By Charlie Adams
NEFJ Correspondent

PROVIDENCE – For a second straight week, La Salle Academy ended an undefeated season, taking down Barnstable in a 42-36 overtime thriller.

“It was a great game, back-and forth,” La Salle coach Dan Koppen said. “That’s a hell of a team, very physical. They ran the ball really well. I think our guys stepped up there and made plays when we had to.”

La Salle built up to a 14-0 lead and contained the run game well until Kyle Coffin woke up the Red Hawks’ offense with a 61-yard keeper.

Barnstable came out of halftime down a score until Coffin connected with Brady Kundel for 25 yards to set up Barnstable on the goal line. He kept it on the next play to tie the game at 21.

“He’s a hell of a player, there’s no doubt, and we saw that all week,” Koppen said. “We’ve got to be perfect in what we do; [our defense is] getting better.”

Coffin kept his eyes on Kundel to take the lead on the next drive, throwing a 40-yard touchdown as La Salle’s closest defenders collided with each other to allow for the yards after the catch.

Samuel Perry answered for La Salle with a 45-yard touchdown to Jalen Moseley, the third of the game for the receiver.

Hagan Dias took over the game for a stretch in the fourth after his Red Hawks were forced to punt. Dias delivered a punt downed at the one-yard line, allowing his defense to secure a safety on the next play to take a 30-28 lead.

On the following kickoff, it was Dias taking it to the house on the return touchdown. After all the excitement, Dias still had to line up to kick the extra point to take it to a two-possession game. Instead, a miss left the door open for La Salle.

Perry did it himself to tie the game, first finding Antonio Bearden on back-to-back plays to convert a fourth down and then enter the red zone. He finished the drive with a six-yard keeper before rolling out to tie on the two-point conversion.

“We don’t ask him to do that very much,” Koppen said. “I think he made a good decision and used his legs; he’s a good athlete and made two great plays for us.”

The Red Hawks had under four minutes in the fourth to put together a winning drive. Stalled at midfield, Barnstable went for it on fourth and inches. Bouncing a run outside, La Salle’s Donald Young closed out to make a great tackle to force a turnover on downs.

With under 30 seconds in the fourth, the Rams had the ball at the one-yard line. Instead of hurrying to take a chance at running a play, La Salle waited until an awkward 11 seconds were left before calling its final timeout.

The field-goal unit came on for an 18-yard chip shot to win it after having the confidence to try and miss short on a 46-yard field goal attempt earlier in the game. Quincy Marino couldn’t convert the chance, sending us into overtime tied at 36.

“We were going to kick the field goal regardless,” Koppen said. “We’ve got to make a play in that situation, our kicker has made it all year, our snapper has made the right snap, we just didn’t do it in that situation.”

The Rams’ defense made another massive stop on fourth to open overtime. With Coffin scrambling to the pylon, Jonny Costa got to him first before Bearden forced the play out of bounds short of the goal line.

“It was definitely a bend but don’t break situation, I knew I had to put my body on the line one last play for defense,” Bearden said. “It all came together, last play, right position, right timing. It was a great team effort.”

It took one play for La Salle to win it, with Perry using his legs one more time on the 10-yard scramble.

“We definitely knew going into this it was going to be a dogfight,” Bearden said. “Whoever had the ball last was going to win the game.”

Holding their spot at the top of the Division I standings, the Rams will finish their regular season against Cranston West next week.