Gelinas, Broncos dominate Rogers
Quarterback throws four touchdown passes in first half
NORTH SMITHFIELD — After watching his top-seeded Burrillville football team shred No. 4 Rogers in a 55-14 victory to advance to the Division II semifinals, Burrillville coach Gennaro Ferraro could’ve taken his postgame comments in a number of directions.
Ferraro could’ve talked about senior quarterback Jake Gelinas’ four touchdown passes in the first half, or the hard running of soph- omore running back Bobby Thatcher, or the kicking of sophomore Shea Foisy, or the superb defense the Broncos played.
Instead, he focused his remarks on the preparation for a game that was supposed to be played Saturday at Burrillville’s Alumni Field, but was moved to North Smithfield High Sunday night because of rain.
“I’m very proud of our boys. They’re just ready for the challenge in this three-game tournament,” Ferraro said. “Game 1 is done and we’re looking forward to the next challenge against East Greenwich. I’m just very proud that they continued to build on the big win last week against Westerly. They were ready to go.
“That’s what I’m most proud of: they feel like last Friday was 10 years ago. That says it all. It says a lot about their character.”
Burrillville (8-1 Division II) now heads to East Greenwich High Sunday at noon to play the second-seeded Avengers at what is supposed to be a neutral venue. The teams met to start the 2017 with the Avengers walking out of Alumni Field with a touchdown victory.
The Vikings (3-5 Division II) played the Broncos tough for three quarters in a three-touchdown defeat in Newport earlier in the season. But when Ferraro and his coaching staff watched the film of the contest, they saw plenty of holes in the secondary and decided they would attempt to win the game by throwing the ball.
Gelinas threw his first touchdown pass on just the second play of the game when he found junior receiver Aidan Tupper over the middle for a 44-yard touchdown reception to put the Broncos up 7-0 just 22 seconds into the game.
Tupper, who has been an effective weapon when he’s been healthy this season, delivered his second touchdown just three minutes later when he grabbed a five-touchdown pass right on the goal line to extend the lead to 14.
“We have five receivers and they came up and didn’t have a safety in the middle of the field,” Gelinas said after going 10-of-19 for 209 yards and four touchdown passes in just a half of work. “They just pressed us and we felt our guys could beat them one-onone. We just kept with it. We expected to play this way.”
Defensively, Ross Lapierre, Cyrus Sykes and the Bronco defense needed to handle Rogers’ option game better than they did in the first meeting. Rogers sophomore quarterback Max Newsome ran the ball five times for 19 yards, while talented running back Daryll Stanton didn’t have a run longer than nine yards against Burrillville’s varsity defense.
The Vikings’ first first down came after the Broncos stretched their lead out to 21-0 following a 15-yard touchdown reception from receiver Marcus Audet. The senior receiver caught three first-half passes for 83 yards.
“He’s the glue of what happens on offense,” Ferraro said of Audet. “He blocks well and knows where everybody has to be on every play and he runs exceptional routes. He’s got great hands. He’s a great football player.”
The Vikings turned the ball over on downs just before the end of the first quarter and the Broncos were back in the end zone 62 seconds into the second quarter when Thatcher bulldozed his way into the end zone for a seven-yard score. The sophomore only carried the ball six times for 45 yards.
Gelinas, after Audet made a superb 36-yard catch in front of the Burrillville bench, scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak. The Vikings answered right back thanks to a 65-yard Stanton reception over the middle. Newsome connected with Aziz Hazell for a fiveyard touchdown.
The Vikings, however, gave up two touchdowns over the final minute of the half. First, Matt Gongoleski scored on a slaloming 45-yard touchdown run with 41.7 seconds left, and then senior AllState wide receiver Ryan Lockwood reeled in a 26-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 48-7 at halftime.
“I thought the first time we played them it was close at the half and they outplayed us in the third quarter,” Ferraro said. “We made some adjustments based on that first time. Credit to the kids because that’s where all of this goes.”
The Broncos’ JV offense produced a third-quarter score to extend the lead to 48 points on a 12-yard touchdown pass. The Vikings answered with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.
“We’ve just been talking about how we need to keep working hard every single day,” Gelinas said. “Last week we got a big win against Westerly, but we told each other that if we stall and don’t play well this week, that win meant nothing.”