By Charlie Adams
NEFJ Correspondent
PAWTUCKET – The Dan Koppen era at La Salle Academy continued its promising start on Friday, ending St. Raphael’s undefeated season on the road.
Samuel Perry starred in the 42-25 win, throwing five touchdowns with four of them going for 30+ yards. Koppen picked up his third head coaching win, and second in-state win after beating Bishop Hendricken on Oct. 3.
“They have a lot of great players, but we knew we have a lot of great players too,” Perry said. “We had a great game plan, so we were ready. We executed well tonight.”
St. Raphael elected to receive the opening kickoff and showed why. With a strong start on the ground, Johnny Germaine led the Saints to the red zone. Tashaad Brown finished the drive, finding Onassis Soriano for an eight-yard score.
After the first score, the Rams’ defense anchored down and kept the Saints scoreless for the rest of the first half. On the other side of the ball, the offense built up 28 unanswered points.
“They responded good, I think we just sort of did some self-inflicted wounds on that part,” Koppen said. “We have a lot of things to clean up on the defensive side of the ball.”
The tying score wasn’t pretty; a tipped pass fell into the hands of Jalen Moseley for a 33-yard score. Perry built from there with a 35-yard touchdown to Jaden Givens to take the lead.
Special teams got involved on the following kickoff, forcing and recovering a fumble to put the Rams back in the red zone.
Forced to throw his shortest touchdown of the game, Perry floated a nine-yard touchdown to the back of the end zone. Adrian DeLuise just managed to keep in bounds, toe-tapping for the score.
La Salle’s defense closed out the first half doing exactly what they couldn’t do to start it. St. Raphael ran out of time on its final play from 16 yards out, with Brown taken down on the scramble.
Second half action started with Perry’s longest of the night, finding Moseley for a second time for 58 yards.
Brown one-upped Perry in the Saints’ responding drive, delivering a 65-yard touchdown to Brendan Cardoso. A missed PAT left the score 28-13.
A third-down drop from the Rams forced a punt, and Cardoso continued to contribute by taking the return to the La Salle 24-yard line.
Soriano was under center for the score, keeping it himself for the eight-yard rush in the wildcat. Another missed extra point kept it a two-possession game.
Givens got La Salle’s only rushing touchdown of the night, scoring from the one-yard line on fourth down. The Rams led by 16 entering the fourth quarter.
The last score for La Salle found Antonio Bearden for a 30-yard touchdown. Marking the fourth Rams receiver to find the end zone.
“AB is great, but if he didn’t get that one, I would’ve been hearing about it,” Perry said. “That was important to get him that one.”
With La Salle well in control, Brown found Soriano for his third total touchdown. All three of St. Ray’s scores went to Soriano, all for eight yards. The following two-point try was no good.
It looked like Perry’s day would be done with Brady Nardozzi taking over under center, but a first-play fumble brought the Rams defense back on the field from their own seven-yard line.
Blaze Coogan picked off Brown in the end zone, his lone turnover allowed Perry to return to the field to kneel out the win.
The Rams’ 42 points are the most the team has scored so far this season, surpassing their 28-point performance in their season opener.
“It’s a new offense, and I think we’ve gotten better each week,” Koppen said. “We want to play physical ball, regardless if we have a bunch of skill guys.”
After traveling to the Cape last year, Barnstable will return the favor to face the Rams next week. The non-conference matchup produced an exciting 31-28 comeback finish for La Salle in 2024.
“We’re going to come in tomorrow, we’re going to look at this one and try to make corrections,” Koppen said. “[Barnstable’s] a good team, they’re big, they’re physical, they like to run the ball, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”
