Cape Police, Attorneys Clash For A Cause

SANDWICH- For the last seven years, local police officers and defense attorneys have come together with state police and prosecutors on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for a good cause.
What first brought them together was football, but what keeps them coming back is the chance to raise money for Children’s Cove, the Cape and Islands child advocacy center.
The teams will meet head-to-head Tuesday at 6:30 PM at the Pop Warner Field off Quaker Meetinghouse Road. 
Terrance P. O’Connell, of Pine Street, a 25-year veteran of the Sandwich Police Department and now a defense attorney working in Barnstable, organizes the games as a way to build camaraderie between defense attorneys and district attorneys in the county.
“We kind of banged heads in the courtroom,” he said. “I thought this would be a good way to bring us together.”
So, as Mr. O’Connell said, the football came first, but the idea to raise funds for Children’s Cove was not far behind.
Mr. O’Connell credited First Assistant District Attorney Brian S. Glenny for helping him pin down Children’s Cove as a worthy cause for which to raise funds. 
Children’s Cove, whose services are available to families across the Cape and Islands, describes its mission as “ensuring that victims of child sexual abuse and their non-offending family members have access to support and services in a safe, respectful, and compassionate environment.”
Last year the Gravy Bowl, as the game is commonly known, raised $5,000 for Children’s Cove.
Mr. O’Connell explained that though the game, which is held at the Sandwich Pop Warner Field, is free to watch, there are several ways in which participants raise money.
First of all, it cost $20 to play in the game. Also, there are T-shirts for sale, commemorating the game, and raffle tickets sold.
Typically, Mr. O’Connell said, the officers raffle off items like turkeys, gift certificates from local business, and tickets to sporting events.
The raffle winners are announced at the American Legion Post 188 Hall on Old Main Street after the game.
Mr. O’Connell said he’s already come close to reaching last year’s total take through T-shirt sales and raffle tickets, and expects to raise around $7,500 this year.
The game has also served its initial purpose, which is to bring attorneys working on opposite sides of the courtroom closer together.
“I think it really shows that you go into the courtroom and represent your individual side and still go out and play some football,” Mr. Glenny said. “It’s just a good time to put things in perspective—to show that we are all good people.”
Despite the good will the game has helped to build, the games themselves can get a little “chippy,” Mr. O’Connell said.
“It’s flag football, but it usually turns into full contact and generally it’s tackle,” he said. “If somebody misses the flag, they’ll just go for the leg.”
Mr. O’Connell has the bruises to prove how competitive the games can get. Last year he suffered two broken ribs, courtesy of an elbow from an opposing player.
He laughs about the injury now. The officers and attorneys leave their aggression toward each other on the football field.
“It’s very competitive; it can get a little chippy at times and there’s a lot of trash talking out there,” he said. “But, its okay; we get together afterward at the legion. We watch a film of last year’s game, and Children’s Cove provides the food.”
There’s also been a fair amount of gamesmanship. The team made up of district attorneys and state police has used some outside help to build its 5-0-1 record in the six games that have been played. In fact, several years ago, the state police brought in Mark Hartsell to play quarterback. Mr. Hartsell played Division I football for Boston College and spent a short time in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.
He lead his team to a 6-0 win over the defense attorneys and local police.
“He was throwing 50-yard spirals into the wind,” Mr. O’Connell remembered.
The Sandwich police have come up just short in each of their losses, falling six points or less in every match.
“It’s been a lot of agony,” Mr. O’Connell said.
However, the state police squad has no intention of allowing the local cops’ seven years of suffering to end any time soon.
“[Our key to victory] is just to go out there and try to take advantage of the obviously weak-minded defense attorneys,” Mr. Glenny said with a laugh.
Mr. Glenny quarterbacked the the DA/State Police team to their most prolific offensive performance ever last year, a 28-23 victory.
“I had two touchdown passes,” he said.
Mr. Glenny, whose third “touchdown pass” was intercepted and returned for a score by the opposition, will quarterback the team again Tuesday.
He likes his team’s chances, but said he recognizes that his team has been the beneficiary of some good luck.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve come out on top all these years,” he said. “I think we can keep that alive, especially if I stop throwing touchdown passes to the other team!”