Things sometimes seemed a bit strange on the Red Raider gridiron last fall.
There was the D.J. Crook injury at New Bedford... the knock-down, drag-out one-point loss at Dennis-Yarmouth that could have gone either way... there was a trip to the playoffs, even with a 7-4 record...there was an almost week-to-week debate in the stands as to who would be quarterback... there were some pretty tense moments on the practice field with bruised egos and tempers flared.
But in the end not in a decade had a Red Raider team come together like it did versus Bridgewater-Raynham that chilly night in early November. Even when placekicker extraordinaire Tom Mullen's streak ended in the first quarter at an astonishing 33-33 PAT kicks, did the Red & White back down.
Either the glass was half empty, or the glass was half full, as they say, and for those 60 or so Red Raiders, brother, the glass was half full on the night of November 4, 2011 and boy did the worm surely turn.
It was that type of cameraderie that second-year head coach Chris Whidden is hoping will foster an even stronger campaign in 2012. With virtually every player returning from last year's squad -- minus running back Theo France, Mullen, Crook and a handful more -- this autumn already has the locker room abuzz.
One simply cannot forget or hold lightly the steamrolling, one-man show put on by then sophomore Hayden Murphy in that unforgettable, come-from-behind win versus B-R. Nor will it likely ever be forgotten when linebacker Andrew Ellis laid the hammer down on B-R superstar Nicky Schlatz on 4th and goal.
One cannot forget Nick Peabody's four-game masterpiece at quarterback - which began with a 37-0 thrashing of Dartmouth - after serving as an understudy, of sorts, to Crook. It was Peabody at the helm of each Old Colony League game and it was Peabody who helped orchestrate a reinvigoration of the Red & White spirit with every pass he threw.
Not a Red Raider fan with a pulse can forget the season-opening 65-0 thrashing of Durfee - a record-setting affair that now tops the BHS All-Time list for most points scored in a game by the Red Raiders, most points scored in a season-opener and most PATs in a single game by the team or an individual, that being Tom Mullen. Mullen, who would have been a junior this season, shattered every Barnstable kicking record since the program's inception in 1893. He is now attending the Philips Exeter School in Andover.
High upon the 2011 memories list is the incredible two-way performance of Terrence Mudie against Taunton on the road, a game which had the Taunton Tigers' head coach hollering maniacally throughout the game, as if that was going to help stave off the Red & White Tide. Then sophomore Derek Estes made a true name for himself that night.
And when the phrase "making a name for oneself" is put in application to the Barnstable High School football team, one would be entirely remiss to fail to mention wide receiver Dylan Morris who played huge in virtually every single offensive set from the opening snap of the 2011 campaign straight through to Turkey Day and the gut-wrenching 14-13 loss versus Lincoln-Sudbury in the playoffs. Even if you did not count a single reception Morris made, or even a single touchdown scored, just counting his downfield blocks would be enough to esconce him firmly in any highlight reel.
So tit for tat, was the 2011 BHS Red Raider football season really that strange in summation? Yes.
It was strangely amazing.
With some of the most uplifting and unselfish individual performances seen in the past four years, and more good sportsmanship in about one month than most of us see in a year, yes, the glass became half full once again.
And with players returning like Mudie and Morris, Ellis and Ryan Litchman, the inimitable Grimmer brothers (Tom and Billy) anchoring the offensive line, the Peabody to James Burke connection, Hayden Murphy's acrobatic lightning show, and the unrelenting passion of Jason Frieh and Kevin Hardy on defene, 2012 looks to be even more strange.
Strangely awesome.