Northmen outlast Sentinels
Henley’s 2-pointer lifts Co-op team to OT win
NORTH SMITHFIELD — Wes Pennington is no coward, never has been.
The captain of the North Smithfield/Mount St. Charles Co-op’s ship, he made a few brave, snap decisions on Saturday night, and – man – did they pay dividends.
First, with the score tied at 10-10 at the end of regulation of a pivotal Division III-A showdown against Smithfield, he opted to play defense in the initial overtime session, naturally to see what he was up against.
It worked in his club’s favor – and didn’t – as senior standout tailback Ben Cortes plunged four yards off right guard for the go-ahead paydirt. Junior kicker Mike DeSimone booted the PAT for the 17-10 advantage.
Second, when his offense took over,
he asked sophomore signal caller Jack Puccetti – on his first snap of OT – to throw a screen pass to junior Xavier Croteau, and it developed into a mere 10-yard trot into the right section of the end zone.
And, finally,, he chose to go for the two-pointer, despite the fact freshman Pasquale Camastro had been “nails” all season with his foot.
In the end, junior Dan Henley – listed on the roster as just a linebacker, not a wicked fullback – bulled three yards off right guard for the clinching conversion, leaving the Northmen/Mounties celebrating a wild, stunning, 18-17 OT triumph before perhaps 300 berserk fans in their own park.
“I just felt three yards, those we could get,” Pennington stated after his club improved to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in league play. “Their defense hadn’t really stopped Danny all day, so if I was going to put the ball in anybody’s hands, it was going to be his.”
His players jumped around in unbridled joy after the rush, while the Sentinels felt the disappointment of falling to 1-4 overall and in III-A.
“After they scored in OT, Coach just told me, ‘Let’s push this ball in,’” Puccetti stated. “He said, ‘It’s win or lose, and we’re going for the win.’ To win like that, to come together after they scored that first TD, I’m lost for words. This means so much, especially on Homecoming!”
Long before the start, the R.I. National Guard had paid to dress each in attractive, “camouflage-style” uni- forms, the darker belonging to the hosts. The reason: It was North Smithfield’s desire to honor and acknowledge the military around the globe with a “Salute to Service” tilt.
The defense did its job, yielding Cortes only 51 yards on 15 handles in the initial 24 minutes. He finished with 133 and a score on 26, a 5.1 ypc average, but junior quarterback Trevor L’Italien completed just three of 10 aerials for 64 yards, was picked off thrice and suffered six sacks for a minus-40 yards.
As for Henley, he racked up 88 yards on 15 handles, but did fumble once. Backfield mate Chris Marsella chipped in 38 more on nine, while junior Jay Meriwether earned 70 yards on three grabs.
Puccetti finished with six completions on 21 tries for 101 yards and a pair of TDs.
It didn’t take long for Pennington’s bunch to snatch an early lead. His captains won the opening coin toss and chose to defer to the second half, but frosh Pasquale Camastro managed a perfect onside kick on the opening boot. Sophomore Joshua Carufel recovered on the near sideline, and the hosts maneuvered 35 yards on nine plays culminating on Camastro’s 25yard field goal.
The Northmen had at least two other opportunities to extend the lead after MSC senior Jay Pisano intercepted L’Italien two plays after the ensuing kickoff at the SHS 41.
After a quick “three-and-out,” the Sentinels moved from their own 10 to the 21 before junior Jay Meriwether grabbed a tipped ball, giving NS the pigskin at the Smithfield 32. Four downs later, the visitors regained possession, and succeeded.
They capped a 12-play, 69-yard possession on DeSimone’s 27-yard field goal on the fifth play of the second period.
Both foes had control of the pigskin in enemy territory the rest of the quarter, but each defense squelched the efforts.
Thanks to Meriwether’s 18-yard return of the second-half boot, and a punishing 23-yard rush by Henley, NS/MSC rolled 62 yards on five play calls, and it ended on Pucetti’s 26-yard “pass-and-snag” by Meriwether in the right flat.
Camastro converted the extra point for the 10-3 cushion. Still, it didn’t take long for the Sentinels to knot it once more. With 6:20 remaining in the third, Henley fumbled and junior Dante Lewis recovered at the NS 31.
On the third play from scrimmage, junior Kyle Haberle reeled in a 17-yard aerial from L’Italien at the 20, then bobbed and weaved the remaining yards to complete a 37-yard TD. Naturally, DeSimone planted the PAT to tie it once more at 10-10.
“We only gave up 10 points in regulation, so I thought the defense did a great job (on Saturday evening),” Pennington noted. “We had a few mental errors, and it’s not the best ‘D’ we’ve played all season, but we’re improving. That’s for sure.”