RAYNHAM – As the 2016 Future Stars season nears its midpoint, one team has been quietly carving out a place for itself atop their division’s standings. The Peewee Norfolk County Hawks have not caused much of a stir in doing so, but ran their record to a perfect 5-0-0, most recently defeating the Raynham Raiders (3-2-0) 8-3 on Sunday at the Raynham IcePlex.

With both teams struggling to grab control of the game early on, the Raiders were the first to take the upper hand as Jon Bobillier skated down the leftwing through what seemed to be the entire Hawks team, sliding it five-hole for a power play goal and 1-0 lead at 8:48 of the first period.

They scored off the rush again less than a minute later, JC Frates breaking off a shot that banked off the netminder and in for a 2-0 lead.

With the Raynham lead seemingly set to last into the first break, the Hawks struck at the most inopportune of times for the Raiders to get right back in the contest. Cullen Egan got them on the board in the final minute of the first before Braden O’Hara had Norfolk County back to even in the opening minute of the second.

They were the first two of a four-goal swing that saw the Hawks go from down by two later in the first to up by two before the midpoint of the second period.

Up by two, the Hawks seemed to fade as the second period wore on. The break between the final two periods, however, was all the rest they needed to come back to life. Brady Vitelli freed up on a breakaway off the opening faceoff to push the Norfolk County advantage to three. Once again the Hawks’ offense was off and running, chipping in three more along the way to finalize their 8-3 victory.

O’Hara (2G, 1A) and Aiden Hunt (3A) led the offensive assault for the Hawks, each credited with three points in the contest.