in 2.5 tackles from his slot at linebacker.
Hamilton turned in 2.5 tackles and cornerback Kevin Hardy had 2.0 tackles as well. all had strong games on the defensive line.
Jeremy Hatstat (2.5 tackles), Tevin Hill (2.0 tackles) also played well for the Red & White.
All totalled, the Silver Bullets gained 195 yards on the ground, a tally which included two gutsy carries by Kevin Hardy near the game’s end for 14 yards in all.
The Div. 1 Midgets travel to Plymouth this Sunday. A win there would set up a big showdown battle the following week with Bridgewater, currently atop the division with a 5-0 mark.
Division 1 Mites End In 14-14 Tie with Host Scituate
The scrappy, enthusiastic Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 1 Mites team garnered a critical point in the Old Colony Youth Football league standings Sunday (Oct. 7) at Scituate High School, as the boys in Red & White earned a 14-14 tie with their hosts.
Many thanks again to a phenomenally tough and gifted running back Tyler Shibles who turned in 136 yards rushing for his second straight 100-plus yards game.
Shibles had runs of 45 and 60 yards in the first half alone and again provided the scoring for his Silver Bullets’ boys.
Shibles was not alone in handing in a noteworthy performance, however, as quarterabck Ethan Chasson steered the offense in the right course throughout the affair, including a couple of nice runs of his own.
The 14-14 tie comes on the heels of a tough, 14-12 loss to Marshfield the prior week and it marked the second straight week that the Silver Bullets had to fend for themselves without the aid of running back Nathan Balthazard who has been out with an injury.
Balthazard’s absence, however, has thrust Shibles directly into the spotlight as an equally impressive ball carrier who does not mind carrying the weight of his team’s offensive hopes on his shoulders.
Jaysiah Owens turned in a solid performance with a sack, but the true tackle of the day — so loud you could hear it in the stands over the din of the fans and spectators — was turned in by #72 Colby Putnam who squared up on the Scituate ball carrier on a late-game kick return and planted him firmly where he stood.
Sean Ford also played well for the Mites as did Keaton Bergal and defensive end extraordinaire Ben Fallacci.
Division 5 Pee Wees Fall to Scituate Stingrays, 22-8
The D5 Pee Wee’s were enthusiastic as they took the field for their first home game of the 2007 campaign, even though they were facing a team that had beaten them decisively two weeks earlier, 20-12. In spite of the Silver Bullets’ passion, again they fell, this time, 22-8.
The Silver Bullets kicked off then held the strong Scituate offense, forcing them to turn the ball over on downs. On first possession, head coach Bob Thomas called for a QB keep around the right side.
Quarterback Bo delaney ran for 52 yards but his run was negated due to a holding call.
The Bullets played tough that first quarter and held the Scituate team to just six points. The visiting team scored its first touchdown as #44 Geoff Stillman ran a reverse, getting by the Barnstable defense, however #43 DeMicheal Johnson intercepted the point after attempt.
The Bullets went three and out on their first possession of the second quarter and Hanover took over on downs. After a strong defensive stand on the first three downs, Scituate again went to #44 for a first down run and had it not been for Joel Bess the score would have been 12-0.
Bess stopped Stillman at the 25-yard line with no other defenders behind him. The boys from Barnstable played tough but Scituate managed to drive for a first and goal at the nine-yard line.
On first down, Scituate called for QB Christian Brady to keep the ball and he ran it in much to the frustrations of coaches and fans. Stillman ran around the end for the extra point attempt making the score 14-0.
Scituate kicked the ball off for what proved to be the last drive of the half to #7 Ryan Leonovich who ran the kickoff back for 15 yds. The Silver Bullets tried to turn the tables on Scituate, hoping to close the point gap, but came up short as a Bo Delaney pass attempt fell short ending the first half.
Barnstable received the kickoff and #7 Leonovich took it six yards, but the Silver Bullets offense failed to convert leaving Scituate open to run up the score.
