On the ground, the Silver Lake High football team established themselves as the dominant side on Sept. 15, at home in their second game of the season.

The Lakers were able to rush their way to a 28-12 victory improving their record to 2-0 after beating Oliver Ames.

Running back Phil Lashley led the way for the Lakers, goiing 180 yards on just 12 carries (15 yards per carry) and had three of his team’s four touchdowns of the night.

To start the game, the Lakers found themselves on the attack, but it did not take them long to score. On the fourth play of the game, Lashley punched in a 34-yard touchdown run to give the home team a 6-0 edge.

The two sides exchanged turnovers and when Oliver Ames got the ball back, they scored, but the Lakers would take the lead once again late in the second quarter. Their quarterback, Tanner Boyd, who ran for 60 yards on the day, had a 15-yard touchdown run prior to halftime to give his team a 12-6 lead.

In the second half, Lashley had two more touchdown runs: one for seven yards and another for 38 yards. On both scores, Boyd ran in the 2-point conversion himself, helping pad the lead.

Late in the third quarter, Oliver Ames made it an 8-point game on a touchdown run, but Silver Lake was comfortable once again because they scored on the next drive.

Oliver Ames got intercepted by the Lakers on their final offensive stand with about three minutes left, hindering any chance they had left of winning the game. The Lakers continue their season with a home bout this Saturday, Sept. 23, against the winless Quincy High Presidents (2:30 p.m. start time).

This is one of those years where the Silver Lake High boys’ soccer team can be really confident in what they have coming back on the pitch.

Sure, last year they may have been uncertain of how they would perform, but they enjoyed plenty of success throughout the year as they went 16-5, won their second straight divisional and made it to the playoffs. They earned the No. 3 seat and fell to Wellesley in double overtime in the first round.

All of the team’s top players from last year have returned. The Lakers had four Patriot League All-Stars on their team in 2016: Pat McMahon, Owen Nally, Mike Donovan and Justin Keating. Each of the four is back once again which makes the Lakers a strong contender once again this season.

McMahon had a team-high 17 goals (plus nine assists) last season while Donovan added nine goals and 12 assists last year. In net, Justin Keating recorded nine shutouts last year and Nally excelled as a midfielder and had five goals and three assists.

The defense also has some valuable experience at the varsity level. Colin Canniff, Casey Grindle and Brian Reilly were all major varsity contributors. Mike Carey was a forward last year, but he has since swapped positions and will help out defensively while Jeremy Gallagher and Michael Chun are returning varsity starters in the midfield.

Despite all this experience, the Lakers have six sophomores on their varsity squad, so they have a strong mix of youth and elders on their team. It also indicates they will not be in rough shape in the future when they lose some of their top players to graduation.

The Lakers next home game is next Monday, Sept. 18, against Pembroke High School. The start time in that one is set for 3:30 p.m..

Once again, the Silver Lake High football team has their eyes on success.

Last year the Lakers went 8-3 and won their first playoff game since 1980, topping Scituate High before falling in the second round of the MIAA Division 2A South playoffs.

This year, although the Lakers graduated 10 seniors, they are optimistic they should be able to enjoy some success over the course of the season in Chris DiGiacomo’s third season as the team’s head coach.

At running back and the offensive line, the Lakers bring back a good deal of experience. Phil Lashley, who was a 1,000-yard rusher last year, will lead the team’s ground game yet again. Fellow running back Liam Kelleher, a four year letterman, who also plays defensive back, will be the other team’s primary running back. Last year, the Lakers ran for nearly 200 yards per game and had well over 300 yards of offense per game.

The two backs will receive protection from a talented offensive line that returns four of its five starters from last year. Gavin Hamilton and Frank Perfetuo, will lead the way on the line on both sides of the ball. Matt Powell, who is also a valuable linebacker, and Reed Grenon, are also returning varsity starters on the line. Nate Thacker will join them to round out the starting five this season.

The Lakers had a preseason quarterback battle going on between senior Tanner Boyd and sophomore Jesse Miller since they lost last year’s starter, Alec Snell, to graduation. Boyd was their backup quarterback last season and Miller was the freshman team’s quarterback.

