The Everett Crimson Tide Outlasts Barnstable

Some football pundits called for a Barnstable High School victory.

Many high school football aficionados called for a complete slaughter. The simple truth at the culmination of this 34-21 affair was that the host Barnstable High School Red Raiders' football team never gave up, while the visiting and victorious Everett High School Crimson Tide never gave in.

When the dust finally settled, so to speak, the visitors boarded their coach buses with yet another feather in their cap, while the hosts jogged to the locker room with a sense of "close, but no cigar." At the end, Everett High School stood tall at 4-0, while Barnstable fell to 2-2 on the season.

Everett never truly relinquished command of this non-league affair as senior quarterback John DiBiaso ran his talented troops up and down the host Barnstable turf to a 21-0 lead before the Red Raiders finally struck pay-dirt in the third quarter with a D.J. Crook 13-yard pass to junior wide receiver Nick Peabody with 0:19 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

But it was too little, too late.

All totalled, Crook would finish the night going 32-58 in passing with two touchdown throws for 317 yards in the air, but his two interceptions (his first two this season) and two lost fumbles cost the Red & White dearly as Everett capitalized and had enough depth on the sidelines to fill in when its key players went down. On at least four occasions, injury timeouts were called throughout the game with Everett players either being carried off by teammates or limping off of their own volition. While the end result may have shown Everett the victor, Barnstable may have made the visitors pay a heavy price for the win. 

Still, Barnstable's offensive statistics were not poor by any stretch of the imagination. Crook set new school records for most passing attempts in a single game (58) and most completions in a game (32).

In fact, kick and punt returner Tedaro France virtually ran amok through a gauntlet of Crimson Tide defenders throughout the evening. France tallied three kickoff returns for 104 yards, topped off with a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown with just 0:58 remaining in the fourth quarter that whittled the score down to 34-21, after sophomore placekicker Tom Mullen's third PAT boot of the night. France tallied 198 all-purpose yards in a stalwart effort (he had a 20-yard punt return at 5:18 of the 2nd quarter and a -1 yard on a rush earlier in the game).

Mullen is now an unblemished 20-20 on PAT kicks this season, a continuation of his school record. Mullen shattered the BHS school record for most consecutive PAT kicks on opening day versus Durfee, going 9-9. He also has the most-ever consecutive PAT kicks for a Red Raider (20-20) and before this season is over may hold the record for most PAT kicks in a season as well as most PAT kicks in a career.

While DiBiaso went 19-29 with 229 yards and four touchdowns on the night and one interceptions - ending the night in a tie with opposing quarterback Crook with 74 career TD passes - Crook threw, as mentioned, for 317 yards but also threw two picks. Barnstable running back Theo France, Tedaro's older brother and one of the Red Raiders' tri-captains, carried the ball 19 times for 141 yards, but it was the first game this season he has not scored.

Barnstable had touchdowns from Peabody, junior wideout Dylan Morris, and the aforementioned 75-yard punt return to glory from Tedaro France.

Everett Stays Focused, While Barnstable Never Relents

Barnstable won the coin toss and opted to receive to open this rare, on-Cape Saturday afternoon high school football tilt.

But it ended with a Tom Mullen 39-yard field goal attempt (just his second field goal attempt of the season, 0-2) that was shy of the uprights, giving the guests the ball on their own 22-yard line.

DiBiaso went to work, quickly, with running back Kenny Calaj his main target, but 14 plays later in the first quarter, Everett was forced to punt by a stingy Barnstable defense led by seniors Sam Holway (six tackles) and Josiah Dulak. Barnstable picked up the ball at its own six-yard line, and was three and out with senior Devin Broadley punting out of bounds to the Barnstable 30.

Everett's collective chops were drooling with a taste of paydirt and field position.

DiBiaso handed the rock off to Calaj who quickly tore off 16 yards to the BHS 14-yard-line, followed by another run for 13 yards just inches from the goal line. On 1st and goal, DiBiaso then drilled 6'2" senior wide receiver Ralph Jonathis for the game's first score to make it 6-0. Gilly DeSouza's PAT kick was good and the Crimson Tide led 7-0, a lead it would never relinquish.

