Preston Santos scored three second-half touchdowns to lead the Bishop Hendricken High School freshman football team past La Salle Academy, 28-20, in the Division I Super Bowl on Saturday at Cranston Stadium.

Facing a 14-point deficit in the second half, Hawks’ quarterback Alex Mulvey connected with Santos on touchdowns of 78, 70 and 14 yards to complete an improbable Hendricken comeback.

La Salle marched down the field in the final minute of the game, but a pass intended for a Rams’ receiver in the end zone was intercepted by Santos, completing a storybook ending to the 6-foot-5 freshman’s season.

“It feels amazing,” Santos said. “I’ve always wanted to win a state championship and now I have one. Now I can celebrate it with my teammates.”

It definitely didn’t look like a sure thing for the Hawks in the opening half, though. After getting shutout by the undefeated, top-seeded Rams earlier in the season and totaling just 75 total yards of offense, second-seeded Hendricken’s struggles against La Salle continued early on Saturday.

It took only three and a half minutes for the Rams to get on the board in the first quarter. La Salle kept its opening drive alive with a conversion on fourth-and-7 near midfield, before running back Leroy Deoliveira powered his way onto the end zone from two-yards out a few plays later. Deoliveira added the two-point conversion to give the Rams an 8-0 lead.

La Salle’s offense carried its momentum into the second quarter. With 4:32 remaining in the opening half, Jake Ribeiro took a sweep and beat Hendricken defenders to the left side for an 11-yard score. The Hawks minimized the damage by stuffing La Salle on its two-point conversion try to keep the score at 14-0.

But after going silent throughout much of the first half, the Hawks’ offense finally came alive at the right time. With just 15 seconds left, Mulvey rolled out and found Devin Rivet on a short dump off, who weaved his way through La Salle defenders for a 60-yard touchdown, cutting Hendricken’s deficit to 14-6 at the half.

“We were able to score at the end of the half and that gave our guys a big lift,” Hendricken head coach John Stringfellow said. “At the half, we didn’t really make any adjustments. We just wanted to stick with what we do.”

That was certainly the right decision.

The Rams responded at the 6:43 mark of the third quarter on a 32-yard scamper from quarterback Andrew Wright to make it 20-6, but after that it was all Hendricken.

In dire need of a score, Hendricken decided to just throw it up to Santos, who had a size advantage on anyone who lined up against him.

That worked right away, as Santos out-leaped a La Salle cornerback in the left corner of the end zone on a 14-yard pass from Mulvey. The highlight reel catch cut Hendricken’s deficit to 20-12 with 5:39 remaining in the third quarter.

On the ensuing possession, La Salle drove down the field, but the Hawks ultimately forced a turnover on downs at their own 20-yard-line.

That defensive stand proved to be huge, as Mulvey found Santos on a jump ball three plays later, as he once again out-leaped a series of La Salle defensive backs and took it the distance for a 78-yard touchdown. Mulvey connected with Santos again for a two-point conversion to tie the game, 20-20, with 2:19 remaining in the third quarter.

With Hendricken’s offense rolling, the Hawks’ defense upped its level of play as well, stifling La Salle’s offense in the second half after its early third -uarter touchdown.

“We didn’t really make any adjustments defensively at the half, we just kept it simple,” Stringfellow said. “We just told them to swarm to the ball. They really haven’t had it taken to them on offense this season and we were able to get to them. Our defense was ridiculous. We had a great week of practice this week and we were able to keep it going.”

With all of the momentum in the Hawks’ favor, they were able to capitalize and gain their first lead of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Hendricken continued to ride the hot hand, with Mulvey connecting with Santos on a similar jump ball, resulting in a 70-yard touchdown to take the lead. Mulvey found Santos on a fade in the end zone to add the two-point conversion, putting the Hawks up 28-20 with 9:32 left in the game.

“Santos hurt his thumb against La Salle earlier in the season and we just got him back healthy,” Stringfellow said. “We just told him all week that he has to make plays, he’s 6-foot-5 and we were going to throw the ball up in the air. He showed some great breakaway speed and everything was kicking in the right direction for him.”

Both teams forced punts the rest of the way out, until La Salle was able to move the ball on its last drive.

Fortunately for the Hawks, Santos made a play on another pass in the end zone, this time intercepting Wright’s pass to secure the win for Hendricken.

“My hat’s off to everyone,” Stringfellow said. “I just can’t mention enough kids because it was a team effort, an absolute team effort.”

The Super Bowl title was Hendricken’s fifth in six seasons.