ATTLEBORO — Early in Friday night’s D2 first round game against No. 11 Concord-Carlisle, the No. 6 Bishop Feehan offense sputtered.
The running game could not get going, and the passing game was just a bit off, as well.
But by the end of the game, both came around nicely, and the defense was stellar, as well, as Feehan earned a 24-0 victory.
Feehan improves to 7-1 with the win, while Concord-Carlisle is eliminated at 4-5.
“I think it’s been kind of a pattern this year. We kind of struggle early, then our physicality takes over as the game goes on, and we start wearing people down,” Feehan coach Bryan Pinabell said. “I think that was really a big factor in the second half. They had a lot of guys going both ways, seven guys going both ways. So I think that worked to our advantage a little bit. I will say this, and we knew it going in, they were playing their best football these last couple weeks. We were very concerned.”
The Shamrocks saw contributions from a lot of different places. Quarterback Owen Mordas, just a sophomore, threw four incompletions to begin, but finished by hitting 6 of 12 passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Running back David Quinn rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, but had only 25 yards at halftime.
The offensive line of Dmitry Sermos, Ryan Anglin Alexander Sermos, Colin Lahiff, and Sean Hickey paved the way for Quinn’s big night on the ground, and also did not allow a sack.
“Our offensive line all year has been a work in progress. It’s a very young group. Guys didn’t have a lot of experience,” Pinabell said. “We struggled at time, but over the last couple weeks, they’re starting to figure it out. I think our physicality really showed in the second half tonight. I can’t say enough about David. He just put his head down and would get the extra yards. A great job by those guys.”
Defensively, Sean Judge recovered a C-C fumble and also made an interception, both in the second half as Feehan earned the shutout.
Ryan Fivek had 95 yards passing for the Patriots, who were led on the ground by Ryan DeMayo’s 40 yards rushing.
Feehan did not gain a first down in its first three possessions, but after a muffed punt by the Patriots, the Shamrocks took the 3-0 lead on a 43-yard field goal by Austin Clemente with 3:01 left in the opening quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Mordas hit Chad McHayle for a 30-yard gain, then followed that up with a beautiful, 31-yard touchdown pass to Finn McHale on the next play. That helped Feehan go into halftime with a 10-0 lead.
Feehan asserted itself in early in the third quarter. On a drive that started with Judge’s fumble recovery, Quinn rushed three times for 19 yards. Mordas then hit Devin Ferreira with an 18-yard touchdown pass over the middle to help give Feehan a 17-0 lead with 8:20 left in the third quarter.
Feehan provided the finishing touch in the fourth quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run by Quinn, as the Shamrocks completed the 24-0 win.
“You know, I came in as a sophomore. I had Nick Yanchuk in front of me. I went in whenever I could,” Quinn said. “I think the great thing for me being in that environment is I could see all these high-level seniors and juniors in front of me, and just learn from them. I got to step up this year and just play my game. It’s awesome to see the offense just works together. It’s great.”