MARLBORO — When you’re dealing with a triple option football team, either you protect the edge or you get pushed over it.
Sealing off the outside and gaining big chunks of yardage on the perimeter was the formula that third-seeded Fairhaven used to eject No. 7 Bishop Fenwick from the Division 6 playoffs with a 49-20 win on a chilly Friday at Assabet Valley Tech.
Now headed to the Division 6 Super Bowl for a third straight season, the Blue Devils (10-1) were exactly as advertised offensively: fast, strong, disciplined and schooled in their scheme like a well-oiled machine.
“They have an answer for everything, no matter what you do defensively,” said Crusaders coach Dave Woods. “It’s very difficult to stop when you run it as well as they do and you have all the pieces from the line to the fullbacks, the quarterback and the pitch man.”
Fairhaven ran the ball 58 times and gained 402 yards, an average of nearly seven yards on every carry. Aaron Lague did the bulk of the damage with 183 yards rushing, 232 yards from scrimmage and three total touchdowns.
It was the multiplicity of the Blue Devils attack that made it dangerous, though. Six players carried the ball, with four gaining at least 40 yards. Fairhaven scored on its first four possessions to take a 28-0 lead and never punted.
Nevertheless, early in the game Fenwick (now 6-5) played some pretty good defense. Fairhaven faced long third downs three times on its second drive and converted them all with pitch options to the sidelines. That 16-play, 86 yard scoring drive after Bishop Fenwick didn’t score while driving nearly the length of the field on its opening possession was a sign of things to come.
“We did a decent job taking away the fullback dive, and that’s where we wanted to start defensively,” said Woods, who attributed Fairhaven’s success at getting outside to the excellent commitment to blocking by the Blue Devils’ wide receivers.
“When you focus the defense on the middle, it leaves a lot of one-on-one matchups. When a team’s receivers blocks as well as (Fairhaven’s) do, that’s what can happen.”
Senior captain Jesse Timson of Beverly had a monster performance for the Crusaders, catching 10 passes for 158 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He caught a 15-yarder late in the second quarter to make to make it 28-7, then turned on the jets for a 35-yard score to make it 35-14 midway through the third.
“The last two games have been the best Jesse has played since he’s been here,” Woods said. “He was all over the place.”
Damon Mataragas, a sophomore from Danvers, recovered a Fairhaven fumble after Timson’s second score, but the Crusaders weren’t able to take advantage. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Kiricoples threw for 198 yards, connecting with senior Odin Garron of Gloucester for a fourth quarter touchdown.
“Anytime you have Andrew at quarterback, you’re never out of a game,” said Woods, whose Crusaders never backed down from the Blue Devils and challenged on every snap until the last whistle.
Bishop Fenwick gained a healthy 336 yards of offense, with Kiricoples running for 70 and senior captain Dylan Patturelli rushing for 51. But Fairhaven’s 464 total yards and ability to put points on the board (they’ve scored 40-plus in nine of their last 10 contests) was too much to overcome.
“I just told the guys that we lost to a better football team that us. There’s no shame in that,” Woods said. “It hurts because the kids care and they work really hard for us. But you have to take your hat off for a great football team like Fairhaven.”
It was the highest scoring Fenwick playoff game since the state tourney began in 2013 and the most points allowed by the Crusaders, who advanced to the Final Four for the third time in the last five seasons.
Captain Louis Levenishti and Timson each had tackles-for-loss and Fenwick captain Tyler Connolly led the defensive effort in the middle.
Now, Bishop Fenwick must turn the page quickly with rival St. Mary’s headed to Donaldson Field for a Thanksgiving morning clash.
“For the seniors, it’s one more game. A lot of these guys will never play football again, so the message it go play that last game with your brothers on Thanksgiving. Go have some fun against your league rival,” Woods said. “Whether we won or lost this game, I’m sure it would have been easy to get them up for Thanksgiving.”
Fairhaven 49, Bishop Fenwick 20
Division 6 semifinal
at Assabet Valley Tech, Marlboro
Bishop Fenwick (6-5);0;7;7;6;20
Fairhaven (10-1);7;21;7;14;49
Scoring summary
F — Aaron Lague 14 run (Tristan De Medeiros kick)
F — Grant Damofal 1 run (kick failed)
F — Ian Alexion 1 run (Luke Catchcart rush)
F — Lague 49 pass from Evan Lamontague (De Medeiros kick)
BF — Jesse Timson 15 pass from Andrew Kiricoples (Ian Guarino kick)
F — Lague 6 run (De Medeiros kick)
BF — Timson 35 pass from Kiricoples (Guarino kick)
F — Damofal 4 run (De Medeiros kick)
BF — Odin Garon 7 pass from Kiricoples (kick failed)
F — Alexion 1 run (De Medeiros kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Bishop Fenwick — Andrew Kiricoples 9-70, Dylan Patturelli 8-51, Tyler Connolly 3-17; Fairhaven — Aaron Lague 14-183, Grant Damofal 17-63, Ian Alexion 13-54, Evan LaMontague 7-48, Luke Catchcart 5-39, Nick Lajoie 2-15.
PASSING: Bishop Fenwick — Kiricoples 16-31-198-3-1; Fairhaven — LaMontague 3-8-62-1-0.
RECEIVING: Bishop Fenwick — Jesse Timson 10-158, Odin Garon 3-25, Connolly 1-10, Tristan Giles 1-8, Patturelli 1-(-2); Fairhaven — Lague 1-49, Josh Vieira 2-13 .