MARLBOROUGH — The No. 7 Bishop Fenwick football team reached the end of the road after its Division 6 semifinal matchup against No. 2 Fairhaven, which left Assabet Valley Regional High with a 49-20 win Friday.
Fairhaven will take on Saturday’s winner of Norwell and Hudson in the championship game at Gillette Stadium (TBD). Fenwick checked out with a record of 6-5 ahead of its Thanksgiving Day matchup against St. Mary’s at Donaldson Stadium (10 a.m.).
Fairhaven, known for its triple-option offense, was too much for the Crusaders as the Blue Devils racked up more than 300 yards on the ground.
“They just have an answer for everything. No matter what you try to do, they have an answer for it,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods. “Whether it’s running the fullback, if it’s the quarterback, or the option, they just have so many things. They can throw the ball, too. It’s a difficult offense to stop when you run it as well as they do. They have all the pieces and the guys up front.”
Fairhaven’s Aaron Lague was hard to bring down. The senior running back compiled 165 yards rushing at halftime and finished with more than 200 alongside three total touchdowns.
“Their receivers blocked really well,” Woods said. “We focused on trying to take away the fullback, and then you leave a lot of one-on-one matchups on the quarterback and on the pitch. But, when they block as well as they do, that’s what happens.”
Fenwick trailed 28-0 with 2:27 remaining in the first half. Andrew Kiricoples found Jesse Timson (158 yards receiving) for a 15-yard touchdown to get some momentum before the break.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders, on the second play of the third quarter, Fairhaven’s edge rusher picked off Kiricoples to give the Blue Devils great field position. Lague then scored from 5 yards out to make it 35-7.
The connection between Kiricoples and Timson wasn’t done yet as the pair connected for a 35-yard score. Timson caught the ball and turned on the jets, getting past multiple Blue Devils on his way to the end zone.
Kiricoples’ third passing touchdown came with 7:43 remaining when he found Odin Garron for a 7-yarder to make it 42-20.
“We lost to a better football team than us. That’s all. No shame in that. I know it hurts and stings. It just shows how much these guys care and how hard they work for it,” Woods said. “They’re a very good football team and we played as hard as we could.”
Fenwick turns its attention to Thanksgiving Day against the Spartans.
“The message to the seniors is that you have one last game. A lot of these guys will never play football again, so they’ve got one last game with their brothers on Thanksgiving,” Woods said. “They have a couple of days to let this sink in and then, get back to work and play football one more time. Let’s go and have some fun against your league rival.”
