The Bishop Hendricken football team continues to breeze through its Division I schedule, with its latest triumph coming via a 42-0 thumping of Cranston East on Friday night.

After playing their first three division games on the road, the Hawks didn’t disappoint in their home opener against the ’Bolts.

However, the game didn’t quite start as planned.

It poured for roughly the first 10 minutes of the game, making it tough for either team to move the ball. And when the rain finally did let up, lightning was spotted in the distance, prompting the referees to call a lightning delay that lasted around 40 minutes.

The delay proved to be beneficial for the Hawks.

Play resumed with 1:12 remaining in the first quarter and the game scoreless, as the Hawks continued their drive from East’s 26-yard line.

On the first play from scrimmage, Chris Hindle fired a strike down the right sideline to Trevor Lawton for a gain of 24 yards.

Kwity Paye then plunged into the end zone from two yards out for the game’s first score with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter. Ryan Blais would add the extra point to give Hendricken a 7-0 lead.

From there, the wheels gradually began to fall off for East.

Hawks’ cornerback Anthony Witherstone intercepted East quarterback Randy Duran near midfield and was tackled at East’s 42-yard line. That would set up another Hendricken score.

With 7:22 to play in the second quarter, Paye scored his second of three touchdowns in the first half on a 16-yard run. Matt DiTondo got in on the action exactly three minutes later when he followed a hole and sprinted into 41 yards of open turf to up Hendricken’s lead to 21-0.

Hendricken wasn’t done there, though. It would strike once more before the break.

East was set to punt the ball away deep in its own end, but punter Jaireal Rodriguez fumbled the snap. He would regain control of the ball, but Paye wrapped him up and took him down at the 1-yard line.

After the special teams play, Paye was rewarded with the goal-line carry, as he powered his way into the end zone for the third time in less than 10 minutes to give Hendricken a 28-0 lead.

Witherstone would intercept Duran again with 58 seconds left in the first half, but the Hawks were content with taking the 28-point lead into the break, as they ran out the clock with a pair of rushes.

Hendricken head coach Keith Croft was pleased with the all-around effort of his team. The Hawks were the more physical team, overpowering the ’Bolts on both sides of the football.

“We’ve challenged these guys and we want to play physical football,” Croft said. “I think they responded tonight. A lot of people around have questioned whether we’re a physical football team, and that’s really something we’ve been working on the last few weeks.”

Paye definitely provided that physical style of play that Croft and the Hawks were looking for on Friday night.

The junior laid some punishing hits on defense, while powering his way for 64 yards and three scores on six carries out of the backfield.

“He’s a special player, a unique talent,” Croft said of Paye. “He’s a guy we’ve really challenged in the last week or so because we want him to take his game to another level – because we think he can. We definitely saw some signs of that tonight.”

With the wet conditions on Friday night, Croft thought that it would be a good opportunity to utilize a physical player like Paye out of the backfield.

“We’ve been working it all year, I just thought that with the conditions tonight, we had the opportunity to run the ball a little bit better,” Croft said when asked how often Paye would be utilized out of the backfield. “I think he’ll probably get a little more work as the season goes on.”

Although the Hawks gave a number of key players some rest with the comfortable lead in the second half, they continued to control the game.

Just over three minutes into the second half, Jake Derderian gave the Hawks a 35-0 lead with a run into the end zone from a yard out.

Bret Langlais would add the Hawks’ final score on a 30-yard dash to pay dirt to make it 42-0 after another extra point from Blais.

Hendricken’s defense would hold strong in the second half much like it did in the first to secure the shutout.

John Anderson was the leading rusher for East, managing 59 yards on 12 carries.

Kurt Rousseau was the Hawks’ leading rusher, as he compiled 80 yards on just six rushes in the second half.

The Hawks now sit at 4-0 in Division I, while the ’Bolts fell to 1-2 in the standings.

After outscoring its opponents 112-7 over the last three weeks, Hendricken is rolling, but its toughest games are still ahead. The Hawks will host a pair of one-win teams – Cumberland and Cranston West – over the next two weeks, but they will then close out their season against La Salle and South Kingstown – the only other undefeated teams remaining in Division I.

Croft knows that, but isn’t underestimating any team. He feels that, although some scores have been lopsided, Hendricken’s opponents have been playing it tough.

“I thought East played us tough in the first half, although the score may have been a bit deceiving at halftime,” Croft said. “We really didn’t have many big plays, we had to grind it out against them. We really like to break the games down. Although the score may say one thing, these teams have given us some tough battles.”

The Hawks will look to stay unbeaten when they host 1-3 Cumberland on Friday night at 7 p.m.