Broncos shut down by NK
Burrillville struggles to move ball against Skippers
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Burrillville limited the high-powered North Kingstown offense to its lowest point total of the season but didn’t have enough offense of its own to spring an upset on Saturday afternoon.
Coming off defeats to Bishop Hendricken and La Salle in which they lost second-half leads, the Skippers ramped up their defense and pitched a shutout in a 20-0 win over the Broncos at the Anthony C. Perry Athletic Complex.
“Super proud of the defense. They worked hard. The last three games that we saw film on from Burrillville, they just ran people over,” North Kingstown coach Fran Dempsey said. “They’re a really good team. We had to step up. We came out today and took the challenge on and played good run defense, good pass defense and kind of bounced back.”
The matchup was the second of the season for the Broncos against a Power Four team, with a non-league game against Hendricken also on the ledger. They had won two straight since, shutting out Shea and East Providence, and they more than held their own against North Kingstown, the two-time reigning Division I, non-state champion.
It was a 7-0 game into the fourth quarter, with the Burrillville defense stiffening to stop several Skipper scoring chances. North Kingstown scored on its first possession of the game but came up empty on its next five drives. Burrillville’s stops included two turnovers on downs in their own territory, an interception by Wes Cournouyer and a fumble recovery by Richard Cardone.
A touchdown pass from Brayden Rogers to Drew Schwab on the first play of the fourth quarter allowed the Skippers to finally break through, making it a 13-0 lead. Jaiden Tucker put the game out of reach on a 25-yard touchdown run with 3:25 remaining.
Burillville’s best chances came early. A string of big runs by Bobby Thatcher, a thirddown pass from Cournoyer to Jonathan Bergin and a horse collar penalty on the Skippers gave the Broncos a first down at North Kingstown’s 15-yard line. Cournoyer lofted a pass to the end zone for Michael Hedquist but North Kingstown’s Ben Brickle intercepted it.
The Broncos also threatened just before halftime as three Cournoyer passes gave them the ball at the Skipper 33-yard line with six seconds to go. T.J. Gormley intercepted a Cournoyer pass to end the threat.
The Skippers forced one more turnover in the third quarter, recovering a Thatcher fumble with 4:26 left, which set up the touchdown that finally padded the lead. Burrillville narrowly missed connections on two deep balls in the fourth quarter, turning it over on downs on their final two possessions.
Cournoyer completed nine of 19 pass attempts for 125 yards. Thatcher rushed for 93 yards on 23 carries.
Now 2-2 on the year and 2-1 in league play, the Broncos will close out the regular season on Saturday at home against Cumberland for the division title and a home game in the Division I semifinals.