Hawks Take Care of Business against Patriots, Advance to Face the Rams

Even Colder.

As has been noted here on several of the recent Network posts, the weather has most decidedly turned towards winter. As one of the Network's stalwarts commented in the booth last night, "Remember at the beginning of the season - when it was warm?"

Yep. We do.

Despite the close-to-frigid temperatures (it was better up in the box, but not by a whole lot), another full Network crew was on hand - Stone and Cam doing their usual professional job on the mic, Max Zweiner took care of getting the word out on social media, Remy Morris took meticulous notes on game developments, and Chris Mota did his great work behind the camera. Down on the sideline, the legendary "DT" Barron and Colton Capobianco braved the elements and took one for the team by working the digital camera.

In fact, we here at The Network smashed through three more barriers during last night's game - we broke the 50-viewer barrier, the 6,000 hits-to-the-new-site barrier, and - most important of all - Stone and Cam finally got to don the headsets.

Now, c'mon - that's cool.

And the sound was tremendous. All good stuff. Now - let's get to the game.

When the Hawks and Patriots met earlier in the season here at Hayden Stadium, the Hawks won in what was essentially a tough defensive struggle, 14-0. As the game evolved, that once again largely became the theme of the game, but not before a very interesting first half. On the opening kickoff, the Patriots opened a seam and took the ball back to the Hawks' 45-yard line but then immediately coughed it up on their first play from scrimmage. On the Hawks' drive, quarterback John Toppa and Lee Moses both broke 20-plus yard runs, which was topped off by a Power Kanga 5-yard TD run, making it 6-0, Hawks.

On the next possession, The Patriots then employed a very unique offensive approach, one that may have well been conceived to take advantage of what their coaching staff saw as a possible weakness in the Hawks' defense, having watched the film of our guys' loss to LaSalle - taking the ball straight up the middle in what could probably be described as a field-length drive in a goal-line formation. Running out of what appeared to be the same exact formation each time but utilizing slightly different variations in the playcalling, the Patriots did, indeed, have the Hawks off-balance, albeit in a very methodical manner. Further, while the Patriots were moving the ball and the chains, they were also chewing up serious amounts of clock and were keeping the ball out of the Hawks' hands.

For that drive their game plan worked, as Portsmouth punched the ball across the goal line on the first play of the second quarter and took a 7-6 lead. The Hawks responded immediately, however, when Lee Moses took a toss from John Toppa, found a seam in the Portsmouth defense, and was off to the races, beating the one man he had to and cruising to a 64-yard touchdown, making it 13-7 Hawks, a score that held going into halftime.

It was the second half when the Hawks' defense began to truly assert itself, as the lone Patriots' seven points from the beginning of the second quarter still remained glowing on the scorebaord until near the end of the game, though they continued to fight and pushed across two late touchdowns. At that point, however, the Hawks had opened up their lead to 32-7 before closing out the semi-final contest with a 32-21 win.

From here, then, it's on to the Super Bowl and a chance for the Hawks to defend the four belts wrapped around their waist. Our archrival, LaSalle Academy - undefeated, which includes a 15-9 win over our guys at Hayden Stadium two weeks ago, in yet another classic matchup - will be waiting for us at Cranston Stadium. To think that they don't remember the two crushing defeats that they suffered to our guys during the course of our four-year run would be nothing short of foolish; the Maroon will arrive bent on nothing short of victory.

It's gonna take the Hawks' best effort - their very best - to defend their title.

For the third time in five years, the Hawks and Rams will crash helmets in the Super Bowl. One can only imagine the craziness that'll be in the air.

As far as Network coverage is concerned, we obviously can't broadcast the game, as it is exclusively the property of the RIIL; therefore, we'll once again have our Dunkin' Donuts pre-game show during the late-morning hours, sponsored by none other than one of The Network's greatest patrons, George Zweiner.

Let's get ready to rumble.