HAMPDEN – The Hampden Academy football team was understandably excited for its season opener this year, and it showed in the Broncos’ opening drive against Falmouth Friday night.

Things didn’t go as smoothly for Hampden in the rest of the game, but it was a successful debut – both for the team and its new , artificial-turf field.

Trainor Kapler sparked the Broncos with a touchdown and 56 yards, including a key late rush, as Hampden held off the Yachtsmen 12-6.

“I was really hyper during school,” said Kapler, who had small, black pieces of the new FieldTurf base stuck to his face after the game. “Just coming down, playing on the new turf, it felt great. It went so fast. [The team was thinking] we can’t lose today.”

Hampden looked strong early, as four backs helped the Broncs move steadily on their opening drive. Senior John Higgins had a 29-yard run to get Hampden to the 4-yard line, and Kapler went around to the right on the next play, stretched and held out the ball as it crossed the plane of the end zone.

Falmouth drove down to the Hampden 30 in its first possession, but Higgins picked up a Chris Greenwood fumble at the 40-yard line and scampered his way to a touchdown.

Higgins paced the Broncos with 67 yards on seven carries. Falmouth’s Reg Butler had a game-best 80 yards on 20 rushing attempts.

The Broncos managed just three first downs in the rest of the game and only got as close to scoring again when they got to Falmouth’s 25-yard line at the end of the game. Hampden did outgain Falmouth on the ground 139-118.

“Hampden has an excellent run defense and we knew that,” Falmouth coach Rick Towle said. “In the first quarter we didn’t understand it, in the second quarter we started to understand it, and by the end of the game we totally understood it.”

But Kapler came up with a big fourth-down gain late in the final quarter.

“He’s the man [in whose hands] I want the ball when it’s time,” Hampden coach John Sparacio said.

Hampden was facing a 4th-and-4 situation at the Falmouth 34-yard line with about 1:50 left. After a Falmouth timeout, Kapler got the ball and dove ahead 10 yards for the first down. The Broncos were able to run the clock out from there.

“We wanted to spread them out, throw them off-guard, and dive at them,” Kapler said. “It was pretty close to the end of the game, but breaking a couple of tackles felt really good.”

The Yachtsmen scored on their final play of the third quarter, when Butler ran in eight yards for a touchdown. Falmouth’s drive started with a Hampden fumble at midfield.

Both teams were plagued by turnovers – there were a combined nine fumbles and Falmouth intercepted Richardson twice.

Richardson attempted four passes, none of which were caught.

“We put in a pass game this week,” Sparacio said. “It looked rusty, and we’ll fix it. We got away from the run game some, and that’s our strength right now.”

Greenwood was solid in the air, going 5 for 7 for 26 yards. Jesse Fifield caught three passes for 23 yards.

Towle was pleased with what his team did, considering this is the school’s first season in Class B football, and it had to face an opponent eager to win on its new field. The Yachtsmen spent the past few seasons in the developmental league.

“I was very pleased in the fact that they decided to play a great second half and didn’t give up,” he said. “A lot of guys, when they’re new, don’t have the tenacity and the guts and the team effort in the second half.”

BRONCOS 12, YACHTSMEN 6

Falmouth (0-1) 0 0 6 0 ? 6

Hampden (1-0) 12 0 0 0 ? 12

H ? Kapler 4 run (kick blocked)

H ? Higgins 60 fumble return (rush failed)

F ? Butler 8 run (kick failed)

Falmouth Hampden

First downs 9 6

Rushing att.-yards 47-118 41-139

Passing comp.-att. 5-7 0-4

Passing yards 26 0

Total yards 144 139

Punts-avg. 5-36.2 3-34

Fumbles-lost 5-2 4-2

Intercepted by 0 2

Penalties-yards 4-25 7-50

Rushing

Falmouth: Butler 20-80, Floridino 8-21, Cassella 4-12, Greenwood 15-5; Hampden: Higgins 7-67, Kapler 10-56, Preston 3-18, Simms 4-8, Richardson 7-(-10)

Passing

Falmouth: Greenwood 5-7-0-26; Hampden: Richardson 0-4-2-0

Receiving

Falmouth: Fifield 3-23, Frantzen 2-3; Hampden: none

A?500 (est.)