Fenwick falls behind early, but comes back for victory

PEABODY – An unseasonably warm mist fell over Bishop Fenwick on Thanksgiving morning and while the crowd shook off early morning cobwebs and strolled into the stadium, both Fenwick and visiting Austin Prep readied themselves to take the field in the one of the old Massachusetts traditions.By the time the mist cleared and the sun broke through the clouds to highlight the New England foliage, the Crusaders had completed a 28-16 victory behind power running and timely defense.The obvious focus coming into this game was Fenwick running back Bobby Tarr. This was the final game of a great high school career for Tarr, and all eyes were on the quick running back.Austin Prep, however, had different plans for Tarr in the first half. By bringing up to nine guys into the box, the Cougars’ defense was able to stifle Tarr. The first two Fenwick possessions resulted in no points and only 11 yards for Tarr on six carries.Meanwhile the Austin Prep offense was doing what it could to keep Fenwick off the field. On the Cougars’ first possession, they put together a 10-play drive that came to grinding half when Pat Holleran made a great tackle to drop Cougar running back Pat Delaney short of the first down at the Fenwick 10-yard line.The second possession proved just as long, but this time around the 13-play, seven- minute symphony of short runs concluded with Dan Ellis pounding the ball in from the one to give the Cougars an 8-0 lead.It was not long before Fenwick got right back in the game. The ensuing possession was a 47-yard drive that ended with a Dan Kennedy touchdown from 10 yards out. The conversion failed and Fenwick hit the locker room at the half trailing 8-6.”We had to switch up how we were running with Tarr and Kennedy. They were able to stop us in the first half and we had to adjust,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods. “They just keyed on Tarr and stopped what we like to do.”The second half turned out to be a different story for Fenwick. The Crusaders opened the half receiving and immediately started to hand the ball off to – you guessed it – Kennedy. However, after Kennedy ate up 36 yards, Fenwick went back to the bread and butter of the offense, Tarr. Three straight carries later, Tarr danced into the end zone from 18 yards out to give Fenwick a 14-8 lead.An onside kick recovered by Dale Crispan immediately gave the ball back to Fenwick. This time the Crusaders took their time running the ball and the clock. A 12-play drive culminated with Tarr scoring from two yards out. Tarr finished the game with two touchdowns and 131 yards rushing. The total was Tarr’s lowest of the season for one game.”I actually thought we did a good job on him (Tarr) this year. He’s burned us in the past, but they ran him and our kids came up strong,” said Ausin Prep coach Bill Maradei. “You can’t stop all of these guys. You can try to stop Tarr. We stopped him, if you consider over 130 stopping him.””I think the biggest difference in the two halves was our blocking. In the second half, our offensive line came out and blocked better. That’s it. That’s all it came down to,” said Woods. “When you have good blocking, guys like Tarr and Kennedy are going to come and out and run well.”When Fenwick kicked off with the 20-8 lead, Austin Prep had a chance to finally run its first play of a the second half, with 1:28 remaining in the third quarter. The possession was short lived as Kennedy came up with an interception, which he returned 60 yards for a touchdown. The great defensive play put the Crusaders up 28-8 and the victory dances started on the Fenwick sideline.On the ensuing Austin Prep possession, Kennedy decided to come out for an encore of his previous play. However, this time he improved on the original design and made a spectacular one handed leaping interception.”I told Woods after the game, that is the best interception I have ever seen in a game,” said Maradei.”Kennedy had a good game all around,” said Woods. “He came up big for us on defense and played ve