In spite of Tedaro France's 32-yard kickoff return on the ensuing boot, Barnstable would rip off eight offensive plays before opting to punt once more, a move mainly prompted by Everett's Jay White sacking BHS quarterback D.J. Crook for a loss of 15 yards on a 2nd and six situation. Interestingly, Everett found itself  in the same situation when the Red Raider's rough-and-tumble defensive lineman Jason Frieh sacked DiBiaso for a four-yard loss, ultimately precipitating a punt on fourth and 10.

Including France's stellar kick and punt return performance, Barnstable totalled 597 yards of offense on the night. France also had three receptions for 18 yards giving him a grand total of 216 yards on the evening. Crook's 317 yards gives him 952 passing yards in just four games. Everett's DiBiaso surpassed the 5,000-yards passing career mark last night while Crook stands at 7,774 career passing yards.

A 50-yard punt by Everett may have been enough to put BHS on its heels, but a block-in-the-back flag against the Red & White proved worse. In spite of Crook completions to Theo France and Hayden Murphy, each for 14-yard gains, a trio of incompletions and an interception by Everett in the end zone proved the first of four costly Red Raider turnovers. It was also Crook's first interception of the 2011 campaign.

Barnstable seemed primed to turn things around. Frieh sacked DiBiaso once again, this time on 2nd and 7 and Tedaro France returned an Everett punt for 20 yards. Again, Crook went to work.

At his own 47-yard line, Crook nailed Peabody for a 4-yard completion, followed by a 14-yard rush from Theo France, a 19-yard-completion to Peabody, a two-yard keeper and then a 10-yard completion to Morris.

Poised on his own five-yard line, though, Crook opted to keep the next one and got hammered deep in the backfield as the Barnstable fans watched, in collective dismay, as Everett's defense swarmed the senior QB, stopped him cold and caused him to fumble as the ball was scooped up at the 15-yard line and rushed 85-yards the other way to make it 13-0, 14-0 after the PAT kick by DeSouza with 1:47 left in the half.

But poised under pressure, and unwilling to relent to Everett's momentum, Crook went to work with his offense and ran off 11 plays before again taking it himself to the outside lane, only to be met violently enough to cause another lost fumble. it would prove the final play of the half, with guest Everett, leading 14-0.

Everett's coaching staff may have seen a weakness in the Barnstable defensive unit during its pow-wow at the intermission, because it took QB DiBiaso and crew just five plays before it scored again, this time a DiBiaso to Jakarrie Washington 24-yard-strike in the end zone to make it 20-0 at the 9:05 mark of the third stanza. DeSouza's PAT kick was good and the score was Everett, 21, Barnstable, 0.

But the "Little Engine That Could" Tedaro France tore off a 25-yard kickoff return to put BHS at its own 40, in prime position to make a run for it. Still, BHS could not make it happen, going for it on an eventual 4th and 13, to no avail. Everett then went three and out and punted to the Red Raider 19-yard-line. Crook went to work again, but again the Everett defense stymied the senior captain's efforts.

A solid punt from Broadley, combined with a vicious and adept open-field tackle by junior linebacker Bryan Hardy on Broadley's punt, may have placed a tiny seed of doubt in Everett's collective hearts as BHS senior Jeremy Hatstat hauled in a tipped pass (by junior linebacker Terrence Mudie, pronounced M-You-Dee) for an interception.

Crook went to work at the 32-yard-line, but two quick incompletions left the Red & White at 3rd and 10. No worries, Crook hit Morris for a 16-yard gain (Morris had 9 receptions on the night for 105 yards and a TD) for the first down. Theo France then zig-zagged through the Everett secondary for a gain of 27 yards on the ground. Murphy then reeled in a Crook offering for a gain of eight yards. Theo France followed with a two-yard rush, Peabody ensnared a Crook pass for a gain of five and then topped that one off with a nifty, pylon-diving grab in the end zone to make it 21-6. Mullen drilled the PAT boot through the uprights to make it 21-7 (his first of the night) and the hometown fans, Barnstable High School Marching Band, Color Guard and Varsity Cheerleaders whooped it up with hope and delirium.

Oh, but the southpaw, gunslinging DiBiaso would have none of that.

