September 21, 2023 By Kevin Riordan
On a sunny home opener in front of a cheering crowd the 7th graders completed their second shutout by defeating Brockton 31-0. The defense took control and won this game, which is saying a lot considering their offense put up 31 points. The Raiders did not give up a single first down on Sunday. On the opening series LB’s Daniel Lovendale and John Peterson shut down the run to force a quick punt as Hingham took over at midfield. Following his blockers Frank Cavagnaro and Frank Conway, (RB) Evan Tomasello darted around the edge for a 23 yard carry and a first down. With Brockton anticipating another run, (QB) Hudson Garrity faked the handoff and rolled right finding a wide open Shamus Devine for a 32 yard touchdown pass and an early 6-0 lead.
The defense continued to press as Denny Costello and Duncan Wilder tackled the Brockton runner for a loss forcing them to punt. Leveraging his long wing span, Costello blocked the punt which was recovered at the 16 yard line. On offense (RB) Jack Hart ran off tackle blocks from Will Berkeley and Will Taylor for a first down. Under center (QB) Garrity took the snap from Frank Conway and on a play-action darted outside for a 16 yard touchdown to make the score 12-0 late in the 1st quarter. Back on defense (LB) Mason Aframe, Teddy Lovendale and Shamus Devine tackled the runner for loss and forced a Brockton punt. Quickly capitalizing on the good field position (QB) Hudson Garrity ran behind blocks from Declan O’Connell and Brayden Huber for a 43 yard touchdown. On the extra point center Grant Riordan snapped the ball to (QB) Neil Deininger who pitched the ball to Coen Melgoza who ran it in for the 19-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter.
Shamus Devine put in a dominating performance by once again tackling the running back which caused a fumble that was recovered by Andy Gerlach at the 42 yard line. (RB) Johhny Heller took the handoff from (QB) Garrity and slashed his way up field sprinting for a 41 yard touchdown run that put the Raiders comfortably in the lead 25-0. With just two minutes remaining in the first half the defense stayed relentless as Brayden Huber and Ryan Crespi made a jarring tackle causing a fumble that Garrity recovered. When something works you stick with it and that’s just what (QB) Garrity did throwing a fade route pass to Shamus Devine to paydirt and a 31-0 lead into halftime.
The second half continued the onslaught with first down runs by Cam Forger, Marco Giannaros, Carter Karis and Neil Deininger behind the upfront blocking from Will Heatherington, Blake Harris, Chris Donegan, Asher Ellis, Mason Devine and Braden Oun. The defense prevented Brockton from reaching a single first down and has yet to be scored on this season
Come watch the 7th grade Raiders play Needham at Hingham HS Sunday Sept 24th at 1:30pm!