PEABODY — The shirts across the line may have said ‘Medway’. But to Bishop Fenwick senior lineman Tye Piraino and his teammates, they might as well have said ‘Norton’.
A senior captain for the Crusaders, Piraino and his teammates were well versed in what happened to their team a year ago in this same spot: an embarassing first round home playoff loss to Norton. So they weren’t about to let lightning strike twice, even against a different opponent.
“This was Norton 2.0 to us. That’s how we approached it,” said Piraino, whose work at left tackle helped pave the way for Fenwick to finish with 348 yards of offense in a 27-14 triumph over the Mustangs in a Division 6 postseason encounter at Donaldson Field.
“We knew (Medway) was a good team, a tough team, but we had to do our thing and make sure we came out and played hard-nosed Fenwick football. Thankfully, we did.”
Sophomore quarterback Andrew Kiricoples completed 11-of-22 passes for 204 yards and a pair of first half scores while senior captain Dylan Patturelli pounded his way on the ground for 124 yards and two touchdowns of his own as seventh seeded Fenwick (now 5-4) climbed over the .500 mark for the first time all season.
“I said before the game to the team, ‘Let’s either go home, or go out and win it all’,” said Patturelli. “The losses we’ve had, those in the past. We just need to keep grinding and working our way out there. I think we can really make a run if we stick together.”
It didn’t take long for Kiricoples and the Crusaders to light up the scoreboard Friday. Following a Medway punt to open the game, Kiricoples promptly hit tight end Odin Garron with an 81-yard pop pass for six points. Ian Guarino booted the first of three extra points to make it 7-0.
“We hit on some plays we saw and had worked on during the week,” said Fenwick head coach David Woods, noting that his team faked a jet sweep to force the safety to come up and bite on the play, leaving Garron wide open.
The Mustangs (5-4) responded as quarterback Logan Keaney took it in himself from 22 points out and kicked the PAT on their next series. But again Fenwick responded quickly, this time with Kiricoples finding captain Jesse Timson on a go route for a 38-yard touchdown.
On its third possession, the hosts found paydirt again to go up, 20-7, in the second quarter. This time it was Patturelli battering his way home from 20 yards away.
“I just said to myself, ‘I have to punch this in to bump the score up’,” Patturelli stated.
It stayed that way until there were four minutes to go when Keaney found Jack Heavner with a 17-yard scoring pass, slicing the Medway deficit to just six (20-14). But the Crusaders gained the ensuing onside kick, and a 1-yard TD burst by Patturelli with two minutes left finally put the game on ice.
“We just couldn’t put them away in the second half until late,” said Woods, whose squad will now travel to second seeded Abington (8-1) for a quarterfinal matchup next Friday night at Memorial Field. “The offensive coordinator (Woods) didn’t call a very good game in the second half. But Medway played tough, too. We had to earn every single thing we got.”
Captain Tyler Connolly had a terrific game on defense for Fenwick, getting into the backfield to stop running plays from getting going while also batting down a few of Keaney’s pass attempts (as did Patturelli).
On the offensive line, Piraino was joined by sophomore left guard Chris Dominguez, junior center Connor McPhail, junior right guard Ryan Zepaj and hulking 6-foot-3, 230-pound freshman Dean Cocchiolla at right tackle.
“All of those guys are first year starters, and for them to come out and do what they did in their first playoff game was amazing,” said Piraino.
Bishop Fenwick 27, Medway 14
Division 6 first round
at Donaldson Field, Peabody
Medway (5-4);7;0;0;7;14
Bishop Fenwick (5-4);14;6;0;7;27
Scoring summary
BF — Odin Garron 81 pass from Andrew Kiricoples (Ian Guarino kick)
M — Logan Keaney 22 run (Keaney kick)
BF — Jesse Timson 39 pass from Kiricoples (Guarino kick)
BF — Dylan Patturelli 20 run (kick failed)
M — Jack Heavner 17 pass from Keaney (Keaney kick)
BF — Patturelli 1 run (Guarino kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Medway — Logan Keaney 6-31, Christian Cautill 7-(-2); Bishop Fenwick — Dylan Patturelli 21-124, Tyler Connolly 6-27, Ian Guarino 1-4, Jesse Timson 1-4, Andrew Kiricoples 3-(-15).
PASSING: Medway— Keaney 15-32-183-1-3, Troy Pinkham 0-2-0-0-0; Bishop Fenwick — Kiricoples 11-22-204-2-2.
RECEIVING: Medway — Cautill 3-73, Jack Heavner 4-41, James Kerls 4-32, Aidan Tkowski 2-17, Dylan Costa 1-13, Jacob White 1-7; Bishop Fenwick — Odin Garron 2-93, Timson 2-46, Connolly 3-33, Tristan Giles 2-26, Patturelli 2-6.