PEABODY — Junior running back David Cifuentes and the Bishop Fenwick football team cruised to their first Catholic Central League win of the season with a 42-14 win over Arlington Catholic at Donaldson Stadium.
“Arlington Catholic had two weeks to prepare for us and they did a great job taking away what we like to do,” Fenwick coach Dave Woods said. “Right from the start you could see they weren’t going to let George Fiskatoris and Stefano Fabiano catch many balls so we had to adapt and do some other things.
“They were leaving five guys in the box and allowing David to run the ball. It was a good sign that we were able to adapt and take what they were giving us.”
Cifuentes was explosive for Fenwick, running for 127 yards and three touchdowns while also adding a 83-yard touchdown reception in the first half.
“He’s an explosive kid and just a hard worker,” Woods said of Cifuentes. “If the opportunity’s there he definitely takes advantage of it.”
The Crusader offense was also led by quarterbacks Jason Romans and Chrys Wilson, who have filled in for injured senior starter Cory Bright. Both Romans and Wilson threw a touchdown pass.
“It’s unbelievable and they’re our second and third best quarterbacks behind Cory,” Woods said. “When Cory’s back it’s just going to make it that much more fun to run the offense. Those three guys, all three of them, they’re great kids and they work hard together. It just makes it fun to coach when you have kids like that.”
After receiving the ball to start the game, it didn’t take the Crusaders long to find the end zone. Cifuentes found an opening on the second play from scrimmage to run for a 43-yard score and placed Fenwick ahead 7-0.
Later in the first quarter the Cougars blocked a punt to start off in great field position at midfield. Arlington Catholic made the most of the opportunity with a touchdown on a 4-yard run by Josh Smith. Quarterback Riley Donovan (25-of-33 pass attempts for 161 yards with one touchdown) converted the two-point conversion to put the Cougars ahead 8-7.
The Crusaders answered fast with a touchdown of their own on their next drive. On 3rd-and-12, Wilson found Cifuentes on a screen pass and the junior broke several tackles on his way to a 83-yard score, regaining the lead for Fenwick at 14-8.
Later in the second quarter the Crusaders put together another scoring drive, this time led by Romans. The drive was highlighted by a 34-yard pass to Keegan O’Connor and a 15-yard touchdown run from Joe Rivers to extend the lead to 21-8.
Cifuentes later added a 7-yard touchdown run to put Fenwick ahead 28-8 before the half.
Fenwick ran two plays on its next two drives, scoring touchdowns on both. Romans threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to O’Connor and Cifuentes later broke off a 50-yard touchdown run to give the Crusaders a 42-14 lead and put the game well out of Arlington Catholic’s reach.
Bishop Fenwick (3-1) travels to Braintree next week for another CCL game against Archbishop Williams Friday night (7).
“They’re another league opponent,” Woods said of Archbishop Williams. “It just gets harder and harder every week. We have to turn it up every week and just keep working hard. It’ll be good to get our second league game under our belt.”
