By Charlie Adams
NEFJ Staff
CUMBERLAND – It was a tale of two halves at Tucker Field on Friday night as the Cumberland Clippers suffered their first loss of their season to perennial powerhouse Bishop Hendricken, 35-12.
After a dominant showing against reigning D-II champion Barrington last week, the Clippers stepped up to face the reigning D1 state champion Hawks.
“I thought Cumberland played a really good first half, they really controlled the clock we didn’t have many possessions. They played well, they’re a good football team,” said Hendricken head coach Keith Croft.
Andrew Nocera quickly got the ball back for the Clippers early on, intercepting Bishop Hendricken’s Dylan Lynch on one of his first passes of the game. The Clippers capitalized on the turnover as Evan Spencer pushed the pile at the goal line for a touchdown. Zack DeRoy’s attempted PAT was blocked.
Hendricken responded with a quick drive that culminated in Jeremy Dennis punching in a short rushing touchdown. Scot Belford Jr. delivered the extra point to put the Hawks ahead 7-6.
The Clippers efforted a response, but the drive stalled and brought on the punt team. Just as momentum seemed to be slipping, a muffed punt by Hendricken gave Cumberland possession back. Once again, Cumberland made Hendricken pay for their mistake as Spencer punched in his second rushing touchdown of the game. After the earlier blocked PAT, the Clippers failed a two-point conversion attempt, but still led 12-7.
Croft mentioned the costly turnovers postgame.
“The turnovers hurt us, they capitalized on both turnovers, he said. “That’s something that we have to clean up.”
A solid kick return gave the Hawks good field position to answer the score, Jeremy Seidi followed it up by breaking free for his first rushing touchdown of the game and the first half came to a close with Hendricken leading 14-12.
Bishop Hendricken started the second half with possession and never looked back. Seidi quickly found open space again as he legged out his second touchdown.
Spencer had a huge scramble to set up a potential answer from the Clippers, but a fourth down conversion attempt was incomplete. The turnover on downs gave Seidi another opportunity to get loose for a long rushing touchdown. Tucker Field recorded his third touchdown of the game a bit later and the Hawks led 28-12 entering the fourth.
A second interception thrown by Lynch did nothing to energize Cumberland’s offense. Hendricken’s defense shut things down in the second half, stopping multiple fourth-down conversion attempts in the final frame.
Dennis put a bow on the Hawks’ second-half performance with his second rushing touchdown, finishing off the 35-12 victory.
The Hawks finished with five rushing touchdowns, three from Seidi and two from Dennis. Seidi talked about the benefits of their pairing postgame.
“We push each other every single day at practice, every game, it just makes us better,” he said.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Croft added. “I’m happy with the way we finished.”
The Hawks have a huge test next week as they travel for an out-of-state matchup against Greenwich High School, a top-10 program in Connecticut.
“It’s a huge game for our program, for our state, we’re looking forward to it.”
