Chronicle Sports - Oct. 16, 2008

CHRONICLE SPORTS

CAPE TECH FOOTBALL | HARWICH-CHATHAM GOLF

Starting Strong

Cape Tech/Harwich Puts The Brakes On Bishop Connolly In Mayflower Large League Opener

PLEASANT LAKE — Derek White and the Cape Tech/Harwich football team were out to show Bishop Connolly that the Mayflower Large is not a league to be taken lightly.

By sundown on Saturday, the Cougars got the message.

Switching from a spread passing attack to a Power-I running game, CT/H scored 15 points in the second half and came away with a 22-6 smash-mouth victory over BC in the first-ever meeting between the schools.

Handy Man. CT/H defensive lineman knocks down a pass by Bishop Connolly’s Kyle Bolarinho. The Crusaders held the Cougar’s signal caller to 1-of-11 passing in Saturday’s 22-6 win over BC. ERIC ADLER PHOTO

CT/H moves to 3-2 (1-0 league) and over the .500 mark for the first time this season. BC, which played in the Eastern Athletic Conference in its previous six seasons as a varsity club, drops to 0-4 (0-3 league).

“They didn’t like their league because they were getting beat up, so they said let’s go to the Mayflower Large,” speculated White, who doubles as the team’s fullback and defensive end. “They figured it might be easier here, maybe we can win. We said no. No way.”

The Crusaders didn’t give their new foes from Fall River any indication things would be tougher, turning the ball over three times in the first half. But the hosts looked like a totally different team after the break, putting together two end-over-end scoring drives, while limiting the Cougars to six total yards in the second half.

Tough-as-nails quarterback Mike Hamilton ran 19 times for 96 yards and a score and threw for another despite playing most of the game with a painful hip-pointer, and Ali Pierre had a TD and one of Tech’s three interceptions.

“This win was humongous, and we’ve finally established ourselves and what we can do as a team,” said Hamilton. “We didn’t know if we had a running game or a passing game, but we’ve come to realize we have both. There’s no team that can stop me, Ali, Derek, Matt [Farraher] and Taylor [Inkley]. They can’t stop us all.”

It seemed the only team that could stop CT/H was the Crusaders themselves, and they did a dynamite job of doing that when a punt snap sailed over Hamilton’s head on the game’s opening series.

That miscue set up a first-and-goal for BC, which capitalized with a seven-yard scoring strike from Kyle Bolarinho to Marc Ryan.

After CT/H fumbled inside the red zone on its next drive, it seemed as though the Crusaders were in for a long afternoon. But overcoming slow, sloppy starts – as Tech did in last week’s comeback win over West Bridgewater – is something the team has learned how to do.

“The kids knew not to get down on themselves,” Cape Tech/Harwich coach Dave Currid said. “They knew there was a lot of game still left to play.”

Particularly Pierre.

The senior receiver took a handoff and swept around the left end before cutting back against the grain on an electrifying 50-yard run to pay dirt in the closing minute of the first quarter. White, who blocked BC’s PAT, split the uprights for the 7-6 CT/H lead.

But neither that score, nor ensuing interceptions by Mike Brigham and Ron Simons, could spark the Crusaders, who managed just 61 yards in the first half.

What did was the change to the “Super-I” big backfield set that served the Crusaders so well during their 10-2 Super Bowl season in 2006.

After forcing a three-and-out after the intermission, CT/H drove downfield with nine straight running plays before Hamilton, even with his mobility at a minimum, fooled the defense with a 19-yard play-action pass to tight end Noah Rosen for the 14-6 late third quarter lead.

“I got a rush of adrenaline and was able to forget about my hip on that play,” said Hamilton. “Noah asked to run the power pass and he adjusted his route to get behind the safety.”

The Crusaders topped that drive with an even better one, and by far, their most impressive of the season.

The six-foot-three, 285-pound White (35 yards on five carries) moved the chains with two fourth down runs, the latter of which set up Hamilton’s eight-yard TD run, capping a 15-play, 62-yard march that began on the final play of the third quarter and left just 2:26 to play.

“I really couldn’t run and I couldn’t leave the pocket, which is where the receivers and I are most dangerous,” said Hamilton. “So I gave it to the horses and they hammered it home.”

Hamilton, the holder on the extra point, put the final nail in the coffin when he summoned the strength to sweep around the right end for the 22-6 lead on a play that surprised the Cougars as much as the Crusaders.

“That wasn’t a designed fake,” said Hamilton. “Derek looked tired and had gotten his bell rung, so I called ‘fire’ (the audible for a pass). No one heard me, no one was open, so I headed for the goal line and lowered my shoulder like my older brother James always tells me to do.”

Pierre cemented the win when he picked off an up-for-grabs pass with 1:41 remaining, ending a dreadful day for Bolarinho, who completed just one of his 11 passes.

“We expected them to be run, run, run, but the day before the game, [defensive] coach [Ron] Cournoyer said, let’s practice spread, because you never know, and sure enough, they ran spread the entire game,” said Hamilton.

