Friday Night Lights: Can Red Raiders Turn The Corner Versus New Bedford?

Could this Friday night (Oct. 7) in the heart of The Whaling City be a brisk wind in Barnstable High School's football sails or a harpoon in its players' collective hearts?

Whatever the outcome may end up being, one thing's for certain, this game is always a battle to the final gun while it has also historically been perhaps the toughest road trip for the Red Raiders since they began locking horns with New Bedford High School some 83 autumns ago.

In a series that could have begun in Barnstable High School's first official football season in 1893, New Bedford was actually scheduled to make the long trek to Hyannis in November, but the Whalers never stepped off the train as some 400 or so Barnstable fans stood loyally waiting for the gridiron scrum to commence (according to www.redraiderpride.com ).

Thus, the next recorded game between the two teams, for all intents and purposes, happened on November 17, 1928. Barnstable had been 6-2 heading into that affair, but took a gut-wrenching, 33-6 pounding at the hands of its host. It was the first of 30 meetings between the Red & White and the Whalers over the course of the ensuing nine decades.

Yes, Barnstable has redeemed itself against this opponent, from time to time, but when looked at as a whole New Bedford has the clear upper hand, and even more so whenever Barnstable boards the bus and hits the road for the trip down Route 195. All totalled, New Bedford is 19-9-2 versus Barnstable and 13-3 when hosting the affair.

But can the Red Raiders cast a cold eye toward history? Can it learn from the distant and recent past in order to exorcise this apparent demon? Both teams stand at 2-2 on the still young season. Barnstable is coming off a record-setting effort against No. 1-ranked Everett, albeit a 34-21 loss. New Bedford hosted the tough-as-always Bridgewater-Raynham Trojans and fell at Dr. Paul F. Walsh Memorial Athletic Field, 21-14.

But BHS Senior quarterback D.J. Crook has made it his own personal history to rack up big numbers versus the Whalers and he is the only Red Raider quarterback to have defeated New Bedford twice.While he went just 7-14 for 100 yards and scored one touchdown in his rookie campaign in 2008, Crook ramped things up in 2009, going 21-45 for 339 yards and three TD passes.

Last year, Crook paced the Red & White in a 38-29 comeback win at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, going 11-21 for 288 yards, three TD passes and one score himself. Thus far, Crook is 39-80 lifetime versus the Whalers for 727 yards, six touchdown passes and two rushing TDs.

Those are numbers that cannot be ignored and with Crook at the helm, records seem to be dissipating into ether on a weekly basis.

Barnstable set school records in its season-opener versus Durfee, devouring its guest, 65-0; last week, BHS put up the most offensive yards it ever has in a single game (597). Even sophomore kicker Tommy Mullen has set new marks with most PAT kicks in a game (9-9) and most consecutive PAT kicks (20-20) in four games.

But New Bedford pummeled Wareham on opening day, 40-6. It also crushed Silver Lake 42-19. Last Saturday afternoon, just hours after many  fellow players exhausted their minds taking the SATs, Crook went at again going 32-58 in the air, tossing one interception and losing two fumbles but had 317 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. His attempts and completions also set new school marks.

Special teams tallied over 200 yards on returns. Senior tri-captain and running back Theo France turned in his third 100-yard plus running game with 141 yards on 19 carries. France now has 511 yards rushing in four games for BHS.

Crook's pair of touchdown passes - a 13-yarder to junior wideout Nick Peabody and another to Dylan Morris - tied him with Everett's John DiBiaso at 74 apiece. Both are scrambling quickly toward the all-time state record set by Brockton's Tommy Colombo (85).

But turnovers cost Barnstable dearly and the most important statistic of all went in favor of the guests, the Everett High School Crimson Tide, 34-21.

Meanwhile, at Walsh Field, New Bedford saw itself down 21-0 to the guest Bridgewater-Raynham Trojans before lightning-quick running back Marcel DePina churned up the natural turf with 141 yards, setting up quarterback Myles Medeiros for the scores.