The Bullets held the visiting team and on first down as Bo Delaney came around the right side on a quarterback keep and #7 Leonovich threw a key block to send Delaney off on an exciting 70-yard Touchdown run, capped off by a successful point after by Brendan Bindig narrowing the score to 14-8.
Barnstable kicked off and the run back was stopped dead when #32 Denver Bergamin stepped up and stopped the Sciuate runner dead in his tracks.
The Silver Bullets tried their best to hold the visitors but Scituate relied on 11-year-old #44 again, and on 4th and 12, Stillman ran in for a touchdown. QB Brady ran the two-point conversion past the defense and put the final score on the board.
The fourth Quarter started with #33 Kevin Agostinelli Running the kickoff back and setting the offense up with good field position.
The silver Bullets put in #15 Kyle Wasierski at QB and he took first down and and handed off to Sonny Bisazza who cut throught the line for a three-yard gain and just when things started to look like they were turning around, a four-yard run by Jacob DeDoming ended up with a turnover as he was stripped of the ball by a host of Scituate players.
The Bullets defense held their own to end the game and the score to 22-8, hoping next week to be on the winning end as they host Hingham.
Division 5 Midgets Drop First Game Since Start of 2006 Season, Falling to Scituate, 14-6 at Home
Running back Manny Perry notched his team’s sole touchdown of the day Sunday at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field in Hyannis, but it was not enough as the Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 5 Midgets lost their first game as a team since the 2005 season.
The defending Super Bowl champions fell to 4-1 on the season, but the loss came on the heels of near tragedy as a host of the team’s top players narrowly escaped serious injury in an auto accident coming home from the Hanover victory the week before.
Fortunately none of the boys was seriously injured in the crash, but the Division 5 Midgets played things cautiously last week during practice sessions.
Regardless, the Silver Bullets received solid and gutsy performances from Terrence Mudie, Andrew Ellis, Tedaro France, Manny Perry, Tom Harrington and Bryan Hardy.
The Bullets welcome division rival Hingham to Hyannis this Sunday, Oct. 14.
Silver Bullets’ Notebook
— Division 1 Pee Wees running back Robby Stuart turned in his second straight 90-yard performance rushing Sunday in his team’s 14-6 win, helping set the stage for two touchdown scores...
— Many thanks to all the Silver Bullets players and cheerleaders for turning in over $11,000 worth of calendar raffle sales to help raise money for equipment, etc. If you bought a Silver Bullets calendar raffle, check www.barnstablesilverbullets.org each day to see if your name is one randomly selected for numerous cash prizes through the end of October...
— This year’s Division 1 Pee Wees team has had a decidedly difficult schedule thus far this season, facing teams they lost to last year but coming out on top each time. The Pee Wees fell to Hanover last year but outmatchd them 20-6 in the season-opener this season, followed by a 10-win over Hingham. Hingham had dealt Barnstable dual losses the year before on the road and in the playoffs. Last season, the D1 Pee Wees tied Marshfield, 0-0, but this year shellshocked the visitors with an 18-8 beating... the last time this squad faced Rockland... it lost during the team’s Super Bowl championship season in 2005... but this year roared back from a deficit to win 26-12... it seems Scituate is just about as equally gifted as they were last year as Barnstabled eked out a win on the road, 10-8, then last week gutted out a 14-6 win...
— This year’s Division 1 Playoffs ... at least one round of the four-team playoff format... will be hosted on Saturday, Nov. 3, in the evening at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field in Hyannis... while the Division 1 Mites are certainly not out of the playoff pciture yet, it appears the 4-1 Division 1 Midgets or the 5-0 Division 1 Pee Wees could be playing at home in the playoffs this season... rumors flew about that the Silver Bullets would also be hosting the Division 1 Super Bowl in Hyannis this year, but the powers-that-be put the kabosh on those hopes... the Super Bowl will be hosted at Scituate... or so we have heard... It’s great to see so many Red Raider alums on the field coaching the Silver Bullets this season, including Billy Schultz, Dave Desley, Brian Spano, Casey Hanf, Kim Christian, Jim Murphy, Mark McWilliams, Art Pacheco, John Ellis and Mike and Kerry Delaney.
