Game closes curtain on a terrific aerial show

READING – The Bishop Fenwick football team went down Thursday the way it has played most of this season – slinging the ball all over the yard – so it was fitting that the last completion of Bishop Fenwick quarterback Bret Kidik’s career would be an 11-yard connection to Ryan Lipka in the waning seconds of Thursday’s 38-8 holiday loss to Austin Prep.u’They’ve been a great group. They will be remembered and they will be missed.’Dave WoodsFenwick coach,About this year’s teamuThe two were the prime operatives in an aerial display unlike any the state has seen. Kidik completed 18 passes for 192 yards and his 23rd touchdown pass of the season, surpassing 2,700 yards passing in the process. Lipka hauled in nine passes for 105 yards in the finale to finish with a state record 114 catches for more than 1,200 yards and seven TDs.”They didn’t have a great day today, but a good day. They missed on a few things but, in the big picture, they did some things this season that I’ve never seen before and we may never see again,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods.”The thing is, they’re both great kids and great leaders. They’ve been fun to coach and I’m going to miss them.”Senior Jake Bugler, a converted guard, emerged as Kidik’s second option as the season evolved. Woods pointed out “Jake was overshadowed a bit by Ryan, but he put up some incredible numbers in his own right.”There certainly was no questioning any of the seniors’ compete level Thursday. Trailing 26-0 late in the third period, Kidik pounded the turf at Father Seymour Field in disgust when he slipped and lost his footing on a quarterback draw at the Austin Prep nine-yard line just when it appeared a seam to the end zone had opened.He quickly gathered himself and found Bugler with a strike for the Crusaders’ lone score on the next play.Even on the game’s final possession, Kidik had the Crusaders hustling up to the line while executing a two-minute drill during which he completed five passes, two to Lipka and another to Bugler.Woods had nothing but praise for his seniors.”They’re part of the Bishop Fenwick football family now for the rest of their lives. They’ve been a great group. They will be remembered and they will be missed,” he said.uTwo plays encapsulated the frustration that has marked the second half of the Crusaders’ campaign.The first came on the last play of the first quarter when Fenwick was flagged for a major penalty on an Austin Prep punt, turning the ball back over to the Cougars at the Fenwick 45 to start the second period. Austin Prep proceeded to finish off what was, in effect, a 60-yard scoring drive that increased its lead to 18-0.Midway through the second period, faced with fourth-and-one at their own 46 and needing a score desperately to get back into the game, the Prep defense smothered Fenwick for no gain. The Cougars took over and executed an eight-play scoring drive that expanded their lead to 26-0 at the break.uFenwick continues to lead the all-time series, 21-20-2, including a 6-3 edge on Thanksgiving ? Four Peabody residents – senior linemen Zack Vieira and Andrew Freedman, junior end Rich McMahon and sophomore back Nick Vitale – dressed for Austin Prep.