Coventry’s fast start too much for ’Canes

Matt Metcalf
Posted 10/14/14

Growing pains continued for the Warwick Vets High School football team Friday night, as the Hurricanes fell 55-26 to Division II-A foe Coventry High School.

The Oakers used a 28-point first …

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Coventry’s fast start too much for ’Canes

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Growing pains continued for the Warwick Vets High School football team Friday night, as the Hurricanes fell 55-26 to Division II-A foe Coventry High School.

The Oakers used a 28-point first quarter to put the game away early, scoring on rushing touchdowns of 78, 55, 37 and 11 yards.

Although the defense surrendered 515 total yards to Coventry, the Canes’ offense put together a solid performance after the first quarter, piling up 333 total yards of its own en route to a 26-point performance, a season-high. Vets was led by quarterback Nick Beaufort, who rushed for 133 yards and threw for 97 yards and two touchdowns, including an 85-yard score on a short screen pass to Matt Kelly. Kelly was also impressive, scoring a rushing and a receiving touchdown, while compiling 141 all-purpose yards.

Coventry received the ball to start the game and didn’t waste any time. On the first play from scrimmage, Jose Santos broke free for a 78-yard touchdown run, putting the Canes in an early 7-0 hole. Santos rushed for 181 yards on four carries to go along with two touchdowns in the game.

When the Oakers got the ball back just two minutes later, it was the same result. This time it was Darnell Fenwick finding the end zone on a 55-yard run, extending Coventry’s lead to 13-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Vets fumbled and Coventry recovered in Canes’ territory. That turnover would result in a Silvio Antonelli 37-yard touchdown run. Antonelli also added a two-point conversion to make it 21-0. Nicholas D’Ambra added an 11-yard touchdown at the 7:02 mark of the first quarter, giving the Oakers a 28-0 lead not even five minutes into the game.

“Their two running backs (Santos and Fenwick) were very fast,” Vets coach Bryan Nappa said. “We didn’t have anyone who could compete with them speed-wise, so if they caught the edge, we knew they were going to take it. Unfortunately with young players, sometimes they play out of position. But they learn from their mistakes, and we were able to contain the big plays in the second half.”

After a tough first quarter, however, Vets settled in. Antonelli added a 3-yard score to make it 35-0, before Warwick’s Kelly found the end zone on a 20-yard run late in the second half, cutting Vets’ deficit to 35-7 at the half.

“We got off to a pretty slow start,” Nappa said. “We were pretty banged up and we had short numbers at practice all week, so some of the guys in the game tonight didn’t have a lot of experience. It just took us a while to get up to varsity-speed. But we rallied and were able to put some points on the board down the stretch.”

Santos added an 80-yard score, while Gian Avedisian scored on a 10-yard rush in the third quarter to make it 48-7.

In the fourth quarter, Vets’ offense really started to click. On the first play of the quarter, Beaufort made a highlight reel pass on a fade to Nate Ferri for an 11-yard score, cutting Warwick’s deficit to 48-13.

Coventry would answer on a 30-yard run by Michael Abbruzzesse, before Beaufort’s screen pass to Kelly went the distance for an 85-yard touchdown.

“Matt’s actually just coming back,” Nappa said. “He hasn’t played in three weeks because he was having back spasms against Rogers. He’s a very good athlete and he’s only a sophomore. He’s also relatively new to football, but he’s a solid running back. Games like these are good experience for him and it’ll get some confidence in him as well.”

Vets found the end zone again midway through the fourth quarter on a 23-yard run by sophomore Michael Isles, trimming Coventry’s lead to 55-26.

Despite Vets’ second-half offensive explosion, it just wasn’t enough to erase the big deficit built in the first quarter.

With the loss, Vets dropped to 0-6 on the season and 0-4 in Division II-A play, while Coventry improved to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in Division II-A.

The young Vets squad will be back in action in search of its first win of the season on Friday, when it hosts Shea High School at 7 p.m.

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