The Bishop Hendricken football team reclaimed its crown on Sunday, rolling to a 35-7 win over North Kingstown in the Division I Super Bowl.

Leading 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter, the Hawks would surge to 21 unanswered points to run away with the 35-7 decision. Rival La Salle got the win in last year’s title clash, which burned the returning players from the early going this season.

“We all had it in our heads, losing that game felt bad. When practice started up in June, everyone was there. Underclassmen, seniors. Every senior was a leader this year, ‘captain’ is just a word. We came here today with energy and we took it,” said Rushaune Vilane, who was named co-MVP along with running back Ronjai Francis.

“I had a lot of the seniors from last year texting me, saying, ‘bring this home.’ I had a great connection with the seniors last year so to be able to bring this home for them, I feel accomplished,” said Francis. “Knowing that we protected the legacy, put Hendricken back on top, it’s now on the younger guys to keep it going.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Hendricken would recover a fumble at its own 27-yard line less than a minute into the fourth, which would set up an eventual rushing score by Francis to up the score to 21-7. Oscar Weah intercepted a pass on the following NK drive and would go on to rush for a score on offense to extend the lead to 28-7.

The Skippers drove deep into Hendricken territory with 20 seconds remaining in regulation, but Jeremy Seidi put the exclamation point on the win by hauling in an interception and returning it the distance.

“When we put the four’s up, that’s when you know we’re coming and we’re not going to stop,” said Vilane of the team’s fourth-quarter outburst.

Francis scored on the first drive of the second quarter to give the Hawks a 7-0 lead. Hendricken had a chance to up the lead as it drove deep into NK territory, but the Skippers would recover a Weah fumble at their own 15-yard line with 2:21 remaining. NK capitalized, breaking off a 71-yard touchdown to knot things up.

Weah made up for the error, though, leading the offense down the field and rushing for the go-ahead score less than a minute later to give Hendricken the 14-7 advantage at the break.

Francis and Weah emerged as the state’s best rushing tandem over the past two seasons and were once again a force on Sunday, combining for over 250 yards on the ground and four touchdowns.

“I still have videos of me and Oscar playing when we were 5 years old. It feels great to win a championship in our final game together. I’m at a loss for words,” said Francis.

The Hawks’ offense was brilliant on Sunday, but the defense also enjoyed its best outing of the fall as it held the high-flying Skippers to just one score while racking up four turnovers. Vilane recovered a fumble in the first quarter.

“We know our offense is going to get it done every time, but one thing that I don’t like is how no one mentions our defense. Our defense deserves that credit, they’re the real dogs. To hold that team to seven points, that’s hard to do,” said Francis.

Vilane added: “We usually start off slow, but I told them that we couldn’t today. We had to play with some dog in us, it didn’t matter about the X’s and O’s, we just had to have heart. We all had heart today and got it done.”

The duo will be graduating as the Hawks will now flip the page toward next season. Vilane, who has received Division I collegiate offers, was thrilled to finish on top as he wraps up his high school career.

“I love Hendricken, I love this team, and we all came together and formed a brotherhood. That’s what I love about Hendricken,” said Vilane.