Shea overcomes early mistakes
WOOD RIVER JCT. – Shea High head coach Dino Campopiano admitted being less than enthralled with his squad’s play against host Chariho Regional in a Division II-B clash on Friday night.
The Chargers forced a whopping five turnovers in the opening 24 minutes, but managed only nine points off them.
After the break, the Raiders eventually regained their poise and nailed down a 28-9 league triumph.
“In the first half, we just didn’t play that well; we weren’t playing with much enthusiasm, and I don’t know why,” Campopiano said. “We had five turnovers, so we weren’t playing with any heart. There was poor tackling, poor execution blocking, etc.
“The execution was much better in the second half, and we just played with more heart, more desire,” he added. “I thought Chariho played very well. They came out and blocked and tackled hard. We still have to improve in some areas; we had too many penalties. We had two touchdowns called back on punt returns, one in each half. “That doesn’t help.” The Chargers (1-4 overall, 1-3 in II-B) took advantage of Shea’s first turnover, a Devin Fonseca fumble on a pass from quarterback Eric Palmer on only the second play from scrimmage. Paul Marshall plucked the ball out of the air and hustled 30 yards to paydirt. Chariho, though, missed the extra point.
The hosts converted points after Palmer fumbled away the second possession at the Raiders’ 47. Not long after, Andrew Havens drilled a 35yard field goal to push the cushion to 9-0.
Thanks to a Will Foley pick, consecutive fumble recovery and interception by Jalen Valentin, not to mention the Chargers’ defense stuffing Shea at the CRHS 3 with 18 ticks remaining before the break, the score stood that way entering the third.
Campopiano’s crew converted its opening possession of the third period when Fonseca culminated a drive with a two-yard TD plunge, and Mamady Dioumessy’s PAT sliced the deficit to 9-7.
Shea took advantage of a Chariho fumble later in the quarter, Jalen Smith scoring on a 20yard jaunt, then extended the lead when the Chargers fumbled on the initial snap of the following possession. Thomas Curry raked up the pigskin and raced into the end zone before Dioumessy’s third PAT. That gave the Raiders 14 points in 21 seconds.
Palmer notched the final score on a keeper with 13 ticks remaining in regulation.
Shea improved to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in league action.