Top-ranked Hawks win shootout with No. 3 Eagles

Kevin Pomeroy
Posted 10/7/14

Two weeks ago, the Bishop Hendricken football team won with defense. Friday night, the Hawks used an entirely different style.

But, as usual, they got the job done.

Top-ranked Hendricken …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Top-ranked Hawks win shootout with No. 3 Eagles

Posted

Two weeks ago, the Bishop Hendricken football team won with defense. Friday night, the Hawks used an entirely different style.

But, as usual, they got the job done.

Top-ranked Hendricken exploded for its biggest offensive performance of the year, as quarterback John Toppa ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more in a 41-32 shootout victory over No. 3 Barrington.

At 3-0 in Division I, the Hawks are at the top of the league, a half-game ahead of 2-0 La Salle, which is coming off of a bye week. Barrington fell to 1-2, but its other loss was to the Rams by a single point.

Hendricken had to work for this one. It trailed twice in the first half at 6-0 and 20-17, trailed 26-20 in the second half and was forced to hold off a potential game-tying Barrington drive that reached the Hawks’ 8-yard line in the middle of the fourth quarter.

“It was wild,” said Hendricken head coach Keith Croft. “I think these games can build a little character. I’m happy to win some close games against a really good team. I have every expectation that they’re going to be a playoff team.”

Coming off a game in which the offense didn’t click perfectly but the defense led the way in a 14-0 win over Portsmouth, offense more than carried the day for the Hawks with 334 total yards on Friday.

Toppa was the top performer both through the air and on the ground. He threw for 160 yards, with touchdown passes of 27 yards to Andrew Hopgood and 55 yards to Caleb Wurster, and he ran for 123 yards, scoring on scampers of 14, 20 and 4 yards.

The rest of the team combined for just 51 yards of offense.

“The main thing that you try to do is just get better every single week,” Toppa said. “You’re going to have your good things and bad things, but as long as you know and acknowledge what your bad things are and work on them, that’s how you get better.”

In a game that ended up being decided by only nine points, Toppa made perhaps the night’s most crucial play at the end of the first half.

After Barrington’s Nick Jensen had just caught a touchdown pass from Jake DeMarco with 41 seconds left in the half, putting the Eagles up 20-17, Hendricken took over on its own 45-yard line.

On the first play, Toppa dropped back and escaped the grasp of a Barrington defender, got himself some throwing room and heaved a ball all the way to the front of the end zone, where Wurster had single coverage with a Barrington defensive back. The defensive back fell down and Wurster leapt to make the catch, then trotted across the goal line for a touchdown.

The miracle play gave Hendricken a 24-20 lead at the break.

“It’s Toppa’s ability to scramble,” Croft said. “He kept the play alive. He threw it up, because in that situation it’s as good as a punt if it gets intercepted. Caleb Wurster made a big play, and obviously that was a big momentum swing to end the half.”

The score proved to be even bigger when Barrington came out to start the second half and, after a Hendricken three-and-out, marched 64 yards in eight plays, capped with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by DeMarco, his second such score of the day.

The two-point conversion was no good, but the Eagles were on top 26-24.

“It was a fun game, back and forth,” Toppa said. “It definitely gets nerve-wracking scoring a big touchdown, they break a big play and then having to go back out. But that’s part of the game. It was fun.”

It looked fun on Hendricken’s next possession, as Toppa hooked up with Hopgood for 10 yards, then broke off three consecutive runs totaling 42 yards, the third of which got him into the end zone from 20 yards out. Gary Gibbs ran in the two-point conversion to make it 32-26, and Hendricken would never trail again.

Barrington went three-and-out on its next possession and Hendricken standout Lee Moses tried to make it hurt, taking a punt back 55 yards for a touchdown on a reverse from Bret Langlais. But the punt was called back due to a holding penalty, and Hendricken fumbled the ball back to Barrington two plays later.

Yet the Eagles went three-and-out again, and again the Hawks ran the reverse on the punt return. This time it worked without a penalty, as Moses took it 45 yards to Barrington’s 10-yard line. Two plays later, Toppa was in the end zone and Ryan Blais’s extra point put the Hawks up 39-26 with 34 seconds left in the third quarter.

It was the first time that either team had led by two scores.

“We had some big plays with the special teams tonight between kick returns and punt returns,” Croft said. “When you have big penalties and they come back, it just negates everything you do. That’s something we’ve got to work on.”

That looked like it might be the knockout blow, but on the ensuing kickoff, Barrington’s Colin Vatter broke through the middle and went 88 yards for a touchdown to bring the Eagles within 39-32.

Another Hendricken fumble on its next possession set the Eagles up near midfield with a chance to tie the score.

A few plays later, Barrington had first-and-goal from the 8-yard line. But a false start penalty backed the Eagles up, and consecutive sacks by Christina Wesolowski and Kwity Paye put Barrington in a third-and-goal situation from the 35-yard line.

Still, the Eagles threatened, as Jake Gelsomino burst through the line on the next play for 25 yards, bringing up fourth down from the 10. But DeMarco’s heave to the end zone was picked off by Moses with six minutes left, and Barrington never threatened again.

“We had the third-and-35, they run down to make it fourth-and-9,” Croft said. “The kids didn’t pack it in and we held them. There were definitely some bright spots.”

Hendricken punted after the turnover and Adam Lavallee hit a beauty, pinning Barrington at its own 2-yard line. Two plays later, DeMarco was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety, putting the bow on the win.

Barrington, the only team to beat Hendricken last season, came up just a little short.

“We knew they were going to be a good team, because last year that was our only loss,” said defensive back Power Kanga. “We knew they were going to come ready and come with confidence. We had to step it up a little bit.”

DeMarco threw for 183 yards for Barrington, while Jensen ran for 61 yards. Gelsomino added 51 on the ground. Gibbs had 36 yards rushing for Hendricken, and Wurster had three catches for 72 yards.

Barrington went up 6-0 in the first half when it scored on the opening drive of the game, with DeMarco hitting Jensen on a 35-yard touchdown pass.

Hendricken took the lead at 7-6 on a Toppa 14-yard run, with consecutive passes of 13 and 23 yards to Moses helping to keep the drive alive.

Toppa found Hopgood on the Hawks’ next possession on a wide receiver screen to the right to put them up 14-6. Barrington tied the score early in the second quarter when DeMarco scored from 1 yard out and Jensen ran in the two-point conversion.

Hendricken retook the lead at 17-14 on a 25-yard Blais field goal.

Next up for the Hawks is a game at Cranston Stadium on Friday against Cranston East. Hendricken beat the ’Bolts 45-34 in last year’s D-I Super Bowl.

East is coming off of a 13-7 win over Cranston West and is 1-1.

“I don’t feel like we’re totally firing on all cylinders,” Croft said. “I think we see potential during a game – we have big plays, we see them called back. But if we don’t clean up these penalties, we’re going to stall a lot. We’re going to get on them.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here