WESTWOOD — Xaverian could have main faculty soccer recruits at quarterback and extensive receiver, however so long as coach Al Fornaro is main the Hawks, the considered them abandoning the run for the go is foolish discuss.
On Friday night time, behind senior again Denzil Pierre, Xaverian ran to its coronary heart’s content material in a 32-21 season-opening victory over Everett.
Pierre rumbled for 204 yards and a landing on 24 carries, whereas Michigan State-bound quarterback Henry Hasselbeck rushed for 3 scores.
It was uneven at instances, however Fornaro will take the victory over a top quality opponent and transfer on.
“Very good,’ Fornaro said of Pierre’s play, which also included a two-point rush. “And we had the other guy, Mike O’Connor (54 yards on eight carries) play a little bit. The ability to run the ball does a lot of good things. It keeps it out of their hands. I’m not Woody (Hayes) out of Ohio State, saying three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad, but when we wanted to, we did. I thought we dominated them in the first half. But we proved to be able to run the ball when need be.”
Pierre is a bruiser who carried defenders for additional yardage all night time. He was not eligible final season as a result of he began it with Boston English and practiced there earlier than transferring. The Hawks are comfortable he’s taking part in now.
“Ever since I was young, ever since I got on the gridiron, I always run hard,” Pierre mentioned. “My coaches are telling me, ‘Don’t look for the contact, just go around.’ But I love it so much. I can play any type of way, but I just thank my team because they’re allowing me to do that. They’re allowing me to play any way I want to play. So it’s just an honor to be out here, and execute how I’m supposed to execute.”
To begin, Xaverian recovered a muffed kick and scored on a 1-yard Hasselbeck sneak to take a 6-0 lead lower than three minutes in.
It stayed that manner till the second quarter, as Pierre rushed all six performs for 39 yards, capped by a 2-yard landing and two-point rush because the Hawks pushed their benefit to 14-0.
Everett discovered some momentum on the subsequent drive although, as Yuriel Ortiz caught a 26-yard landing go from quarterback Carlos Rodrigues to slice the deficit to 14-6.
But the Hawks went into the break up two scores after a Joseph MacDonald 29-yard subject purpose.
It felt like Xaverian would run away with after a pair of 4-yard Hasselbeck landing runs within the second half, however Everett stored preventing again.
First, Rodrigues hit Christian Zamor for a 33-yard landing go. Then, a Jayden Prophete interception preceded a 74-yard landing on a double go from Damien Lackland to Zamor, a Boston College recruit. Following a two-point go from Rodrigues to Jaysaun Coggins, the Xaverian lead was down to simply 29-21.
But the Hawks answered with an excellent drive, and MacDonald’s 21-yard subject purpose accomplished the scoring.
“I was hoping (the offense would be this good),” Fornaro mentioned. “Our scrimmages weren’t the best for us. But it was really good for us to show people that you better defend everybody. As a defensive guy, that’s hard. You have to defend six guys out there: the wideouts, the tight end, the quarterback, the fullback, the running back. That’s difficult.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com