MALDEN — The setting might have looked a little different for the Bishop Fenwick football team on Thanksgiving Eve as it renewed a rivalry with Malden Catholic, but the product on the field didn’t change a bit.
The Crusaders came in focused and hit the ground running, cruising to a 46-18 win over the Lancers on a rainy night at Brother Gilbert Field.
“We had a great week of preparation,” Fenwick coach Dave Woods said. “We had a little extra time and it showed. I think it was 26-0 before (Malden Catholic) had a first down. It showed that these guys were really focused on what they had to do on defense and offense. It was a great week of preparation and they came in with the right mindset.”
Quarterback Chrys Wilson looked sharp once again for the Crusaders, rushing for 60 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
“Chrys keeps getting better,” Woods said. “It’s funny, the bigger the game the better he plays. He’s one of those kids for sure. He had a phenomenal game and it looked almost effortless for him. He makes great decisions, a couple times we had calls and he tucked it and ran with it. A great decision. He’s a player that’s fun to coach, I’m glad we have him for another year.”
With a handful of substitutions in the second half, things got a bit shaky for Fenwicks defense, but it started the night at the top of its game. Linebacker Andrew Wilson had a great game for the Crusaders.
“Andrew’s just a football player,” Woods said. “100 percent a football player. Again, our defense focused and really got after it early on. In the second half we substituted a little bit and it wasn’t as crisp. Then when you try to put guys back in it gets sloppy.”
Chrys Wilson had an interception sandwiched between two touchdown runs, 11-yard and 31-yard scampers, to help get Fenwick off to a red-hot start.
After another defensive stop, Chrys Wilson hit Stefano Fabiano on a 64-yard touchdown pass to stretch the lead to 20-0 before the end of the first quarter.
Chrys Wilson added his third touchdown run of the night on the Crusaders next drive, this time from 18 yards out to give Fenwick a 26-0 lead.
The Lancers strung together a few nice offensive plays next and Zeke Bragg broke off a 44-yard touchdown run to cut Fenwick’s lead to 26-6.
But David Cifuentes (81 rushing yards), who won the Sal Tripoli Thanksgiving MVP award, answered right back with an 89-yard kickoff return to put Fenwick back ahead 32-6 before halftime.
Wilson opened up the second half with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Angel Martinez to stretch the lead to 39-6.
From there, Fenwick cleared the bench on both sides of the ball and the Lancers built some momentum. Sean Kelley ran in an 11-yard touchdown and caught a 58-yard touchdown from quarterback Nikolas Paganis to cut the Crusaders’ lead to 39-18.
Running back Tucker Destino capped off the scoring for Fenwick with an 8-yard touchdown run in the final minutes.
With Thanksgiving Eve win behind them, the Crusaders can now shift their focus to a Division 6 state championship. Fenwick takes on Ashland Dec. 7 (11 a.m.) at Gillette Stadium.
“We came in focused and did what we had to do,” Woods said. “Now we can focus on Ashland and start looking forward to that.”