Interesting. Both Barnstable and New Bedford last Saturday afternoon were down 21-0 before staging comebacks that fell just short. Both teams' running backs tallied 141 yards and neither one scored.

Can both teams' defenses hold down the fort come this Friday night? Whose offensive line will open the biggest holes or give quarterbacks the most time?

Literally weighing the pros versus the cons, New Bedford's offensive line holds the edge in terms of sheer size, averaging 230 pounds while Barnstable's offensive line - more of a finesse and speed conglomerate, has averaged, on a healthy week, about 217 pounds, anchored by arguably the best center in Southeastern Mass, Tommy Grimmer at center.

While Crook and France hold a definitive edge in the offensive backfield, with Crook's bevy of fleet-footed, sure-handed receivers Morris, Peabody, Hayden Murphy, Kadeem Bailey and Tedaro France, the New Bedford defensive secondary may give the visitors a run for their money, featuring Nate Goncalo.

Who knows for sure? Prognosticating high school football games can be a 50-50 enterprise at best, most weeks. Some folks thought New Bedford would manhandle B-R last week, while also predicting an Everett slaughter over the Red Raiders. In contrast, it was Barnstable's defensive unit that put a licking on Everett - with at least two of the Crimson Tide heading off the field via ambulance.

The truth is, anything can happen.

Harken back to the year 2000, when Barnstable went a mediocre 5-5. Playing at Walsh Field, notwithstanding its ho-hum win-loss record, Barnstable set a then record of 438 yards of offense - only New Bedford countered that attack with 460 yards of offense on its own. The end result? a 47-44 New Bedford win at home. It remains the highest-scoring game in Barnstable High School football history, 91 points in total. 

In that affair, Clinton Brown was a one-man wrecking crew on the ground, rushing for 295 yards and four touchdowns. It was, and still is, the third-greatest individual rushing performance in Red Raider history.

Last season, New Bedford quarterback Medeiros paced his Whalers to a 22-16 lead at halftime at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, but Crook opened things up a bit in the second half, as well he can do, ultimately leading to 432 total yards of offense, including 130-yards plus to then senior Matt Delaney and 151 yards and two TDs on the ground to Dennis Reddy. The final tally was a 38-29 Red Raider win.

Perhaps the answer to New Bedford's historic stranglehold over Barnstable is Crook himself. Twice in the past three seasons the best-passing quarterback in BHS history has led the Red & White to victory over the Whalers. He is the only Red Raider quarterback in school history to have defeated New Bedford twice. While Barnstable defeated the Whalers in 2002, 2003 and 2004, it nevertheless used three different QBs to do so in Greg Hill, Mike Hebenstreit and lastly, Kevin Riley.

But no Barnstable quarterback can really compare to Crook in terms of sheer statistical prowess. Few in Eastern Mass can, even his Everett arch-nemesis, DiBiaso. Crook has accumulated 7,774 yards passing, 74 touchdown passes and is 557-976 passing lifetime (36.33%), while DiBiaso just eclipsed the 5,000-yards passing tableau last Saturday while in opposition to Crook. The duo is tied for TD passes at 74.

Whichever way one slices it, football is a numbers game and in high school football, the numbers can sometimes be downright gaudy in contrast to collegiate or professional ranks. Will these two teams stick to their usual game plans or pull new tricks out of their bags? Will special teams dynamo Tedaro France rack up another 216 all-purpose yards like he did last week against an unsuspecting Everett defense?

Both teams will prepare. Both teams will pour over game films. The Lombardian bravado will resonate in the locker rooms. Chests will be thumped. Tempers will flare and tendons will stretch and twist in a hard week of practice before the lights at Walsh Field get flipped on and the airhorns sound and the bleachers rumble under foot.

Whomever wins this one, it is likely, will have earned it.