PEABODY – Bishop Fenwick bolstered its playoff chances with a dominant football performance over Cathedral, 58-22.
After struggling to start the game, the Crusaders became a completely different team after halftime, scoring six of their eight touchdowns in the second half.
“We have a lot of talented kids, sometimes we need to be a little more focused and lock in a little better at times,” Bishop Fenwick David Woods said. “But we have the ability to be a really good team. We’re almost there.”
Cathedral (5-2) took it to Fenwick (3-4) early, as senior running back Dj Desir took the first snap of the game 66 yards for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead.
The Crusaders responded quickly with a nine-play, 60-yard drive that ended with a two-yard plunge from senior captain running back Tyler Connolly, but a missed PAT kept them from taking the lead. The Panthers struck back when Desir went on a 29-yard scamper to extend the lead to 14-6. This would be the last lead that they would hold.
Junior quarterback Andrew Kiricopoles found fellow senior captain in running back Dylan Patterulli on a perfectly drawn up screen for a 29-yard score following a fake punt. The two-point conversion was successful to make it 14-14 with just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter. This was where the score would stay until the end of the first half.
“We had some dropped passes, fumbles, missed blocks, and defensively we had a few lapses,” Woods said. “So at half we said that they’re running the offense and defense that we prepared for. We just didn’t execute very well.”
Bishop Fenwick stomped down the field to start the third quarter by running every play of the drive, resulting in a 46-yard touchdown run from Patteruli, Connolly got the two-point conversion to make it 22-14. Cathedral would manage one more touchdown when senior QB Xavier Roman hit Jahsannie JeanMichel on a slant on which he tossed from 33 yards away.
Fenwick would score on the rest of its possessions the rest of the night. Additionally, junior linebacker Odin Garron added a pick-six that he took back from 52 yards away. The touchdowns the rest of the way included a pass from Kircopoles to Connelly from 38 yards, a one-yard run from Patterulli, a seven-yard run from Patterulli, and a punt return touchdown from sophomore Damon Mataragas from 29 yards.
“We’ve built some scar tissue with some of our close losses this year, three losses by under a touchdown,” Woods said. “But the biggest thing we’ve seen is that when we have a strong week of preparation, then we play well. We didn’t have a great week this week, last week against Bishop Feehan we had a great week and played a great game. That’s what we’re learning. We just need to be more locked in going forward.”
