WAKEFIELD — It was a record breaking day for the Bishop Fenwick football team Saturday in its 2026 season opener … for all the wrong reasons.
Giving up a whopping 555 rushing yards and a school record for points allowed in one game was not the way the Crusaders wanted to start. But an inability to shut down Northeast Regional’s ground attack caused both of those calamities to take place as Fenwick was soundly beaten by the Golden Knights, 64-45, at Landrigan Field.
Running a Spread Wing-T offense for the first time, the hosts scored on nine of their 12 offensive possessions, and that included running out the first half on one drive and taking a knee in the fourth quarter.
They also saw two different players rush for over 200 yards: beefy fullback Lucas DeOliveria (232 yards, 3 TDs), who destroyed Fenwick inside on belly plays; and speedy Isaiah Robles (204 yards, 5 TDs), who continually beat the Crusaders on jet sweeps to the right side, where he’d win the race to the edge and take off unimpeded down the sidelines to paydirt.
“From a physical standpoint, we weren’t up for the challenge,” veteran Fenwick head coach David Woods said. “They didn’t do anything we didn’t work on all week in practice, but we just got out-physicaled.”
The combined 109 points tied it for the second-highest scoring game in North Shore football history. It was surpassed only by Manchester Essex’s 64-47 shootout win over North Shore Tech in 2009, and equaled the amount of points accumulated in Pingree’s 61-48 triumph over Holderness in 2015.
Fenwick actually had the lead at halftime, 29-28, thanks to a pair of touchdowns in the final 2:12 before the break. Junior quarterback Andrew Kiricoples found Damon Mataragas from 54 yards out to slice his team’s deficit to six points before sophomore Nelson Ogheneruemu of the Crusaders recovered an onside kick. Four plays later, Kiricoples found Jamie Dube with a fade pass to the far left corner of the end zone, and Ian Guarino booted the point after.
Kiricoples threw for 261 yards and four touchdowns, completing 19-of-30 passes while also being intercepted twice. Dube was his favorite target, with the senior snagging nine passes for 145 yards and a trio of touchdowns.
But Northeast, which averaged over 12 1/2 yards per running play, scored on all three of their third quarter possessions and held the visitors off the scoreboard to take a 48-29 advantage into the final 12 minutes. Fenwick kept fighting and got a TD run from Kiricoples and another scoring grab from Dube, but the Golden Knights answered both of those scores with a pair of their own.
Guarino added a 2-yard rushing TD for Fenwick, which hosts Putnam Vocational of Springfield in its home opener this coming Friday (7 p.m.).
“We’ve got to challenge the guys, and they have to challenge themselves to have more pride and be tougher,” said Woods. “And it’s not so much physical as it is developing mental toughness. We just need to fight through things and be better at persevering.”
Northeast Regional 64, Bishop Fenwick 45
at Landrigan Field, Wakefield
Bishop Fenwick (0-1);7;22;0;16;45
Northeast Regional (1-0);7;21;20;16;64
Scoring summary
NE — Lucas DeOliveira 53 run (Anthony Silva kick)
BF — Ian Guarino 1 run (Guarino kick)
NE — Isaiah Robles 32 run (Silva kick)
NE — DeOliveira 23 run (kick failed)
BF — Jamie Dube 33 pass from Andrew Kiricoples (Guarino rush)
NE — Robles 53 run (DeOliveira rush)
BF — Damon Mataragas 54 pass from Kiricoples (Guarino kick)
BF — Dube 22 pass from Kiricoples (Guarino kick)
NE — Robles 62 run (Silva kick)
NE — Robles 14 run (Silva kick)
NE — DeOliveira 6 run (kick failed)
BF — Kiricoples 8 run (Dube pass from Kiricoples)
NE — Esto Merida 33 run (DeOliveira rush)
BF — Dube 17 pass from Kiricoples (Dean Cocchiolla pass from Kiricoples)
NE — Robles 19 run (DeOliveira rush)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Bishop Fenwick — Andrew Kiricoples 9-47, Ian Guarino 9-47, Jackson Cody 4-18; Northeast Regional — Lucas DeOliveira 12-232, Isaiah Robles 18-204, Esto Merida 2-57, Ryan Beede 10-47, Jordani Nieves 1-9, Mikey Fronduto 1-3.
PASSING: Bishop Fenwick — Kiricoples 19-30-261-4-2; Northeast Regional — Fronduto 0-3-0-0-0.
RECEIVING: Bishop Fenwick — Jamie Dube 9-145, Damon Mataragas 1-54, Ethan Boleski 5-39, Mo Larrabee 2-14, Ian Guarino 2-9; Northeast Regional — None.