TVL Football Preview: Bellingham VS Dover-Sherborn

Bellingham vs Dover-Sherborn Game Notes
By: Steve Watson

FRIDAY OCTOBER 12, 2018
BELLINGHAM BLACKHAWKS (1-4) VS DOVER-SHERBORN RAIDERS (3-2)
7:00PM—BELLINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL

Overall H/R PF PA Streak

Bellingham 1-4 0-2 Home 74 107 L-4

Dover-Sherborn 3-2 1-1 Road 67 88 L-1

Friday Night Lights

Bellingham & Dover-Sherborn square off under the Friday Night Lights in a battle that is crucial to both teams for their Playoff hopes. Both of these TVL teams are in the mix entering this week’s contest. With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the result of this game looms large.

Homecoming Weekend

Tonight is Bellingham’s Homecoming Game. The school also had another big event this week as their Volleyball team hosted their Dig Pink game on Wednesday night.

Power Ratings

-Dover-Sherborn sits in 6th place in the Division 6 South Power Ratings with an 11.56 rating. Fellow TVL foes Medway (3rd, 14.20) & Dedham (4th, 13.80) are in front of them. If the Playoffs were to begin today, Dover-Sherborn would travel to Medway in the #3 vs #6 matchup. Medway has already secured a Playoff spot for the first time in program history.

-Bellingham sits in 12th place in the Division 7 South Power Ratings with a 6.80 rating.

-The Top 8 teams in each division qualify for the MIAA Playoffs, which begin in two weeks on October 26 & 27.

Save Some Points!

-Bellingham has scored 74 points this season, 40.5 percent (30) came in Week 1.

-Dover-Sherborn has scored 67 points this season, 41.7 percent (28) came in

Week 1.

-Each team’s highest score (so far) came in Week 1.

-The two teams have combined for 141 points, 41.1 percent (58) came in Week 1.

Series Notes

-Dover-Sherborn has won 8 of the last 10 meetings going back to 2008

-Dover-Sherborn has won 3 of the last 4 games played in Bellingham

-Dover-Sherborn has won all five October meetings since 2008

-The winning team has scored 27 or more points in 6 of the last 7 meetings

-There hasn’t been a shutout by either side in the series since 2012 (Bellingham)

-Dover-Sherborn hasn’t shutout Bellingham since 2010

-This is Dover-Sherborn’s first trip to Bellingham in the month of October since 2009.

-The last one possession game in this series was on 09/23/05, or 4768 days ago.

Series History since 2004

09/25/04 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 29-14

09/23/05 @ Bellingham Bellingham 26-18

09/29/06 @ Dover-Sherborn Bellingham 30-7

09/28/07 @ Bellingham Bellingham 28-7

10/10/08 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 27-7

10/09/09 @ Bellingham Dover-Sherborn 20-0

10/02/10 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 17-0

09/30/11 @ Bellingham Dover-Sherborn 33-20

09/28/12 @ Dover-Sherborn Bellingham 34-0

09/27/13 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 35-19

09/26/14 @ Bellingham Dover-Sherborn 36-22

10/02/15 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 27-8

09/30/16 @ Bellingham Bellingham 16-7

10/20/17 @ Dover-Sherborn Dover-Sherborn 31-7

Last time they met: October 20, 2017

These two teams last met in the final game of the 2017 regular season, with the Raiders prevailing in a 31-7 win. Holden Ferrari had a 46 yard TD pass to Timmy Polk and added a 17 yard rushing TD as well. Matt Strong had 10 carries for 105 yards & Tylan Mendes had two TD runs of 24 & 8 yards. Bellingham had a 50 yard TD for it’s lone score.

A Look At The Blackhawks Through The Binoculars

Bellingham enters tonight looking to snap a 4 game losing streak. They kicked off 2018 with a resounding 30-6 win @ Blackstone-Millville but have lost four straight since then. QB Jim Kilduff leads the offense once again in 2018. Dan Unegbu & Evan Laroche have factored into the run game as well as the defense while TE Ken Morrissey has been a target in the passing game.

Alumni Update

Bellingham ’18 graduate Josh Jones is now playing for D3 Nichols College. He has recorded 5 total tackles thus far in five games played.

Hall Of Fame Bound

Former Bellingham QB Ricky Santos (early 2000’s) will be inducted into the school’s Hall Of Fame on November 24.

Debunking Dover-Sherborn

Dover-Sherborn is off to a 3-2 start and very much in the Playoff race. They opened the season with a win over Weston and have managed to eke out Norton & Millis by 3 points combined since then. They are coming off a 21 point loss to upstart Medway last week. QB Kirby Ryan leads the offense. One of his top targets is Luke Fielding. Tylan Mendes is a big factor in the run game. Matt Paolatto also factors into the offense as well as the defense. Special teams features Drew Drummer as the kicker.

Father-Son Combo

Dover-Sherborn has a father-son coach-player combo. Kirby Ryan is the QB and his father Steve serves as the Raiders’ Head Coach.

Busy Man

Dover-Sherborn Head Coach Steve Ryan is in his second stint as the Raiders’ Head Coach, as he coached them to a 9-2 record in 2004. For the past 23 years, he also has served as a math teacher and Head Baseball Coach at the school. Before returning to Dover-Sherborn as the Head Coach, he was an assistant at St. Sebastian’s for 4 seasons.

Super Bowl Droughts

-Bellingham hasn’t appeared in a Super Bowl since 2001 (beat Tyngsboro 38-28)

-Dover-Sherborn has never appeared in a Super Bowl

Up Next

-Bellingham travels to Medway next Friday night to conclude the regular season.

-Dover-Sherborn travels to Dedham next Friday night to conclude the regular season.

TVL Trivia Question

Zach Levy of Bellingham set the state record in 2016 for single game rushing yards (546 yards) against which team?

Norton
Wareham
Milford
Case
Trivia Answer: Check TVL Sports Social Media platforms to find out!