B-R Trojans Steamroll Red Raiders, 49-20

It truly was the game that “could have been.”

Standing at 0-5 on the season for the first time since 1975, the Red Raiders came into Friday night’s Old Colony League match-up with vaunted archrival Bridgewater-Raynham with redemption and a league title on its mind. That redemption almost came to pass when junior punt-returner Nathan Balthazard scooped up a tipped Trojan punt at the Red Raider 49-yard line and blazed past every B-R defender into paydirt to make it 14-12 with 4:34 left in the second quarter. Senior placekicker Akeem McPherson’s Pat kick was good and Barnstable was staring at a 14-13 score, down by a single digit.

On the ensuing B-R possession with a 3rd and 9 situation, BHS junior Brener DeSouza ensnared a tipped Matt Clement pass at the 25-yard line and raced 10 yards before being brought down. Staged for the lead and with momentum on its side, Barnstable senior running back DeMichael Johnson took a 1st and 10 handoff and bolted up the gut to the B-R 9-yard line. On 2nd and 2 from the Trojan nine, junior quarterback Griffin Burke threw a lateral pass that was dropped and deemed a fumble that B-R recovered, much to its collective, delighted surprise.

And that was basically all she wrote for the host Red Raiders.

While Barnstable’s Burke did score his first touchdown of the season in the third quarter, B-R would take that fumble recovery and rattle off another 35 points through the closing stanza of the game. B-R’s victory earned it the undisputed Old Colony League championship title and it was the first time in four years that the Trojans have defeated the Red Raiders. Burke finished the night 4-12 passing for 85 yards and an interception.

Barnstable’s Johnson, though, could not be to blame for this loss. The senior running back turned in his best performance of the season, carrying the ball 14 times for 142 yards and a touchdown, including a 64-yard run that put Barnstable in position to score its first touchdown of the game.

Bridgewater-Raynham’s running back, Shawn Noel, however, was virtually unstoppable. The speedy sophomore carried the ball 20 times for 152 yards rushing and three touchdowns to pace the B-R offensive attack.

Matt Reagan, Justin Finlayson and Alex Smith also scored for the Trojans. Sophomore kicker George Lampros connected for seven PAT kicks.