Red Raiders Complete Perfect Season With Falmouth Win

By: Tom Moran Jr.
Published: 11/23/12

And now there are four.

The 2012 Barnstable High football team became only the fourth Red Raider team to finish its regular season with a perfect record after running its record to 10-0 with a 39-14 Thanksgiving Day win over Falmouth in the 125th meeting of the longtime archrivals at Leo Shields Field.

The final score was not indicative of the action on the field as the Clippers gave the Red Raiders all they could handle in a very competitive first half before the home team broke the game open with a three-touchdown third quarter.

The Red Raiders joined the 1898 (4-0), 1951 (9-0) and 1995 (11-0) BHS clubs to finish their seasons with perfect records and became just the fifth BHS team to finish an undefeated season with the 1907 team (6-0-1) being the other unbeaten.

The holiday win over the Clippers was the fourth straight for the Red Raiders and pushed their record in the rivalry to 60-57-8.

The Clippers won the toss and chose to receive but could not get anything going and punted the ball over to the Red Raiders, who put together a 10-play scoring drive that ended with quarterback Nick Peabody connecting with wideout Manny Perry on a 13-yard touchdown toss with 4:32 gone in the game.

An 18-yard pickup on a toss play to Perry and a 14-yard run by halfback Hayden Murphy were the key plays in the drive.

On the scoring play, the Clippers put good pressure on Peabody but he scrambled his way out of harm’s way before finding a wide-open Perry in the right flat.

Dereck Pacheco booted the extra point and the Red Raiders had themselves the 7-0 lead.

The Clippers answered their hosts in kind as they took the ensuing kickoff and marched 78 yards in 13 plays in a drive that used up the remaining time in the first quarter and a little over a minute of the second.

Halfback Ron Zampani was the workhorse for the Clippers, carrying the ball on seven different occasions and picking up three first downs.

The big play of the drive was a 47-yard pass to Chris Ferraro and the drive came to a very successful conclusion when Clipper quarterback Jack’ORourke hit tightend Darion Bartibouge with a six-yard touchdown pass.

Bartibouge then kicked the PAT, pulling the Clippers into a 7-7 tie with 1:01 gone in the second quarter.

Both defenses then got stingy as the Clippers and Red Raiders exchanged punts but the second BHS punt wound up making quite a difference.

After his previous punt covered just five yards, BHS punter Ryan Litcham got off a beauty with the ball rolling dead at the Falmouth 3.

The Clippers were unable get out of the shadow of their own goalposts and the resulting punt and a 12-yard return by Tedaro France put the Barnstable offense back in business at the Falmouth 37 with 2:01 left in the half.

France got the Red Raiders close with a 15-yard pass reception and a 19-yard run before Peabody scored from three yards out, putting Barnstable back on top 13-7 with 1:34 left in the half.

The PAT kick was wide left and that same margin was in place when the teams went to the locker rooms at the half.

The Red Raiders went right back after the Clippers when the third quarter got underway, taking the kickoff and using just 1:16 to find their way back into the Falmouth endzone.

Murphy (13 carries, 146 yards) got the five-play, 56-yard drive off to a good start, rumbling around the right side for a 36-yard gain.

A 14-yard reception by Perry gave the Red Raiders a first-and-goal at the Falmouth six-yard line and Peabody upped the Barnstable lead to 19-7, firing a strike to a wide-open Dylan Morris for the touchdown at the 8:44-mark of the third quarter.

Barnstable’s defensive unit then forced the Clippers into a three-and-out and even a 51-yard punt by Bartibougue wasn’t enough to slow down the Red Raiders.

Faced with a third-and-12, wideout James Burke got the Red Raiders out of their own end, latching onto a Peabody aerial for a 46 yard gain and a BHS first down at the Falmouth 36.

The next play looked like a TD pass to Burke but a Barnstable penalty negated the score.

That setback proved to be momentary as Peabody found France on a 37-yard touchdown pass with 3:48 left in the quarter to expand the lead to 25-7.

Although the pass was officially 37 yards, France needed more than 80 to get into the endzone, making the catch by the left sideline before breaking back all the way across the field for the touchdown, outracing three FHS defenders on his way to paydirt.

The Red Raiders struck again just :61 later after the Red Raiders’ John Hardy recovered a Falmouth fumble on the kickoff.

Putting the ball in play at the Falmouth 34, a 17-yard run by Murphy and a five-yard pass reception by Burke, France scooted the final 12 yards for the touchdown.

Pacheco’s PAT kick gave the Red Raiders a 32-7 lead.Barnstable added its final touchdown in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter when backup QB Kristian Lucashensky galloped 18 yards for the score to cap a three-play, 45-yard drive.

Pacheco tacked on the extra point and the Barnstable lead crested at 39-7.

The Clippers countered with a scoring drive of their own with a pass reception by Ferraro and a nine-yard run by Zampani setting the stage for O’Rourke’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Devon Green.

The screen pass worked to perfection as Green got behind the onrushing defenders raced down the right sideline for the score after which Bartibouge’s PAT kick put the score at its final margin.

The Red Raiders didn’t put up big numbers but they were pretty efficient on offense with Peabody (9-15, 164 yard, two passing TDs, one rushing), France (four catches 83 yards and a touchdown, two rushes, 20 yards and touchdown) Perry (four receptions, 36 yards and a touchdown), Morris (two catches 13 yards and a touchdown) and Lucashensky (two carries, 18 yards and a touchdown) combining to help the Red Raiders notch their 10th victory of the season.

The Red Raiders also got a solid effort from the defensive unit (although linebacker Andrew Ellis had his three-game interception streak snapped), with lineman Jason Frieh, John Eldredge, DJ Gonsalves and Pacheco and linebackers Ellis, Litchman, Bryan Hardy and Marcus Cunningham keeping the Falmouth offense in check for most of the game.

Leading the Clippers on the day were Zampani with 19 carries good for 65 yards, Green with 50 yards rushing and 59 yards receiving with a touchdown and O’Rourke, who completed seven of 10 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown.Bartibogue also deserves a word or two of praise after catching a touchdown pass, kicking both PATs and coming through with several long-distance punts.

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