RallyNorth.net

Sat, Sep 29, 2007 02:00 PM @ Barnstable

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Gloucester	0	7	7	14	28
Barnstable	7	7	0	6	20

Gloucester's big second half leads to win over Barnstable

Sunday, September, 30 By Nick Curcuru
Correspondent

HYANNIS | After Saturday's game against Barnstable, the Gloucester football players gathered at mid-field and chanted, "Second half team."

The Fishermen proved that they were indeed a second half team, bouncing back from a sloppy first half to defeat the Red Raiders 28-20 at Barnstable High School.

Gloucester scored 21 second half points, capped off by Dylan Morrissey's blocked punt that was recovered by Ross Carlson and returned 30 yards for a touchdown.

With the win the Fishermen improved to 4-0, and will have to travel to Swampscott on Saturday (2:30 p.m.). Barnstable dropped to 1-3 with the loss.

"This was an overall team effort," Fishermen captain and running back Andrew Fulford said. "We came out in the second half and wanted it more, and we made the plays we needed to win."

Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram expressed how proud he was of his team, and how well they handled a two-hour bus ride from Cape Ann to Cape Cod.

"I'm very proud of the second half," Ingram said. "We played with a lot of enthusiasm and passion. It's tough to come this far and play well. Barnstable is a good team and a proud program. I knew they would give us a fight."

The Fishermen did not start off the game the way they would have liked to. Barnstable took a 7-0 lead on their first drive when halfback Pat Fulham raced 47 yards past the Fishermen defense. Barnstable took a 14-0 lead with 1:26 left in the first half, when quarterback John Gomes connected with Fulham for a 36-yard score. At that point in the game, the Fishermen offense had fumbled twice and turned the ball over on downs three times, while mustering up 56 yards of total offense.

"We never turn the ball over like that," Ingram said.

Gloucester gained momentum late in the second half by putting together a three-play, 60-yard drive in 31 seconds. Anthony Enderle got the drive going with a 37-yard scamper. The drive was then culminated by Fulford's 6-yard touchdown run. Still the Fishermen found themselves down 14-7 at the half.

After receiving the second half kickoff, the Fishermen took control of the game putting together a 12-play, 54-yard drive that took 6:30 off the clock. Brian Harnish got into the end zone at the end of the drive to tie the game at 14. Gloucester would then force a three-and-out and drive another 73 yards to take a 21-14 lead. Taylor Burbine made the big play of the drive with a 64-yard run on third-and-13. Fulford capped off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing Red Raider drive the Fishermen put the game away when Carlson scored on Morrissey's blocked punt making it 28-14. Barnstable would put together one last scoring drive with 15 seconds left in the game to make it 28-20.

Despite the loss, Barnstable head coach Paul "Spanky" Demanche was happy with the effort his team turned in.

"You're never happy with a loss but we showed a lot of heart and fought to the end," Demanche said. "They were a little bigger and stronger in the second half, and they wore us down."

Burbine led the Fishermen rushing attack with 78 yards on six carries. Fulford brought his season touchdown total to 12.

Barnstable was crippled when two of their captains, fullback Jordan Looby and tight end Drew Sifflard left the game due to injury early in the second half. Both Ingram and Demanche admitted that the injuries had an effect on the game, but Demanche would not use it as an excuse.

"The injuries hurt but that is no excuse," Demanche said. "We gave them our best early, but in the end they stopped us and scored when they needed to most."