November 9, 2021 By Kevin Riordan
The Raiders offense dominated and the defense punished as the 8th graders rolled to a 42-6 playoff victory over SciCoh, earning the right to play for an unprecedented 5th Super Bowl title.
In the heat and sweat of August coach Melendes and his staff set the goal to play for the title in their final season and that’s where these boys find themselves next Sunday facing off against their arch rival Bridgewater for all the glory.
In preparing for their title run the Raiders took care of business against SciCoh led by an offensive explosion from Ian Smith and Jake Varholak who combined for 5 TD’s on the afternoon. The defense saw tackles from Jack Daley, Drew St Pierre and Aedan Milligan to force a quick four and out for SciCoh. Back on defense Deacon Evriviades put a helmet right on the ball carrier forcing a fumble that was recovered by Drew St Pierre at the 36 yard line. Then QB Jake Varholak began the offensive onslaught by juking and slashing his way for a 35 yard touchdown to take the early 6-0 lead. With SciCoh driving linebacker Jack Daley, showing great awareness for the ball, tipped the pass that Deacon Evriviades intercepted at the 32 yard line of SciCoh. RB Chase Beighley hammered his way through tackles to gain 18 yards setting up a first and goal but SciCoh hanging tough stopped the drive at the 5 yard line. Not to be outdone, the Raiders defense led by tackles from JT Reale, Aedan Milligan, Mac Corey and Cam McKenna forced SciCoh to punt from their end zone giving the Raiders excellent field position.
Starting the drive, QB Jake Varholak rolled right and hit Ian Smith in the back of the end zone for his first of many touchdowns. Operating out of the wildcat Drew St Pierre took the snap and followed the blocks of Charlie Shape, Leopold Kuehberger and Andrew Sullivan for the 2 point conversion to take a 14-0 lead in the 2nd quarter. On the ensuing kickoff Cole Riordan and Jackson Kennedy combined to cut down the returner deep in SciCoh territory. Fighting back Scicoh threw a long pass for a TD to make the score 14-6. That’s as close as SciCoh would get as Varholak scrambled and threw his second touchdown pass to Ian Smith 37 yard touchdown pass to Ian Smith. The pair would connect again on the extra point as Smith caught a bullet from Varholak to make the score 22-6. The defense shut down the SciCoh rushing attack with tackles from Cavan Nicholas, Eli Melendes, Andrew Sullivan and Wyatt Averett. When SciCoh attempted to pass Chase Beighley, Jack Daley and Deacon Evriviades were on top of the receivers preventing any big gains. With the half winding down the Raiders ran their two minute drill Varholak hit Nicholas and Evriviades for quick passes and then scrambled and once again found a wide open Ian Smith in the end zone taking a commanding 28-6 lead into halftime.
The defense forced SciCoh into several mistakes as Drew St Pierre intercepted a long pass and returned it deep into the red zone. Capitalizing on the momentum St Pierre took the hand off and sprinted 24 yards for the touchdown. Ian Smith added to his point totals on the day by kicking the extra point for a 35-6 lead. The offensive line led by Leopold Kuehberger, Charlie Shape, Mac Corey, Cam McKenna, Andrew Sullivan opened another massive hole and St. Pierre bolted up the middle taking the ball down to the 1 yard line where Varholak would once again punch it in for the TD to cap the days scoring at 42-6. The defense closed it out with tackles from Jack Germain, JT Reale and Mark Donlan.
The JV squad completed its season squaring off against a varsity team from Barnstable. The Raiders showed tremendous depth at every position led by QB Liam Rogers throwing a 30 yard pass to a double teamed Cole Riordan who made the touchdown catch. The rushing attack was led by Owen Bernard, Owen Leary and Matt Thorley running behind the blocks of Nico Cicerone, James Pariseault, Alec Menuchi, Mark Donlan and Lachlan Knies. Linebackers Tommy Riordan, Greyson Liebsch, Matt Radulski, Jackson Kennedy, Jeremy Lavoie, Gavin Fabella and Clayton Bellows stuffed the run on multiple occasions.