The Lakers open up their regular season today, Friday, Sept. 8, on the road against the North Quincy High Red Raiders, who went 2-9 last season. That game will be held at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium and kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m..

A female competitor at the weekend events held at the popular Fieldstone Summer Showcase on Plymouth Street was transported by medical helicopter after a fall from her horse.

Halifax police and fire were on a detail for the event and were able to quickly tend to the young woman.

A paramedic and EMT rendered first aid as the ambulance arrived with staff quickly transporting her to a Medflight, which flew her to  Boston, according to Fire Chief Jason Viveiros.

The horse had landed on the competitor who was only identified as a 29-year old participant from out -of- state. She reportedly needed surgical intervention following the incident for what were termed as serious injuries.

Fieldstone Farms was not available for immediate comment.

WHITMAN — It’s not often that a children’s book author draws a large adult audience for a story time reading, but Kathleen Teahan’s new book “The Cookie Loved ’Round the World” is not your average children’s book.

The story of the chocolate chip cookie’s beginnings in Whitman also brought out local history buffs, former Toll House Restaurant waitresses and past customers of the restaurant that burned down in 1984. Children attending sat at Teahan’s feet, munching Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, from packages handed out by library staff as she and her illustrator Larisa Hart spoke at the Monday, Aug. 21 event in the Whitman Public Library’s Community Room.

After her talk they waited in a long line to purchase copies of the book to be signed by Teahan, a former English teacher and state legislator, and Hart, who is a former Whitman-Hanson Express graphic designer.

“Who remembers when the Toll House was standing in Whitman?” asked Youth Services Librarian Stephanie Young as some of the older audience members raised their hands.

“I didn’t grow up around here, but actually, it burned down before I was born,” she said to some laughter as she introduced Teahan.

“It’s very exciting to be back in Whitman,” Teahan said, recalling when the library was located in Town Hall. “Before I talk about the book, I’d like to talk about the cookie — how many people in this room like chocolate chip cookies?”

Almost every hand in the room shot up at the question.

“Looks like just about everybody,” she said. Teahan also provided some chocolate chip cookies factoids:

• The largest ever baked was a 40,000-pound biscuit made in 2013 in North Carolina as a fundraiser for a folk art museum;

• Americans eat 7 billion chocolate chip cookies every year — the number one variety;

• The chocolate chip cookies was first baked in Whitman in the 1930s.

“Whitman is a very special town and a town we should all be proud of because of that,” she said. “It also has a lot of other things we should be proud of.”

Her book is a “fictionalized history” narrated by Teahan’s real-life Aunt Ann, who grew up in Whitman and worked at the Toll House. Teahan’s research took her to historical societies, universities, libraries and personal information with which she was familiar.

Hart followed with a brief talk on the illustration process.

“We just met a couple years ago,” Teahan said. “It was the luckiest thing that could have happened.”

Hart compared their partnership to meeting a new kid in school who became your best friend.

“When you make a book it’s not just you working on the book,” Hart said with a laugh. “You have other people who work for the book company, so every illustration had seven versions of it.”

She told the children that, while they may color some pictures quickly, bigger and more detailed pictures could take more time.

“That’s what I learned while doing this book,” Hart said. “You can work on something and work on it for a long time, but if you believe in yourself … your perseverance will pay off.”

As she read the book aloud, Teahan interjected background information on the story and how she came to write it. For example, as children, Aunt Ann and her brother would sell daily newspapers and their grandmother’s homemade doughnuts to help the family pay bills after their father lost his Fall River shipyard job during the Great Depression.

“No matter what was happening, they didn’t give up,” Teahan said of the family’s resilience. “I bet you guys don’t give up when things are tough — you just keep trying and practicing and eventually you get it.”

The book also relates one version of the story behind Ruth Wakefield’s invention of the Toll House chocolate chip cookie. There are evidently at least three versions, Teahan said.

