Bullets Sweep Rockland, Take One From Scituate on the Road
Sept. 23, 2007
HYANNIS — The Barnstable Silver Bullets’ three Division 1 teams swept Rockland last Sunday at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field with a superlative effort. Adding to the three home victories was a road victory turned in by the still unbeaten Division 5 Midgets who came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Scituate, 22-14.
The Division 1 Midgets — who defeated Rockland 24-8 — were in the lead the entire game after scoring early in the first half.
The Division 1 Mites — who had never before entertained a lead in a game, nevermind at halftime — defeated Rockland soundly with a score of 22-6.
The Division 1 Pee Wees, down at halftime by a score of 12-6, staged one of its best all-around perfomances to date when it scored 20 unanswered points in the second half while shutting down the potent Rockland offense.
Balthazard Paces Division 1 Mites to Sweet Victory
The Division 1 Mites set the stage with their first win of the season in the first game of the three-game slate in Hyannis, thanks to a three-touchdown, 15-yard rushing performance by Nathan Balthazard.
Tavian Miranda added two, two-point PAT conversions and played exceptionally well on defense.
Sean Ford and Ben Falacci played exceptionally well on defense for the Division 1 Mites, making tackle after tackle in the game.
The win was the first-ever turned in by first-year head coach Billy Schultz, a former Silver Bullets player and Barnstable High School Red
Raider standout.
Division 5 Midgets Come Back Versus Scituate
The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division 5 Midgets, now 3-0 on the season, came from behind last Sunday at Scituate to snatch victory from the jaws of near defeat in the fourth quarter.
The final? Silver Bullets 22, Scituate 14.
The Bullets started strongly, and took the opening kickoff downfield on the Stingrays. The Bullets’ offense drove hard and pushed the ball to the three-yard line behind a nice run from Tedaro France but a holding penalty brought the ball back. The breakdown turned the ball back over to Scituate. But what ensued was more of a defensive stalemate than anything else heading into the second quarter.
Both teams punted back and forth to each other leading into the second quarter, but it was Barnstable who struck paydirt first. After driving down to the Scituate 18-yard line, quarterback Eric Rogorzenski hit tight end Terrance Mudie for an 18 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good, but Barnstable enjoyed a 6-0 lead.
Scituate bounced back, however, and broke a long run down the sideline to the Bullets’ six-yard line. The next play, it appeared Barnstable got a lucky break when defensive tackle Andrew Ellis slammed the Scituate ball carrier and caused him to fumble. Linebacker Jake Kipnes scooped up the loose ball and Barnstable had regained control at the Stingray two-yard line.
Unfortunately, the break lasted but momentarily as Barnstable fumbled the ball back into Scituate’s hands on the ensuing play.
After a Barnstable interception was called back on a questionable pass interference call in the end zone, Scituate was able to punch the ball in and converted an extra point making the score Scituate 8 Barnstable 6.
Bolstered by momentum, Scituate got one more offensive try before the end of the first half and hit a nice pass for a touchdown of 35 yards. The hosts took a halftime lead of 14-6 into the lockeroom.
The third quarter proved to be a back-and-forth defensive struggle and ended with the score unchanged. The fourth quarter, however, was a different story.
Quarterabck Eric Rogorzenski got things rolling for the Bullets when he fired a deep pass to Mudie who ripped the ball away from the Scituate defender and outran everyone for a 58-yard touchdown to make it 14-12.
Rogorzenski then outran the defense to the corner of the end zone for the two-point PAT to tie it up at 14-14.
It was now time for the defense to make a big play. On second down with Scituate at its own 30, a shotgun snap went over the quarterback’s head. Defensive end Mudie made a smart play and knocked the quaterback away from the ball, thus allowing Jason Frieh to recover the ball for the Bullets on the Scituate 20-yard line.
Manny Perry and France then carried the load from there. On third and goal from the Scituate two-yard line, France finally punched the ball in for a touchdown to make it Barnstable 20, Scituate 14.
Rogorzenski then made an outstanding play on the extra point stiff arming a Scituate player and outrunning another before he flipped the ball into the end zone to end Mark Lambert for a big two-point conversion. Barnstable now had all the lead it would need to seal the deal at 22-14.
Perry led Barnstable in rushing with 50 yards and France with 20 and a touchdown. Mudie had 76 yards in receptions and two touchdowns. Rogrzenski and Lambert chipped in the extra points.
Defensively the Bullets where led by Ryan Litchman with 4.5 tackles, Mudie with 3.5 and a sack, Ellis with 3.5 tackles with a forced fumble and a recovered fumble, cornerback Connor Jones had 2.5 tackles and defensive end Bryan Hardy had 2.0 tackles. Frieh and Kipnes chipped in with one fumble recovery apiece.
Division 5 Pee Wees Fall to Scituate, 20-12
The Barnstable Division 5 Pee Wees fared better this week but still fell as Scituate topped the visitors by a score of 20-12.
Scituate's 11-year old running back, Geoffrey Stillman seemed to be too much for the Bullets’ defense as he scored two different two-point conversions and ran for five critical first downs. The Bullets’ offense had some great moments, notably a pitch from Joel Bess to Brendan Bindig who passed it to Bo Delaney for a 40-yard touchdown.
Bindig also ran back a kickoff for a touchdown in the first quarter. Cam Dixon also had a 20-yard run and Ryan Leonovich had several good carries as the Pee Wee’s tried desperately to make a comeback. The team will be ready to eager to take on Hanover next sunday to hopefully even their record at 2-2.
