On Friday September 18 , the Alden Bulldogs made the trip to Bruno Pacini Field for their second league game against the Barker-Roy Hart Rams. It was an exciting game that turned out to be a total team effort, crushing Barker-Roy Hart 54-7. The game gave everyone a chance to get in and make a play along with the regular stars making some impressive plays themselves.

The Bulldogs received the ball to start the game but they quickly kicked it back off after sophomore Christian Snell brought the kick back for a 81 yard touchdown. The Bulldog defense was quick to stop Roy Hart from moving the ball any further, forcing them to punt the ball after only five plays. In one play Lyle Grant had a 70 yard touchdown run with Riley Pastuszynski making the extra point. The Bulldogs quickly shut down the Rams again and after the punt, once again had a one play touchdown drive. The score was off a 61 yard pass from Bryan Cybulski to Joe King, which was both his first reception and touchdown. After the kick it was as if the Rams never had the ball to begin with, punting it away without getting a first down. The Bulldogs marched the ball down the field again with Grant capping it off with a four yard touchdown run. “Putting up 40 up points in the first half was a first for me. I think everyone on the team was a little surprised with that but it defiantly felt good to put points up on the board that quick” said Lyle Grant on scoring so much in the first half. The next touchdown was made off a 10 yard leaping catch by Jordan Stockweather which was also Stockweather’s first touchdown. Grant put two more touchdowns in during the first half off of a 2 and 13 yard run respectively.

In between these two drives the coaching staff had begun to rotate in some other players at defense including Mike Handly who finished out the game with an astonishing 12 total tackles. Barker was able to slip in one touchdown off a 12 yard run but the defense wasn’t going to allow any more, regardless of who was in. The game served as a good showcase for some of the other talents the team has other than handing the ball to Grant. Bryan Cybulski threw for 99 yards off of only 3 completions and rushed for 22 yards in one play. The combination of the Handley twins, Mike and Alex, had a total 20 tackles, 8 of those being Alex’s.

The second string offense typically doesn’t get too much time to work with the ball in normally but in this game they were given the entire second half to go out there and have fun. Quarterback Josh Chester had a long touchdown run that called back due to a personal foul. Jackson Kubik rushed for 15 yards in 5 carries.

The real heroes of the game were the young men on the second string defense who helped keep Barker’s score as low as it was. Kicker and safety Riley Pastuszynski made 8 tackles and there were three sacks made during the whole game between Alex Handley, Mike Grosshans, Charlie Varshay and Evan Fix. Adam Ellis forced a fumble on kick off which helped even more to solidify the Bulldogs dominance. All and all the only bad side to the whole game were the penalties that plagued Alden, racking up 80 yards in penalties. The Bulldogs move on to face long time rival Depew at their field. Both teams are 2-0 in the league and it will promise to be a big game on both sides.