Instead, the senior QB, marching step-by-step with opponent Crook toward the Massachusetts high school all-time touchdown passing record (Tom Colombo, Brockton, 85), rattled off pass after pass from his own 37-yard-line until hitting Calaj for 25, then Washington for a simple one-yarder to make it 27-7.

Time to give up? Heck no, said an overachieving Barnstable High School defense, in truth led by the stocky, fiery, human butcher block Jason Frieh who blocked DeSouza's PAt attempt with yet another of his acrobatic, selfless dives.

But the momentum shift was short-lived. Barnstable eventually gave up the ball, only to give it to DiBiaso who again rattled off pass completion after completion until finding Vondell Langston all alone at the 5:09 mark of the third quarter. DeSouza's kick was good and Everett licked its chops, ready to leave Hyannis with victory in hand at 34-7.

But DeSouza was apparently hobbled from the previous Frieh onslaught, thus, Everett opted to replace him at placekicker, for the time being, for the ensuing kickoff. It proved a key moment, once again instigated by the scrappy Frieh. Using a replacement kicker, Everett's ensuing boot went about 12 yards with junior Ryan Litchman receiving it cleanly at the 41-yard-line.

Instead of airing it out, as fans may have expected would be the only solution to the huge deficit, Barnstable's braintrust opted for the run, with Theo France speedlining runs of 29 and 13 yards before Crook found a diving Morris for six points. Mullen's PAT kick was good and the score was 34-14. It was almost as if the Red Raider fans were watching a different, more confident team, even with the deficit being 19 points.

It appeared no person wearing Barnstable Red & White was ready to cash in for the night.

Instead, Mullen topped an onside kick down the middle, which his BHS teammates recovered and the momentum shift toward the hosts became almost palpable. Crook hit Morris for a gain of 23 yards. Theo France ran it up the gut for a gain of three. Crook hit Morris again for a gain of nine, then a gain of five and it seemed, momentarily, like the Crook-Morris Show.

But then, on the opposite sideline, Crook turned right to find Peabody open for a gain of seven yards and then Murphy jaunted on his second carry of the night for a gain of five yards. The movement of the football downfield by the Red & White seemed electrified.

But the reality of the amount of time left in the game, boldly displayed on the scoreboard, set in.

With just 2:02 left in the game, faced with a 4th and six on the Everett 11-yard line, Crook threw up a prayer to the left end zone corner only to see it intercepted. The din of the home crowd petered to a low-hush. Fans from the opposing side began to exit. The cheers came to an abrupt halt. Empty Coke cans cling-clanged against the aluminum bleachers in a tin-sounding, seeming song of defeat.

As impossible as a comeback may have seemed, though, one fact could not be disputed: faced with enormous odds at defeating its guests, a team that has been in 12 of the last 15 Super Bowls and won seven of them, Barnstable did not relent to Everett in this affair. Some said the game was a preview of this year's Division 1A Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium in December. Some have said Barnstable is the "best" team in the state. Some have said that this is the strongest BHS team in the past four or five years.

For Tedaro France, a spritely, well-built, stoic young man of few words, though, none of the ambience or bravado that filled W. Leo Shields Memorial Field on this crisp, October 1st evening, mattered much at all.

With the game in hand and the score insurmountable when measured against the amount of time left in the game, France took an Everett punt at the 25-yard line and chose to esconce his name squarely in the BHS record books as he fiddled, diddled, spun and ran like Mercury himself to glory some 75 yards downfield. It was a performance worth remembering and it was one that shall not soon be forgotten by any of those who witnessed it. While France's unlikely touchdown score with just 0:58 left may have mattered little in light of the hometown loss, it mattered much in the collective hearts of those who don the Barnstable Red & White. It was a moment as uplifting as any seen in recent memory in Hyannis or anywhere in between.

Whatever the case may be, the truth is that 2011 version of the Red & White -- in this 119th campaign on the Hyannis gridiron -- did not give up. It did not relent. And it most certainly did not believe a single word of anything anyone said or says or thinks or feels. Instead, its players believed in themselves and they did not for one second doubt that they belonged on the same field as those who stood against them.

Nor did its visitor, the Everett Crimson Tide.