The Hendricken football team set out to make a statement on Friday night, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

The Hawks squashed the hype surrounding a previously undefeated Rams’ team with a dominating 53-23 win at La Salle on Friday night in front of a packed crowd and playoff-like atmosphere.

After Hendricken’s defense forced a quick three-and-out, its offense didn’t waste any time. On the Hawks’ first play from scrimmage, Kwity Paye took a handoff and worked his way through the teeth of La Salle’s defense, dashing for a 94-yard score. Hendricken led 6-0 just over a minute into the game following a missed extra point attempt.

Hendricken would get the ball back less than a minute later when Shane Olson recovered a fumble by La Salle quarterback Jace Pena, setting up the Hawks’ offense in Rams’ territory.

A few plays later, Hendricken upped its lead to 13-0 when running back Jake Derderian found the end zone from 21 yards out.

La Salle would show some fight, though.

C.J. Waite took a handoff early in the Rams’ next possession and weaved his way through Hendricken’s defense for a 57-yard gain. Pena then hit Avien Peah with a 7-yard touchdown pass to cut La Salle’s deficit to 13-7 with 6:28 left in the opening quarter.

But Hendricken’s offense was in rare form, as it would score three more times before the first half came to a close.

Derderian scored his second touchdown of the first quarter with 1:14 left on a 2-yard plunge.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Anthony Witherstone made it 26-7 when he collected a punt at Hendricken’s 40-yard line and took it 60 yards to the end zone.

The Hawks’ high-powered offense wouldn’t slow down there.

With 10:13 left in the half, Andrew Hopgood intercepted his first of two passes on the night, setting up a 20-yard strike from Chris Hindle to Billy Mueller 47 seconds later to make it 32-7.

La Salle’s offense took over possession in the final minute of the first half, but a crucial sack by Andrew Flint on Pena pushed the Rams back into their own end, causing them to accept their 25-point deficit going into halftime.

It didn’t take long for the Hawks to increase their lead to 39-7 after the break. Just 59 seconds into the third quarter, Hindle fired a pass to the left side to Mueller, who broke a tackle before dashing 57 yards for the score.

However, the Rams showed some life after that, going on a 16-0 run over the next six minutes to cut it to a two-score game.

Waite got La Salle on the board in the second half on an 8-yard run. On the ensuing Hawks’ possession, Hendricken got pinned back at its own 1-yard line before Peah tackled Hindle in the end zone for a safety to cut La Salle’s deficit to 39-15.

The Hawks punted to La Salle following the safety, and it would convert on that drive as well.

With 5:33 left in the third quarter, La Salle’s Kyron Lopes found his way through Hendricken’s defense and into the end zone for a 27-yard score. Pena fired to the right side of the end zone and hit an open Allen Taylor for the two-point conversion to trim Hendricken’s lead to 39-23.

With 2:27 left in the third, La Salle was looking to cut down its deficit further, but Paye sacked Pena with a bone-crushing hit to turn the Rams over on downs.

Paye was rewarded with a goal line carry minutes later, and he converted, giving the Hawks a 46-23 lead.

Hendricken’s defense was dominant against the state’s top offense, forcing six turnovers in the win, including three in the fourth quarter.

As the defense continued to make its mark in the waning minutes, so did the offense.

With 6:23 left, Hendricken got its final touchdown on a 15-yard run from Matt DiTondo to increase the lead to 53-23.

Although it’s just the regular season, Friday night’s win was one that was worth enjoying.

“I’m tremendously proud,” Hendricken head coach Keith Croft said of his team. “Any time you get these guys together, it’s just a tremendous victory.”

Paye, Derderian and Mueller all scored twice for the Hawks in the win, while Hindle fired two touchdown passes.

The consistency was there for the defense too, which kept a team that was averaging over 40 points per game to just 23.

“You never come into a La Salle game saying you’re going to put up 53 points,” Croft said. “The game was closer than the score, they made it a two-score game in the second half and they did a tremendous job coming back. But I have to give our defense credit, our defense played a great game.”

The Hawks will get right back to work, though, as they have a 5-2 South Kingstown team coming in on Friday for a 7 p.m. game. Hendricken scrimmaged the Rebels back in August and Croft came away impressed.

“We scrimmaged them in August and they beat us up,” Croft said. “They’re physical and they run the ball. We’re not going in laying down, we want to win.”

With the lopsided victory over La Salle, the Hawks clinched the top seed for the Division I playoffs. Both the Hawks and Rams will host semifinal games next Friday to determine who will meet in the Super Bowl.

Although the Hawks won the first meeting with the Rams, there is a good chance that the rivals will meet again in three weeks.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Croft said. “The season’s far from over and there’s a good chance that we may see [La Salle] again.”