HYANNIS — Barnstable had an impressive three-game start, but it came without a signature win.
The Red Hawks certainly have that now, thanks to a dominant showing Friday night against 15th-ranked Milford.
No. 9 Barnstable rose to the occasion and aced its biggest challenge of the season by throttling Milford, 35-6, at Leo Shields Field.
“This was huge for us, not only this season as a measuring stick but where we’ve come in eight years. I think that’s our first win over a Hockomock team since we took over as a staff eight years ago,” Barnstable head coach Ross Jatkola said. “We really needed that tonight for our kids to know that we can compete at that level.”
The tandem of senior quarterback Kyle Coffin and senior running back Jayson Dyer, along with a talented offensive line, powered Barnstable (4-0). Coffin (11 carries, 152 yards) and Dyer (17 carries, 148 yards) combined for 300 yards on the ground and four touchdowns.
Dyer set the tone for the Red Hawks on the fourth play of the game when he sprinted through the left side and showcased his breakaway speed on a 68-yard touchdown run.
“We always preach come out swinging,” Dyer said. “And that just represents coming out swinging.”
Milford (3-2) hung around in the first half, especially when quarterback Vincent Loscerbo connected with Dionicio Rodriguez on a 28-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-10 to cut into the deficit, 7-6, with 1:18 left in the second quarter.
But Barnstable answered quickly and went with some trickery to start a stretch of 28 unanswered points.
The Red Hawks scored with 16 seconds remaining in the first half as Dylan Hamilton took a jet sweep handoff, but then uncorked a deep pass to a wide open Brady Kundel for a 33-yard touchdown and 14-6 halftime lead.
“We always have three or four trick plays in the bag and I felt like that was the right time to call it to get the juice back on our side, have momentum going into the half and make sure that they (didn’t have) any juice going into the half,” Jatkola said.
Barnstable rode that momentum to score touchdowns on its first three drives of the second half to put away Milford.
Dyer extended the advantage to 21-6 with 8:20 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard run before Coffin recorded two touchdown runs, including an impressive 77-yard scamper down the left sideline to start the fourth quarter, in which he turned on the jets to outrun the Milford defense.
“No one is going to outwork them,” Jatkola said of Dyer and Coffin. “So, in moments like this is when that work shows.”
