Shell Chiefs tame Barbarians, 22-0

The Shell Chiefs proved that their season opening victory over the Miller Barbarians was no fluke as they ran roughshod over the hard-hitting squad in their convincing 22-0 beating Sunday at the CPA airport field.

The Chiefs got a solid showing from their quarterback Clas Ngeskebei and a dominating performance from their offensive and defensive lines. After trading blows in the trenches, the Chiefs were the first to put a mark on the scoreboard when receiver Mark Wallace scored his first touchdown of the season off of a three-yard pass from Ngeskebei in the second quarter.

That would be all of the points that they would need, as the offense controlled the ball on the air and on the ground, while the defense spent most of the steamy afternoon wreaking havoc on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

The last time out, the Shell ‘D’ allowed Miller quarterback Plasido Tagabuel two completions in 13 attempts for 14 yards in the air, and this time they didn’t allow much more. The Shell curtain held Tagabuel to three completions for 40 yards on 12 attempts, and smothered him when he tried to scramble. Tagabuel ran 10 times for -58 yards, and a combination of Chong Won, Eric Lizama, and Chris Guerrero accounted for -9 yards.

Rich Benevente led the Chiefs in tackles with three, including a sack and two assists, followed by a slew of two-tacklers. The Shell “D” accounted for five sacks, and permitted the Barbarians a ridiculous –21 yards of total offense.

Dominic Reyes, Jered Lutu, and Luka Tapuaialupe each picked off a pass, while Bruce Berline (2), Juan Kapileo (1), Paul Camacho (.5), and Soni Pomee (.5) gave the Barbarians a case of the sacks. Berline also added a safety in the second quarter courtesy of a bad snap.

After the Chiefs defense held the Barbarians down, the special teams didn’t let them up for air. The Barbarians had four fumbles on punt attempts that resulted as turnovers on down with the exception of the fumble recovery by Chico Reyes. Reyes rumbled, bumbled, and stumbled for the touchdown in the third quarter to put the red and yellow ahead 14-0.

On the offensive side, the Chiefs got a taste of what their running game could be last week against the Verizon Nitro when their running backs scampered for 119 yards, and they actually improved over the Barbarians with 133.

Stanley Iakapo led all rushers with 89 yards on 11 carries for the Chiefs, including a 29-yarder. Teammate Jeff Boyer scored a touchdown and churned out 23 hard yards on 10 carries, and Paul Guerrero picked up 20 yards on eight carries.

Ngeskebei scrambled six times for 19 yards, but the Chiefs quarterback did most of his damage through the air. Ngeskebei found receiver Wallace four times for 77 yards, including a 38-yarder and a three-yard toss for a touchdown.

Prior to this game, Wallace had just three catches for 24 yards, but he quickly fit into the role of Ngeskebei’s favorite receiver. The only blemish on the record for Ngeskebei is that three of his passes were intercepted by Barbarians’ standout Syl Teregeyo. Four others also caught passes for the red and yellow as Iakapo reeled in a pass for nine yards, Dean Camacho and Boyer each had one for seven yards, and Brian Moors had a grab for five and a two-point conversion.

Moors also contributed through the air, with four kick-offs for 175 yards, including a 62-yard boot.