The top-seeded Bishop Hendricken football team punched its ticket to its 15th straight Rhode Island state championship when it held off No. 4 Cumberland, 35-22, last Friday night at home.
Hendricken was up 28-22 with less than two minutes remaining at the Cumberland 38-yard line. The Hawks faced a fourth-and-1 and decided to go for it by taking the usual route … handing the ball off to running back to Jeremy Seidi.
Not only did Seidi pick up the new set of downs, but he would end the game moments later when he broke loose for a 31-yard score and send Hendricken to the finals against rival La Salle.
Hendricken quarterback Dylan Lynch opened the second half by rushing for a touchdown to give the Hawks the 28-15 lead, which was sustained until midway through the fourth quarter when Cumberland found the end zone to make it a one-score game.
Seidi got the Hawks on the board in the first quarter before Cumberland scored 15 straight points to take a 15-7 lead late in the second quarter.
That advantage was short-lived though, as Seidi and Lynch each rushed for touchdowns just before the break to make it 21-15 at halftime.
La Salle used a late surge to beat St. Ray’s 43-22 on the other side of the bracket, setting up another Hendricken-La Salle championship which is slated for this Friday night at Cranston Stadium.
“It’s really important for us. Every year our goal is to win a state championship so for our seniors, it’s good to have a chance to win another one,” said Hendricken captain Stephen Antonucci, who helped the Hawks once again win by tough play in the trenches. “It’s our physicality up front. We have a good offensive line, a good defensive line. It starts at practice, we go against the best every single day and I think our physicality won us this game.”
Seidi and Jeremy Dennis have picked up right where Oscar Weah and Ronjai Francis left off last season as the state’s best 1-2 punch out of the backfield. The Hawks and Rams typically stick to the same formula, so Hendricken will need its duo to step up one last time.
“Dennis and Seidi, those guys are beasts. No one can tackle those guys, it’s an o-lineman’s dream to have them back there,” said Antonucci, who felt the team was hungry after dropping the regular season finale to Portsmouth two weeks before.
“La Salle is a great team. Very well-coached, very disciplined. Hopefully we can game plan for them and be ready for Friday.
We had two weeks off and we had that ‘chip on your shoulder’ mentality. Every day we came ready to play, ready to practice,” said Antonucci.