Five!

Hawks crush Rams for unprecedented fifth straight Super Bowl crown

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 12/9/14

It had never been done before until Saturday afternoon.

The Bishop Hendricken football team became the first team in Rhode Island history to win five straight Super Bowl titles, defeating …

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Five!

Hawks crush Rams for unprecedented fifth straight Super Bowl crown

Posted

It had never been done before until Saturday afternoon.

The Bishop Hendricken football team became the first team in Rhode Island history to win five straight Super Bowl titles, defeating top-seeded La Salle 32-7 for the Division I crown at Cranston Stadium.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hendricken head coach Keith Croft said. “It doesn’t feel a heck of a lot different from any of the other ones, except for maybe the first one. You don’t expect that score going in and I don’t really think the game played like that. La Salle had us on the ropes a few times. But our guys just stayed with it and made some plays.”

Senior quarterback John Toppa received Most Valuable Player honors, as he ran for 177 yards and three touchdowns, while completing eight passes for 104 yards and another touchdown.

Toppa decided to return to football this year after taking a year off to focus on baseball. After Saturday, he’s glad that his decision paid off.

“It’s great, I don’t think I could be any happier right now,” Toppa said. “It was amazing how easy the coaches made my transition. I went from not playing for a year to starting for the best team in the state. Along the way, the coaches were always giving me constructive criticism—things I’m doing well, things I’m not doing well. To get this win is just awesome.”

Taking a 12-7 lead into halftime, the Hawks scored 20 unanswered points in the second half, as the Hawks’ defense completely minimized any offensive production from the Rams.

It was assumed coming into the game that the weather elements would favor La Salle’s physical running game, but Hendricken’s defense proved doubters wrong in a big way.

The Hawks’ defense held a Rams’ running attack that featured standout backs Kyron Lopes and Don’Trae Odufunade to just 58 total rushing yards, including just 12 in the second half.

“Most of the time you see it going to their big 1 and 2, and they’re tough to take down,” senior John Arruda said. “That’s what killed us in the first game, not tackling. We really stressed finishing our tackles on them and we did a great job.”

It didn’t take long for the Hawks to put La Salle on its heels, as Toppa broke free for a 43-yard score just 51 seconds into the game, giving Hendricken an early 6-0 lead.

The Hawks marched down to La Salle’s 35-yard line late in the first quarter looking to add to their lead, but eventually turned the ball over on downs.

It was a defensive stalemate until midway through the second quarter, when Hendricken constructed a long drive.

The Hawks drove into La Salle territory, but faced a third-and-11. However, on third down Trevor Lawton drew a pass interference call on La Salle defensive back Jermaine Moore to bring up a third-and-1.

Toppa was able to pick up the first down on a keeper on the next play.

Just a few plays later, Moore received another pass interference penalty that brought Hendricken down to the 9-yard line.

After a 3-yard run by Toppa on first down, Lee Moses found the end zone from 6 yards out on the next play, giving Hendricken a 12-0 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.

“I tip my hat to the O-line,” Moses said. “Those guys have been working hard since we started in June. Those guys really stepped up today. I’m really proud of them.”

The Rams were able to answer right back.

For the first time in the game, La Salle’s offense showed some life on the ensuing drive.

Despite facing a fourth-and-5 near midfield, Jace Pena was able to complete an 18-yard pass to C.J. Waite to continue La Salle’s drive.

The drive ultimately resulted in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Pena to senior captain Henry Dunphy in the right corner of the end zone, as Dunphy was able to haul it in and just get a foot inbounds. Andrew Salzillo’s extra point cut La Salle’s deficit to 12-7 heading into halftime.

But coming out of the locker room for the decisive half, Hendricken’s championship pedigree showed.

Less than five minutes into the third quarter, the Hawks capped off a drive with a 1-yard keeper by Toppa into the end zone. Flint’s extra point gave Hendricken a 19-7 lead.

The Hawks’ defense then made its biggest stop of the game, not allowing the Rams to build any momentum after a touchdown and forcing a punt.

That proved to be critical, as Toppa found Lawton for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 2:36 remaining in the third quarter to give Hendricken a 26-7 lead. The touchdown came on a fouth-and-6 play.

Lawton was someone who flew under the radar in the weeks leading up to the big game. The big 6-foot-5 junior receiver transferred from West Warwick this year, but he had some positive playoff experience, helping the Wizards to a Division II Super Bowl title.

"We kept that kind of quiet,” Croft said when asked about Lawton. “We were hopeful that he was going to have a big game. You forget about him, but he won a Super Bowl last year in West Warwick, so he's played in big games.”

With a lot of attention placed on other weapons in Hendricken’s offense, Croft felt like Lawton could make an impact and he certainly did, catching five balls for 75 yards and a touchdown.

“We felt like with what they were going to do defensively with Moses and Power Kanga, somebody was going to be open,” Croft said. “You can't cover everyone and we knew that."

While Hendricken’s offense continued to click, so did its defense.

The Hawks allowed just 33 total yards of offense in the second half en route to shutting out the Rams.

“We knew that if we were just able to stop them, then our offense would score,” sophomore Kwity Paye said.

Toppa added some insurance in a big way with 7:25 left in the game, when he found a hole in the defense and got loose for a 73-yard touchdown, the longest offensive play of the game. The score gave the Hawks a 32-7 lead.

Coming into the game Croft knew that his offensive line could be better, and that unit showed up. The Hawks rushed for a total of 282 yards against a Rams’ defense that was ranked second in the state.

“They stepped up today,” Croft said. “We put some pressure on them and told them coming in that it was pretty much all on them. There was nothing else we could do with our skilled guys, we had to get the offensive line to block. It wasn’t so much dominating blocking, it was more of just hitting their assignments and they did that.”

Toppa echoed Croft’s praises, as he was a direct beneficiary of the standout play from the offensive line.

“After we lost to them, the O-line took a lot of heat,” Toppa said. “But to just bounce back like they did and completely control the line of scrimmage was unbelievable.”

The Hawks’ second leading rusher in the game was Moses with 54 yards, followed by Kanga with 46 yards.

Besides being the Hawks’ fifth straight D-I title, it was the school’s 11th overall, moving Hendricken into sole possession of fourth for total D-I titles.

“We just wanted to protect the legacy and keep it going,” Moses said. “That’s exactly what we did.”

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