RallyNorth.net

Fri, Nov 10, 2006 07:00 PM @ Triton

Team	Final
Masconomet	21
Triton	0

Bunkers smoke out Triton

Monday, August, 27 By John Shimer
Staff writer

BYFIELD | Triton's defense looked strong against the Masconomet rush, led by senior co-captain Eric Bunker, for most of the night. The Vikings' D even reversed the Chieftains for -4 total ground yards through the first half, but Eric Bunker also proved to be a dangerous passing target for his quarterback cousin, Craig Bunker as the duo connected on a 56-yard pass in the first quarter to give 9-1 Masconomet the early lead | and Masco never looked back as it left Byfield with the 21-0 shut out.

The Vikes defense was not as effective against the pass and allowed a second Craig Bunker TD throw, this time a 21-yard slant to Clay Cleveland, midway through the second quarter that allowed Masco to take a 14-0 lead to the locker-room. The second score added to Craig Bunker's already healthy stats as the senior co-captain went to the break with 146 yards in the air.

Meanwhile, Triton just couldn't get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. With Matt Emerzian out with an injury, Koby Thibault was tapped by coach Shawn McElligott as quarterback for the Vikes, but had a tough night hurling two interceptions on three passes at the end of the first half.

The Chieftains never relented and wasted no time getting back to the task at hand when play resumed. Just about three minutes into the third quarter, Eric Bunker took the hand-off 25 yards for his first running score of the game, and second touchdown of the night. Nick Salvo's third straight extra point put Masco up 21-0.

The added insurance score put the nail in Triton's already weighed down coffin and dropped the Vikings to 3-7 on the season.

"We played extremely hard against the best team in the league on both sides of the ball," Triton coach Shawn McElligott said. "They platoon 16-17 guys deep on both sides of the ball and our seniors just did a great job keeping us in their last game, especially Brett Foley."

Foley, who rolled up his knee late in the third quarter, had a monster game for the Vikings making numerous tackles including two bone-jarring hits on Eric Bunker for negative yards that could be heard all the way up in the press box. After the game Masconomet coach Jim Pugh sung Foley's praises as well.

"You can't say enough about Foley and Triton, they are just a bunch of hard nose kids, and we could not get things going against them," Pugh said. "Foley is an excellent player, he may be the best linebacker we have seen this year."

"We finally got Eric (Bunker) going in the second half I think in part because we have so many weapons it's just hard to contain them throughout the game. It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win, and now we have chance to win the league championship on Thanksgiving."

Masconomet plays at North Andover (5-4) and Triton plays at Pentucket (4-5) on Thanksgiving.