BA vs. Curry College

      The Bridgton Academy Football team played a rare Monday afternoon game this week against the JV team from Curry College. The game featured a dynamic effort by the offense resulting in a return to the win column for the Wolverines. After a one year hiatus, the match-up between the squads, had a familiar feel to it as Bridgton has played against Curry for years. The roster of the Colonels from Curry features a number of BA alumni like Phil Bigelow '10, Pat Hickey '10, Parrish Rogers-Reed '11 and Tim Rochon '12. To top it off, head Coach Skip Bandini is also a BA alum from the class of 1977. None of the current Colonels were active for the game on Monday, but many made their way down to say hello.
       The game itself was a hotly contested encounter that saw both defenses step to the plate in the first quarter. The Wolverines kicked off and forced a quick three and out, giving the offense the ball near midfield for their first drive. However, the defenders of Curry held strong and forced a three and out of their own. The second drive saw the offense find its footing. Sam Ouellette (Rochester, NH) led the Wolverines on an 18 play drive covering 64 yards that ate up a significant portion of the first quarter. On the drive ultimately, Jhalen Bien-Aime (Boston, MA) provided tough yardage gaining 24 yards on 5 carries. Prince Unaegbu (Boston, MA), Shane McCloskey (Concord, NH) and Anthony Garron (Danvers, MA) each provided critical first down receptions, and though the drive ended short of pay dirt, the Wolverines had drastically changed field position.
       Curry took over and moved the ball out to their 45 where Nate Dunn (Marshfield, MA) stopped a third down screen pass to force a punt. The teams exchanged punts, but when BA took the field for their third drive, Ouellette found Troy Pelletier (Manchester, NH) for a 75 yard touchdown pass. Garron hit the extra point and the teams came up the field with Wolverines in the lead 7-0. The black shirt defense forced two additional punts ultimately changing the game when Jalen Santos (Monroe, NY) stepped in front of a Curry pass and returned it 45 yards to the Colonel's 30 yard line. Three plays later, Ouellette found Pelletier again, this time from 26 yards out to push the lead to 13-0 as the half closed shortly after.
       The second half saw Bien-Aime add a 7 yard touchdown run while Malik Lee (Mashpee, MA) added his own 2 yard plunge that was set up by a Dan Cardillo (Wakefiled, MA) interception. BA's final touchdown came from one final connection between Ouellette and Pelletier, this one from 31 yards out to ice the game in the fourth. This game saw BA defenders forcing three turnovers for the second straight week, and though they allowed a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, played a fairly sound game. This coming Sunday will see the team travel to Hanover, New Hampshire for a game against Dartmouth College’s JV squad.

By: Coach Dube