The Hendricken Hawks ousted the South Kingstown Rebels 39-14 in their season finale at Hendricken on Friday night. The two teams will play again next week in the Division I semifinals.

Hendricken head coach Keith Croft thought the win was bittersweet.

“We had a good game,” Croft said. “Obviously, it’s a little bit different of a feeling knowing that we will be playing them again next week in the playoffs. I thought one of the things we talked about at halftime was assignments and execution, and in the second half we seemed to do a little bit better with that than we did in the first.”

The Hawks pulled off a squib kick on the opening kickoff and recovered it deep in South Kingstown territory, at the 37-yard line. From there, the Hawks would dominate until the final horn.

After a 3-yard rush on first down, fullback Kwity Paye rushed 26 yards down the right sideline to the South Kingstown 14-yard line. Next, running back Jake Derderian rushed nine yards to the South Kingstown 5-yard line. A false start on the Hawks pushed the offense back five yards to the 10-yard line. That would only delay the inevitable, as Paye rushed right for the touchdown. After a false start on the Hawks pushed the extra point attempt back five yards, kicker Kevin Budzenski came up short from 15 yards out. The Hawks led 6-0 with 9:53 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Matt Gutelius returned it to the South Kingstown 37-yard line. Running back Terell Handley rushed three times. The first time he ran for a 2-yard gain, before taking the next rush 12 yards to the Hendricken 49-yard line, for a first down. After Handley took the rock again for four yards, quarterback Brendan Blessing fumbled the snap and the Hawks recovered it and took over at their own 40-yard line.

Derderian juked a defender before spinning by another and ran to the South Kingstown 48-yard line for another first down. Wide receiver Andrew Hopgood took the next run for four yards to the South Kingstown 45-yard line. On the next snap, wide receiver and captain Caleb Wurster ran left down the sideline for a touchdown to increase the Hawks’ lead to 12-0. This time, Budzenski’s extra point went through the uprights and the Hawks led 13-0 with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

South Kingstown started its next possession at its own 25-yard line after the kickoff. On first down, running back Anthony Shepard rushed right 35 yards to the Hendricken 40-yard line. After a 5-yard rush, Handley charged forward for a first down. On the next two downs, the backs ran two times, totaling eight yards. Then, on fourth-and-2, Handley rushed four yards for another first down. However, on the next play in the Hendricken red zone, Blessing’s throw to the end zone was intercepted by Hopgood.

The Hawks took back possession at their own 20-yard line and immediately took advantage. On first down, Hindle threw deep to tight end Trevor Lawton for an 80-yard touchdown completion. The Hawks increased their lead to 20-0.

Gutelius returned the next kickoff to the South Kingstown 38-yard line. On first down, Shepard ran right down the sideline to the Hendricken 44-yard line for another first down. After Shepard ran nine yards on second down, Handley took the rock two yards for a first down at the 50-yard line. Next, Shepard rushed seven yards to the Hendricken 43-yard line. Then, Shepard took it again for a 3-yard run. On third down, Handley ran for five yards and another South Kingstown first down. On the next three plays, South Kingstown ran Shepard, who was stuffed by the Hawks’ defense, losing eight yards total. On fourth-and-17 from the Hendricken 28-yard line, Blessing threw incomplete, over the head of wide receiver Myshon Coppock.

The Hawks then took over possession. On first down, Derderian rushed 11 yards for a first down. After a holding penalty against South Kingstown on the next down moved the ball to the Hendricken 49-yard line, running back Matthew DiTondo rushed 31 yards down the sideline to the South Kingstown 20-yard line. A 5-yard penalty against South Kingstown for a block in the back attached five yards to the end of the run, moving the ball to the South Kingstown 15-yard line. Next, Hindle threw a swing pass to Hopgood, who ran eight yards. On second-and-2, from the 7-yard line, DiTondo was stopped for no gain. On third down, Hindle was sacked for a loss of eight yards, pushing Hendricken back to the 15-yard line. On fourth down, Hindle was clutch, throwing to the end zone to wide receiver Dante Baldelli for the touchdown. The Hawks went up 27-0 with 6:33 left in the first half.

The bad plays would continue for South Kingstown, but Hendricken couldn’t capitalize this time. On the ensuing kickoff return, Handley fumbled and Paye recovered it for the Hawks at the South Kingstown 30-yard line. On first down, Derderian rushed three yards. The Hawks were flagged for holding on second down and pushed back ten yards. On second-and-17, Wurster ran 15 yards to the South Kingstown 24-yard line. On third down, Hindle rushed three yards for a first down. After Derderian was held to a yard on the next two plays, Hindle quarterback sneaked for six yards. On fourth-and-3 from the 9-yard line, Derderian ran left before fumbling and South Kingstown recovered and took over at its own 4-yard line. South Kingstown couldn’t move the chains on fourth down and punted into Hendricken territory to end the half.

Hendricken received the second half kickoff and started at its own 36-yard line. On first down, DiTondo rushed left five yards to the 41-yard line. Then, Derderian ran twice for a total of eight yards. On third down, DiTondo ran eight yards for a first down to the South Kingstown 25-yard line. Next, DiTondo ran again, four yards to the 21. Then, Derderian ran left for a first down. On the next play, Derderian ran again, this time for the touchdown. With 8:55 left in the third quarter, the Hawks led 33-0. The extra point attempt by Budzenski was blocked by South Kingstown.

After Matthew Narkevicius returned the ensuing kickoff, the Rebels started at their own 31-yard line. After South Kingstown lost a yard on first down, Shepard rushed 47 yards down the sideline to the Hendricken 23-yard line. On first down, Handley took the rock ten yards to the 14-yard line. On second down-and-short, Handley plowed forward four yards for another first down. Handley rushed again, this time up the middle to the Hendricken 5-yard line. After running two yards on the previous play, Handley ran three yards in for the score. The extra point kick by Tristan Kozul was good to pull his team to 33-7 with 5:29 left in the third quarter.

The Hawks took possession at their own 37-yard line after the kickoff. For the second time on the night, the Hawks would score on their first play of the drive. On first down, DiTondo ran 63 yards to the pay dirt to give Hendricken a 39-7 cushion with 5:15 left in the third quarter.

South Kingstown couldn’t get anything going on its next drive and punted to the Hendricken 44-yard line. Hendricken would move the ball to the South Kingstown 28-yard line, before turning the ball over on downs. Then, South Kingstown had another three-and-out drive before punting again.

The Hawks took over possession at the 50-yard line. After a 6-yard run by running back Kurt Rousseau, running back Rondie Almeida ran the rock for the first down to the South Kingstown 40-yard line. But on third down, Rousseau fumbled and South Kingstown linebacker Robert Sprague recovered it and ran to the Hawk 33-yard line. Sprague, playing running back, ran 12 yards to the South Kingstown 21-yard line. Next, Sprague ran seven yards to the 14-yard line. On the next play, running back Paul Gonsalves rushed to the 10-yard line. Then, Sprague took the rock three times. The last run was a touchdown from four yards out. The score pulled South Kingstown to 39-14.

After the Hawks managed a first down on the final drive, they kneeled to run out the clock.

Coach Croft said that he has a lot of respect for South Kingstown.

“They are a heck of a football team,” Croft said. “They’ve got the best running back (Shepard) that we’ve seen all year. He’s dangerous when he gets in the open field. So, we have to do a better job tackling him next week.”

While the Hawks won convincingly, Croft thinks his players need to work on some things in the coming week to prepare for the rematch.

“We have to focus on ball security this week and focus on some takeaways defensively,” Croft said. “There’s a couple things that we’ve got to clean up.”