Division 1 Pee Wees Cap Off Rockland Sweep With Come-From-Behind Victory
Things did not look too great for the Division 1 Pee Wees last Sunday as Rockland aired it out and went deep to build a 12-6 halftime victory.
But after the half Barnstable was no longer in the mood to take a backseat to the gifted Rockland squad. For the next two quarters of football, Barnstable dominated, placing 20 unanswered points on the scoreboard to Rockland’s none. When the dust settled, Barnstable had won, 26-12.
Rockland got on the board first when it went deep and made it 6-0, but the two-point conversion was stuffed up the middle by linebackers Conor Walsh and Marcus Cunningham. The stop would prove critical as the game unfolded.
Barnstable then drove 65 yards to paydirt on the back of halfback Rob Stuart before Cunningham barreled into the end zone to tie it up at 6-6. Barnstable’s two-point conversion rush failed and Rockland quickly countered with another touchdown to make it 12-6.
The score remained 12-6 until the end of the first half.
In the second half, Barnstable took possession and did not relinquish the ball for nearly the duration of the third quarter.
led by Hayden Murphy at quarterback and the power backfield of Stuart, Cunningham, Walsh and Darien Kaski, Barnstable churned up yardage like there was no tomorrow, including a beautiful, self-sacrificing, 17-yard run on 4th and 3 by Kaski who was knocked out of the game when he was finally tackled.
Touchdowns were turned in by Murphy (two-yard rush), Stuart (seven-yard rush) and Derek Estes (12-yard pass completion).
The true game-winner came, however, in the third quarter.
After Murphy plunged into the end zone on a two-yard rush to tie the game at 12-12, tight end Nathan Yingling hit the back of the end zone where he was met with a nice Murphy pass for a successful two-point conversion to give Barnstable the lead at 14-12.
From there, touchdowns were added by Estes (on a nice Cunningham pass) and Stuart who received an incredibly deceptive and successful offensive block from tight end Jeremy Morton late in the fourth quarter.
The Barnstable defense was equally impressive in the second half, led by Brandon Wilkinson, Cunningham, Murphy, Mike Bilodeau, and Lee Hickey. Noah Johnson and Drew Lambert and Colby McWilliams also played well for on defense for Barnstable.
Cunningham led all barnstable tacklers with 4.5 on the day, followed by Wilkinson (2.5) and Bilodeau (2.5).
It was defensive lineman Joey Antosca, however, who truly shined forth as a beacon of bright light for the Silver Bullets’ defensive juggernaut.
Antosca turned in just 2.0 tackles, but one of them was a critical quarterback sack for a loss of 10 yards that truly put Rockland’s back against the wall late in the first half when it looked like one more Rockland score and Barnstable’s proverbail goose was cooked.
Division 1 Midgets Upset Rockland, 24-8
The Barnstable Silver Bullets Division1 Midgets continued their winning ways last Sunday at W. Leo Shields Memorial Field as they completely shellshocked the previously unbeaten Rockland team, 24-8. Rufus Hamilton was again the offensive star of the day, scoring two touchdowns on runs of 39 and 10 yards and totalling 101 yards rushing on the day.
Theo France added a one-yard touchdown plunge set up by his own beautiful 28-yard scamper. All tallied, France had 56 yards on 11 carries.
Quarterback D.J. Crook went 5-10 passing for 26 yards, including a pair of two-point PAt conversion passes. Tevin Hill had four receptions for 22 yards including one two-point PAT. Jeremy Hatstat also hauled one, two-point conversion pass from Crook.
The win upped the D-1 Midgets record to 2-1 as they head into this week’s home clash with archrival Marshfield.
The Barnstable defense was dominant, yielding only 24 yards of total offense to Rockland in the first half and only giving up a score in the fourth quarter when the game had been decided and reserves had taken the field.
Middle linebacker Everett Walsh led all Barnstable tacklers with 8.5 on the day including one sack, followed by Hamilton (5.0), cornerback Tevin Hill (4.0), Sam Holway (3.5, sack), Damian Johnson (2.0), Zach Stevens (2.0), D.J. Crook (2.0, sack), Chris Lawler (1.0), Kevin Hardy (1.0) and Theo France (1.0).
Crook also had a fumble recovery on a tackle made by Walsh.
Once again, the smallest man on the field, Kevin Hardy, was a standout with his aggressive tackling and pass defense. Quarterback D.J. Crook ran the offense with cool efficiency, clicking on short passes to Tevin Hill, who had four receptions that kept the chains moving for Barnstable.
Crook also had the option game rolling, especially in the second half, with gives to France, pitches to Hill and his own very effective keepers piling up yardage.
Hamilton got things rolling for the Bullets in the second quarter, Taking a pitchout from Crook and picking up a nice block by Everett Walsh, the speedy slotback streaked down the left sideline untouched from forty yards out. Crook then found Tevin Hill, who made a diving catch in the endzone for the two point conversion and a 8-0 halftime lead.
The Bullets added to their lead in the third quarter as Hamilton capped a good drive, again skirting around the left side, this time from 10 yards out. Jeremy Hatstat made a nice grab of Crook’s pass in the corner for the conversion and the 16-0 lead seemed to seal Rockland’s fate.
The Bullets began another scoring drive late in the third quarter, highlighted by the running of Theo France who finished the drive early in the fourth quarter from one yard out. Tevin Hill scored on the conversion to give Barnstable a comfortable 24-0 lead.
Barnstable’s Division 1 squads face Marshfield at home Sunday.
