The end result of Friday’s game between the Hendricken and Cumberland football teams was expected, but the final score was anything but.

The Hawks improved to 5-0 in Division I, but it didn’t come easy, as the Clippers took Hendricken to overtime before Kwity Paye’s 4-yard touchdown run propelled his team to a 23-20 victory.

Hendricken held a slim, 17-14 lead over Cumberland midway through the fourth quarter, but a 21-yard field goal from the Clippers’ Dillon Moran knotted the score at 17 and sent the game to overtime.

In extra time, Cumberland took over at the 10-yard line first and Moran chipped in a short field goal, leaving the game in the hands of the Hendricken offense.

The Hawks needed a touchdown to end the game, and they got just that.

Jake Derderian brought the ball to the 8-yard line when he rushed for two yards on first down. A Cumberland penalty then pushed Hendricken to the 4-yard line, and Paye powered his way into the end zone on the next play to secure the 23-20 win.

Cumberland was coming off of its best game of the season – a 17-10 win at Portsmouth – a week prior, and its confidence was evident.

“It’s never the way you draw it up,” Hendricken head coach Keith Croft said. “You can say we didn’t do this or that, but I give all the credit to Cumberland. I think their coaches and players just played their hearts out and gave us everything. They were physical, fast and they ate a lot of clock. They had some big plays, but they were just very methodical.”

Cumberland’s defense gave Hendricken some trouble right out of the gates.

The Hawks received the opening kickoff and marched into Clippers’ territory with relative ease before hitting a wall.

The Clippers were ultimately able to hold the Hawks to three points, as Ryan Blais split the uprights with a 25-yard kick to give Hendricken a 3-0 lead with 7:26 remaining in the first quarter.

Cumberland had a chance to tie the score with a field goal of its own close to seven minutes later, but the kick fell short.

The Clippers would take the lead moments later, though.

On the second Hendricken play after the missed field goal, Maxwell Deak read a Chris Hindle pass to the right, intercepting the junior quarterback and taking it 48 yards into open turf for the score to give Cumberland a 7-3 lead with 35 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

David Lazenberry would also intercept Hindle in the second quarter, but this time, the pick wouldn’t lead to points. Hindle completed six passes in the game for 94 yards.

“I think he would be the first to say that he didn’t have his best game of the year, but when we needed him at the end of the game, he made the right checks at the line,” Croft said of Hindle. “These games can go one of two ways, you can sit there and second guess, or you can have character and bounce back. I know my guys and my coaches, and I know they’ll keep working and continue to make improvements.”

The Hawks would bounce back to regain the lead with 3:38 left in the first half on a Derderian 3-yard touchdown run to give Hendricken a 10-7 advantage.

But Cumberland had a response once again. This time, the Clippers’ offense got its team on the board, as Jake Salisbury found receiver Ryan Gaboury on a slant that went for 14 yards and a touchdown to make it 14-10 in favor of Cumberland going into halftime.

The Hawks came out firing in the third quarter, with Hindle finishing off an offensive drive with a 2-yard score to give the Hawks a 17-14 lead.

That’s where the score would remain until Moran’s field goal midway through the fourth quarter forced overtime.

From there, the Hawks held Cumberland to a field goal, which gave Hendricken’s offense a chance to win the game with a touchdown. Paye’s 4-yard run would do just that, allowing the Hawks to escape with a still-unblemished record.

It’s certainly not how coaches draw up wins, but a win like that could be a blessing in disguise as the Hawks head deeper into the season.

“You have to learn from it, it makes you a little tougher,” Croft said. “It’s easy to win every week when things go easy, but it takes a little character to win when things are tough. I like this, it’s good.”

Hendricken will continue its home stint against Cranston West on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the 1-3 Falcons.

“This is what you expect in Division I,” Croft said. “There are no easy games.”