Hindle totals five touchdowns in semifinal rout

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 11/24/15

Death, taxes and Bishop Hendricken in the Super Bowl.

The Hawks’ stretch of dominance has almost made it clockwork that each season they will find themselves in the Division I Super Bowl, as …

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Hindle totals five touchdowns in semifinal rout

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Death, taxes and Bishop Hendricken in the Super Bowl.

The Hawks’ stretch of dominance has almost made it clockwork that each season they will find themselves in the Division I Super Bowl, as they have won the last five in a row. They will have a chance to defend that title after beating the No. 4-seeded Rebels 41-7 at home in the semifinals on Friday night.

“It never gets old,” Hendricken head coach Keith Croft said about securing a seventh consecutive Super Bowl bid. “The feeling gets a little bit different, but I’m proud of these guys. We scrimmaged them in August and they beat us up pretty good. So we made a lot of improvements as the year went on. A lot of progress and I’m proud of these guys, proud of the coaches.”

It was the second straight week the Hawks had defeated South Kingstown, as Hendricken closed out the regular season with a 39-14 victory over the Rebels on Nov. 13.

Junior quarterback Chris Hindle threw for a season-high 163 yards with three touchdowns while he rushed for two more as the Hawks shut out the Rebels in the second half, 20-0.

Hindle and the offense struck early after the Hendricken defense started off the game on a strong note. South Kingstown’s Myshon Coppock put the ball on the ground during the third play from scrimmage, and Hendricken fell on top of it.

The Hawks took over in South Kingstown territory at the 49 and moved down the field in chunks, with fullback Kwity Paye and running back Jake Derderian exchanging carries of more than five yards to move to the Rebels’ 26.

Hindle then decided to take to the air, where he found wide receiver Trevor Lawton wide open across the middle for a 26-yard touchdown. The extra point from Ryan Blais gave the Hawks a 7-0 lead with 8:30 to go in the first quarter.

Hindle, along with Coach Croft, credited the offensive line for its protection all night long. Hindle, who said the line has improved through each game this year, faced very little pressure as he completed eight of 13 pass attempts.

“We’ve been getting a lot better week by week,” Hindle said. “At first we started off a little slow against EP, but gradually week by week, we’ve been getting a lot better. And I think finally we have a real, real solid unit on that line.”

The Rebels would turn the ball over on downs at midfield during their next series, which would prove to be costly with an opportunistic Hawks offense taking over. Hindle did it all for Hendricken on the drive, taking a keeper 36 yards into the red zone before tossing a 14-yard touchdown to wide receiver Andrew Hopgood on a screen pass.

Hendricken looked like it would run away with the game early, but a special teams mistake allowed the Rebels to hang around. The Hawks forced a three-and-out and the ensuing point rolled down near the Hendricken 30. However, one of the Hawks tried to pick the ball up with Rebels closing in and fumbled. South Kingstown recovered with excellent field position at the Hendricken 31.

Six plays later, running back Terell Handley plunged into the end zone from three yards out to cut the deficit down to a touchdown. Handley had 15 rushing yards on the drive, which was aided by a personal foul on the Hawks that got the Rebels into the red zone.

Hendricken and South Kingstown exchanged punts before the Hawks went on a late second-quarter drive to try to get back up two scores before the half.

Hendricken was able to convert two key third downs, but by different means. The first was a third-and-3 that saw Hindle’s pass to Lawton across the middle fall incomplete, but the Rebels were called for pass interference to allow the first down.

The Hawks were then faced with a third-and-17 when Hindle connected with wide receiver Dante Baldelli, who used his height to reel in a 30-yard reception that set the Hawks up at the Rebels’ 30. Three plays later, Hindle found Baldelli again, this time in the left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard score with 1:11 to go.

“We knew that, not only just for the points, we needed to get a little momentum back,” Croft said. “It was a big point in the game absolutely.”

Hindle almost found Baldelli again from 35 yards out as time expired in the first half, but his pass was intercepted by his quarterback counterpart/cornerback Brendan Blessing on a jump ball.

Hendricken received the second half kickoff, but the Rebels tried trickery with an onside kick. It worked in their favor, too, as they fell on the ball at midfield. However, the Hendricken defense went into higher gear in the second half, applying extra pressure to Blessing on pass plays while stuffing most rushing attempts.

The Hawks’ defense held the Rebels to fewer than 20 total yards of offense in the second half, while Hindle and company went to work putting the game out of reach.

“It’s something that we work on, spend a lot of time on pass rushing, lot of time on tackling and turnovers,” Croft said. “We had some plays where we needed to tonight. It was a little back-and-forth game. These guys were moving the ball on us. The score’s a little deceiving, but our kids made the plays when we needed to.”

Late in the third quarter, Hindle capped off a 14-play drive with a dive forward that just got over the goal line in the pile for the 2-yard touchdown. After a personal foul pushed back the extra point, Blais came up just short on his attempt. The Hawks led 27-7 with 1:57 to go in the third.

Blessing was picked off by senior captain Billy Mueller in the fourth quarter, which he then returned into Rebels’ territory at the 35. A roughing the passer penalty helped the Hawks move into the South Kingstown red zone, where Jake Derderian would score on a 1-yard touchdown.

Following another Rebels’ three-and-out, the Hawks took over at South Kingstown’s 45. Derderian dashed 39 yards through a hole in the middle to set up Hindle’s eventual 3-yard keeper on fourth down for the score. Blais hit the extra point and the Hawks took a commanding 41-7 lead with just a few minutes to go.

Blessing was sacked on the final play of the game to send the Hawks back to the Super Bowl against age-old foe La Salle.

“After a 41-7 win we’re feeling pretty confident, but we know La Salle, being the underdog they have a little chip on their shoulders,” Hindle said. “We’re just gonna have to prepare these next two weeks and be ready to go.”

Before Hendricken travels to Cranston Stadium on Dec. 5 for a rematch of last year’s championship game with the Rams, it will go to Toll Gate for its 43rd annual matchup with the Titans on Thanksgiving.

Since Warwick Vets is shutting down after this year, the possible reshuffling of Thanksgiving opponents could mean this is the last holiday matchup between the two squads.

“It’s sad,” Croft said. “I played here back in the heyday when they were in Division I and there were a few years we couldn’t beat them. Coach [Jim] Stringfellow’s done a nice job with that program over the last few years. They’ve had a pretty good year, so I told these guys we start preparing for Toll Gate tomorrow [this past Saturday].”

The Hawks have won the last 23 contests against Toll Gate on Turkey Day, with the Titans’ latest victory coming in 1991. Hendricken leads the all-time series 35-8.

Once all the festivities come to a close, though, it’s back to business for the Hawks as they prepare for the Super Bowl. La Salle is fresh off a hard-fought 34-20 victory over East Providence in the semifinals, and will surely be out for revenge after the Hawks crushed the Rams 53-23 in Providence on senior night on Nov. 6.

“It’s hard to explain,” Hindle said about playing in the Hendricken-La Salle rivalry. “You know that, obviously, they’re your biggest opponents and biggest rival. You always wanna play La Salle in the Super Bowl, and that’s what everyone’s looking for. So, hopefully we can get out there and take it to them.”

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