Fenwick remains undefeated in convincing win over Weston

PEABODY – A crisp autumn evening acted as the background for a crisp Fenwick performance in their win over Weston, 34-14 at Brother Donnelly Field on Friday night.The Crusaders stayed undefeated, running their record to 5-0, after efficiently scoring on five of their six possessions. On the other side of the ball, each Weston possession saw the Fenwick defense grow more stout and stronger.”The score came as a surprise to me,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods. “Weston is a very good team with some good wins.”Each of the first three possessions for the Crusaders were capped by a Rufus Rushins touchdown. Rushins finished the night with a total of 137 yards on the ground, and scored from one, eight, and 11 yards out. The three touchdowns pushed Fenwick out to a 20-7 halftime lead.”Our offensive line was tremendous tonight,” said Woods. “Even in short yardage situations where they were putting eight and nine guys in the box, our offensive line was able to handle them and we were able to move the ball.”The Weston (3-2) offense features a high level of talent at all of the skill positions and has substantial potential to put up scores in bunches. In the first quarter, the Wildcats were able to move 79 yards down field in just eight plays, scoring on a 24-pyard strike from Brett Rowe to Deandre Molyneaux.However, after that Weston score, the Fenwick defense buckled down. Each time it seemed Weston was gaining momentum, the Crusaders broke the Wildcats. In the first half, with Fenwick only leading 12-7, Eric Razney came up with an interception. In the second half, the potential of the Wildcat offense was completely snuffed out by Fenwick. The Crusaders defense did not allow a first down until there was under four minutes remaining in the game, at which point Fenwick had already grown their lead to 34-7. A Greg Collier interception and a Rushins sack of Rowe for a 10-yard loss highlighted the Fenwick defensive performance in the second half.”Our defense turned it up in the second half. It is a good sign for our team that they were able to play well against that kind of offense,” said Woods.In the second half for Fenwick, after focusing their energy on the rushing game, the Crusaders opened up their offense. Hannon began to connect on the outside with receivers, ultimately throwing two touchdown passes, one to Nick Bona and another to Matt Renzulli. Hannon finished the night with six completions for 85 yards, while adding another 69 yards in rushing.”In the second half we started to take advantage of what (Weston) was giving us on defense,” said Woods. “They started to defend against Rushins and Hannon in the run so we tried to take advantage.”