A batch of cookies ordered for a wedding reception was jeopardized by a shortage of walnuts, as the food supply was often undependable during the Depression. Wakefield substituted small pieces of Nestlé bittersweet chocolate, which she had on hand — but the morsels did not melt in baking.

“Everybody in the kitchen gave two thumbs-up to the cookie,” Teahan said adding that Wakefield’s request to Nestlé for chocolate that was easier to chop up led first to scored bars and eventually to today’s bag of semi-sweet morsels.

“The Toll House is on the front of the bag so everybody who buys this gets to see something about Whitman,” she said as she held up a package of morsels. “They also get the recipe. So Mrs. Wakefield put Whitman on the map.”

Even noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle was a fan, writing in 1938 that “Ruth Wakefield can cook ‘by ear.’ Or by taste, I suppose you’d call it. She can taste a strange dish, and come home and recreate it with every ingredient in proportion.”

Pyle’s columns, and Nestlé advertisements, advocating the inclusion of the Toll House cookie in packages to WWII troops overseas helped spread the cookie’s fame.

The book concludes with the project by a 1996 project by third-graders at a Somerset school, which won Official State Cookie designation by the state Legislature.

Holmes Public Library   “Monday night Madness” summer reading program ended on a slithery note with Museum of Science  traveling reptile education and presentation by Kim Cooper- Vernon Education Associate.

Herpetologists for a night, the children and parents watched as Cooper-Vernon spoke and presented the reptiles to the classroom. With a white board she also talked about what makes a reptile and how to recognize these creatures.

One child shouted ‘Godzilla is a reptile’ when asked who knows what a reptile is? The night was silly, slithery and appeared to be a hit as there were no empty seats to be had.

Some of the children made silly faces as the animals appeared as did the parents.

Cooper-Vernon talked about Sinaloan Milksnakes and their habitats.

The Sinaloan Milksnake was a clinging creature but by the faces in the audience not everyone likes snakes.

Murdock really enjoyed seeing his reflection in the cage and on the animal cam, which gave kids a closer look at the animal’s features.

Lux the Spotted Gecko got a view of the room from his cage.

Jim Duffy

Special to the Express

It is hard to imagine today, with 24 hour fast food restaurants, just how limited your options concerning “fast-food” were during the late 1940’s. I remember sometime during the summer of 1947, the “Pizza-Pie” truck came through Monponsett about twice a week around 7:00 on summer nights.  Just as we had the “Ice Cream Man” with his musical jingle truck, so too did the adults or “grown-ups” wait for the “Pizza Pie” truck.

One of our neighbors who served in World War II, told us of the wonderful “cheese-tomato pie” which he had sampled in Italy during the war. 

My father therefore bought one of the anticipated pies and I, who always equated “pie” with something sweet, nearly gagged on my first ever slice!

Therefore, during the spring of 1948, a small white frame building about the size of a small house, was constructed a few feet aside the Lake Theater. 

I believe that the Gentile family, who owned the local supermarket, owned the land and building, but Al and Rose Cintrella took a long term lease on the building, and in the early summer of 1948, the Clam Hut opened for business. 

Because the lakes drew a large “summer-crowd”, business in Monponsett was geared to the summer season.  Therefore, both the Clam Hut and Lake Theater were seasonal businesses, and operated from early May to the end of October.

I remember the evening the Clam Hut opened.  The first customer was Frank Purpura, and Al Cintrella proudly had the first dollar, which Mr. Purpura paid for a box of clams, framed under glass, and it stayed on the wall behind the counter for years.  I remember my father buying me an ice cream cone (first time I tasted butter crunch ice cream), and to this day remember the creamy consistency.

The Clam Hut, as the name implied, specialized in seafood.  Eventually the fried clams became a local legend.  French fries, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and the rich, creamy frappes, which nowadays would cause the Cardiologists to quake in their boots, were the staples of the times.  BUT, it was Al’s Pizza, the taste of which could not be equaled to this day, that was the special treat…They came in large and small sizes; the large was $1.25 and the small was $.75. 