CT/H made sure they didn’t run it well, holding BC to just 35 total yards and only one first down over the final two quarters.

“We didn’t do so hot in the first half, but we realized what we needed to do in the second half, which was hit them right between the eyes,” said White.

It’ll take two complete halves, however, to keep pace in the always competitive Mayflower Large League that currently features a pair of 2-0 teams in Martha’s Vineyard and Blue Hills, and South Shore Voke (4-1), which opens league play when its hosts CT/H next week.

“We know we can do big things and we’re expecting big things this year,” said Hamilton. “So getting the first league win is what we needed to get rolling.”

Chatham Golf Team Strokes Its Way To Another Successful Season

by Eric Adler

CHATHAM — Life on the links was a successful one for the Chatham golf team last year. They went 14-2 and met their annual goal of making the MIAA south sectional tournament. Still, something was missing – a Mayflower League championship.

Chatham's Thomas Bryce sinks a put at Eastward Ho! ERIC ADLER PHOTO

That title is now within reach provided the Blue Devils (12-4-1, 9-2 at the start of the week) can defeat Diman Voke today (Thursday) in their Mayflower League finale, which would give them a share of the banner with Sacred Heart.

“The key is that the kids have been practicing well and working hard,” second-year coach Jim Rondeau said. “They’re a dedicated bunch, and with the exception of the occasional illness, they don’t miss practice or matches.

“Expectations coming into this season were high but we’ve exceeded them,” added Rondeau. “That’s because we’re playing a much more difficult schedule this year, such as Harwich, Mashpee, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. We’ve run the gamut and put teams away who we should have, tied the close ones, and been beaten soundly in a couple of matches.”

While scores have fluctuated (Rondeau said the team has played up against better competition and down against lower tier teams), the Blue Devils have carried a low 40s average.

Leading the way is junior Ben Gless (38.5 average) and senior Tommy Bryce (40 average), the team’s number one and two, respectively, followed by Jeff Eldredge, Calvin Sutton, Sean Brady and Sam Kenneway.

“Ben plays as much as possible and excels everywhere. There’s no weaknesses to his game,” Rondeau said. “Tommy has made a lot of improvement, and Jeff and Calvin, who were my number seven and eight last year, prove they belong in third and fourth slots. Sean and Sam have been a pleasant surprise and held their own.”

The Blue Devils have only lost once on their home course, and while golf teams are typically stronger on their home turf, hitting the fairways and sinking putts are no piece of cake at Chatham’s seaside links.

“You have to play target golf at Eastward Ho!” said Rondeau. “You have to hit long, straight drives and place your shots well, otherwise you’re going to be in trouble, even on the first hole.”

Playing their home course, as much as their opponents, has helped to fortify Chatham, which will bring its six starters to the south sectional tournament at Bayberry Hills in West Yarmouth next week in hopes of qualifying for state competition, which the team narrowly missed out on last year.

The Blue Devils graduate three seniors from this year’s team, but the future of the perennially strong program looks bright.

“My second six – Chris Nickerson, Reid Learned, Kevin Slade, Tommy Rador, Steve McCarty and Nick Wilkins – have been strong,” added Rondeau. “They’ve been practicing diligently, have come along well, and I’m counting on them for next year.”

Across town, it’s been a trying season for the Harwich golf team (4-12), which has posted two wins over Carver and one over Sturgis and Cape Cod Academy.

“Record wise, we’re not doing that well, but it’s not for a lack of effort,” Harwich golf coach Gordon Napier said. “The depth just isn’t there, we only have seven guys on the team. We lost Greg Flemming to Cape Cod Academy, and we had a couple of freshmen who were going to play but went out for football instead. They’re both in slings now, so hopefully next year we’ll get them back.”

The good news is that the Rough Riders are a junior-laden squad and are gaining valuable experience, which should bode well for the future.

Co-captains Billy Martin and Chris Walkley have provided good leadership at the first and second slots, said Napier, who noted that Max Van Dyck, Eric Raneo, Joe Rae (at the three, four and five spots, respectively), and freshmen Ben DeSouza and Colin Hamilton, have all made big strides since the season started.

“They all have their different talents, but boys being boys, they like to take their driver out and blast the ball as far as they can,” said Napier. “Then they get stuck in the woods, they can’t get out, and next thing you know they’ve lost the hole by a stroke. I try to remind that that getting the ball down the middle of the fairway is as important as 150 yards in. The kids are doing better at that and are also working hard with their irons, wedges and putters.”

Harwich has a history of producing teams that have both won and lost with grace, but few compare to the current group.

“In my five years with the team, this is my favorite team so far,” said Napier. “The attitudes are amazing, they’re working hard at their game, and when we’ve had clinics with [golf pros] Brian Hamilton at Eastward Ho! and Dennis Hoye at our course, Cranberry Valley, the kids have been very attentive to learning.”

10/16/08