Football Puts the Clamps on Portsmouth, Shuts 'em Out, 14-0

For an early-season contest, this was a big one.

#1 vs. #3, according to the latest state rankings.

The four-time defending state champions on their home turf, against as well a coached football program as there is in Rhode Island.

Two of the tradional football powers in the state.

It was billed as such, the game highlighted with press in the local media, and with more than the typical number of news outlets on hand to cover the game.

The PROVIDENCE JOURNAL'S slideshow from the game can be seen HERE.

And, for the most part, the game lived up to the early-season hype, though both teams had to survive a number of self-inflicted mistakes throughout the course of the game. In the end, however, it was our guys who ultimately did what had to be done on the defensive side of the ball as they outlasted the Portsmouth Patriots, 14-0.

With the win, the Hawks go to 3-0 on the young season, 2-0 in D-I play.

Of course, The Network was on hand for the usual Friday Night Lights live broadcast - led by the "the foundation", - Stone & Cam - and viewership was tremendous. Up in the booth, we even received props from the Hawks' cross-country coaching staff, as coaches Brennan, Doyle, and Lourenco were up in Manchester, prepping for the Invitational, watching the football game in their hotel room. An anonymous text from Florida came in on The Network cell line, giving our play-by-play guys some well-deserved pats on the back for their coverage.

The rest of the broadcast team was filled out by the legendary Dylan Thomas Barron (who manned the social media front and even made his play-by-play debut) and Max Z, who took care of camera duty.

As far as highlight-reel stuff from the contest, there wasn't really too much, since the larger sense of the game was a struggle in the pits of the offensive and defensive lines mixed with more than a handful of unnecessary penalties on both teams. The Hawks moved the ball more effectively during the earlier part of the game than the later part. The opening drive of the game was punctuated by quarterback John Toppa's 18-yard touchdown run, which put the Hawks up, 7-0. Later in the first quarter, Toppa's second touchdown run - for 70 yards - was called all the way back and then some when the Hawks were flagged for holding. What seemed at that point as though the Hawks might have opened things up and won fairly easily then turned into a grind-it-out, hard-fought win.

As both teams settled in for the fight, our guys continued to battle on the ground, as evidenced by this Gary Gibbs 23-yard run:

Later in the first half, Power Kanga punched it across to give the Hawks a 14-0 lead at halftime:

And that's the way it stayed for the remainder of the game, as both teams refused to budge as the game wore on.

Next week is a big one - HOMECOMING. The Barrington Eagles invade Hayden Stadium for a doubleheader of sorts - at 4pm, our soccer team will take on the Eagles, and then at 7pm the football guys will square off. The Network will be adding another whole dimension to the festivities, as at approximately 5pm, we'll be joining the back parking lot tailgating for a LIVE Homecoming Gameday broadcast....and we can only assume that @mangate will be on hand to lead the charge. The home page of The Network site will have two broadcasts going simultaneously at one point during the afternoon - the soccer game and the Gameday Tailgate. So, be sure to tune in - next weekend is going to be a lot of fun.