Because the ovens had to reach the correct temperature, the pizzas could only be ordered between 7:00 and 10:00 at night.  Al worked as a cook at one of the Brockton restaurants during the day, so Rose ran the business until Al came in at 6:00 to fire up the ovens. 

As it was generally very crowded at night, on a first come, first served basis, the wait could be, and often was, up to two hours before your pizza order was ready. 

If you knew in advance, you could order the pizzas during the day to be ready at a certain time that night (paid-in-full, of course).

Then, as now, Friday night was the traditional pizza night.  Friday was generally “payday”, so parents were always ready to “spring” for this wonderful treat.  Many a summer Friday night I waited the counter, the juke box wailing the latest Hank Williams or Lefty Frizzell tune, eyes half closed as I nodded off to sleep. 

Because of this extra crowd, Al & Rose hired a local summer resident, June Hudgins, to wait on the counter.  I can always remember June kindly ensuring me, as I was half asleep, that it would not be “too much longer”.  Finally, the pizza was ready.  Served between two cardboard pie plates and inserted into a paper bag (no Papa Gino’s style lidded boxes back then!).  It was worth the wait.  Al’s Pizza had a special taste all its own.  I have recently discovered that the Lynwood in Randolph makes a very similar tasting pizza-perhaps they use Al’s recipe.

The weekends were always busy, and to most of the older teenagers and young adults, a movie at the Lake Theater and pizza afterwards at the Clam Hut was the “height” of a 1950’s date night.

How content we were back then with so little.

As the summer drew to a close, and the “summer-crowd” went back to their homes, the day after Labor Day signaled the end of movies and pizza for another year. 

What was a crowded active scene dwindled down and the Clam Hut and Lake Theater were open on weekends only, until the end of October. 

After moving away in 1954, I lost track and during a visit in 1969 found Al & Rose Cintrella operating what was then called “Indian Head Restaurant” on Route 27 in Hanson.  Since it was during the day,  Al had not fired up the ovens so I made due with a hamburger.  But to this day, I still have trouble believing that you can order a pizza 24/7, any day of the year!

Susan Basile, Halifax Town Historian, asks if anyone has a photograph of the old Clam Hut they would be willing to share, the Historical Society would love to make a copy of it, as they have none. Just contact her through the Halifax Historical Society.

By Elizabeth Moura

Special to Express

MIDDLEBORO- Safe to say acoustic guitarist and singer Kerri Powers was born to perform.

A shy, creative kid, she started composing her own songs at age nine, encouraged by her visual artist mother and an equally supportive father. The family musical legacy couldn’t have been more conducive to her dreams: her father’s family is distantly related to Bing Crosby, and her paternal grandmother played piano accompaniment to silent film screenings.

After marriage, a divorce and raising her son, she returned to performing at many venues, including the Boston Folk Festival and Philadelphia Folk Festival, and touring Europe as the opening act for Canadian Fred Eaglesmith.

Listening to her play and sing “Tallulah Send a Car for Me” shows off her rich, low voice, with a little Joplin gravel mixed in. Her folk music stories are Americana everyone will relate to, particularly women who have experienced similar life lessons.

Longtime folk singer and self-described “humdinger,” Tom Smith has been writing songs and performing since the 1960’s, but he’s a 21st century man. “The Kitchen Musician,” his blog, is filled with musings about his songs and recordings. They are, he writes, “intended to recreate the feeling of sharing self-made music with friends around the kitchen table.”

Smith says the songs often “change and mature even after I share them.” His blog is popular, with 140 videos viewed 145,000 times.

Smith’s performing style is as friendly as his blog, and in his 2007 video “A Prayer for Peace,” the audience joins in the refrain as he asks for a shared peace and a willingness to walk away from violence.

All these years, Smith has written and shared songs full of his experiences and many of them are our experiences. He’s a kindly, gentle sage with a gift for reaching as deep into his listeners as he reaches into himself.

Kerri Powers and Tom Smith at Soule Homestead, 46 Soule Street, Middleboro. July 22, 6 p.m. Admission $10 per person, under 16 admitted free. Ample parking. Concert performed rain or shine, moving indoors if necessary.