Football Washes Away the Falcons, 35-12

Well, there's no doubt now - the cold and sometimes wet and miserable weather has officially arrived in New England. While we've been mostly placated with pretty decent weather during the month of October, November 1st certainly arrived with a less-than-cermonious, "How are Ya?"

Low-to-mid 40's, wind, and rain - it all made for perhaps great football weather of a sort, but it sure wasn't a whole lot of fun either sitting or working in it.

And it was this Network crew -

- who braved the elements for the benefit of those in Hawk nation who had the wisdom to stay inside, stay warm, and watch the game. Stone and Cam held down the anoouncing duties, as usual, and they were joined by the legendary DT Barron, Chris Mota, Remy Morris, Colton Capobianco, and Max Zweiner, all of whom alternated on various duties: social media, game notes, camera, and Instagrams.

Before we get to a discussion of the game, however, it's also worth pointing out that our own Power Kanga, who'll be heading to URI next year to play football, was highlighted in this morning's Sunday Journal. The article is certainly worth a read, as it points out the other parts of Power's life about which few people know and the success that he's worked to attain while at Hendricken.

As far as yesterday's game is concerned, the Hawks pretty much managed to settle the issue early, as they lead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at halftime. In spite of the weather conditions and what was no doubt a slippery ball, our guys managed to move the ball very effectively early on, mostly on the ground. Quarterback John Toppa managed a lot of the tough running on his own, as can be seen here on one of his runs for a first down -

Toppa put the Hawks on the board early with a 33-yard run for a touchdown, and that was followed shortly thereafter by a Gary Gibbs 16-yard touchdown run, a run on which he dragged several West defenders with him into the end zone -

Later in the game Gary was banged up a bit, so Jake Derderian, coming off a great performance against Cumberland two weeks ago, once again filled in and did his job well -

Shortly after the second half was underway, senior linebacker John Arruda picked up a Falcon fumble and rumbled in for a 41-yard scoop & score, making the score 35-0 and all but settling the issue.

Up next for the Hawks? Let's just call it the Game of Games: undefeated archrival LaSalle Academy comes to Hayden Stadium this Friday night for a 7pm showdown against the undefeated Hawks. Media coverage will no doubt be crazy, and the stands will be packed. Of course, The Network will be there with end-to-end live coverage, and at this time we're tentatively planning a pretty significant pre-game show, and assuming we can get this done, we'll make details available as the school week unfolds.

Undefeated Hawks. Undefeated Rams. Top seed for the state playoffs on the line.

It doesn't get any better.