SKIPPER SPECIAL
North Kingstown pulls off a major upset in taking down the defending champs
– All the rage in 2023 is for the “Tush Push.” But remember the Philly Special? The Skippers do. They ran their own version of the trick play that highlighted Super Bowl 52 during Friday night’s semifinal matchup against heavy favorite No. 2 La Salle. With a lead and 1:30 until halftime on thirdand-goal from the 6, North Kingstown quarterback Brayden Rogers handed off left to running back Victor Encarnacion who flipped it to a reversing Gian Iacuele
– a wide receiver – who then threw it to Rogers who was wide open in the end zone.
It embodied the theme of the game: nearly every risk North Kingstown took worked to a tee. It played to a 45-12 upset road win over the Rams as the three-seed Skippers move on to the Division I Super Bowl, the first time they’ve made it in the top bracket since 1993.
“Thank God Philly ran it – we took inspiration,” head coach and offensive play caller Dave Giorgi said. “I noticed they were playing aggressive on defense. There wasn't going to be anyone on Brayden Rogers, so that was the perfect time to call it. I just knew it was going to be there.”
The blowout final score is a stark contrast to the regular season game between the two teams on Oct. 6, a 4221 win for La Salle in which their sophomore running back Terrence Campbell rushed for 219 yards and four touchdowns. That game, along with the fact that the Rams are the defending D-I champions, made the final score not just surprising but jaw-dropping.
Things are different since Oct. 6 though. That regular season win for La Salle was the first game that the Skippers played since standout wide receiver Noah Gincastro suffered a seasonending knee injury. That game saw current standout Trent Sterner catch all but 19 of the passing yards as everyone but him at the skill position struggled to find a rhythm. On Friday, however, it was much more balanced as the usual skill players all contributed.
“Gincastro going down early in the season was a tough blow to the team, but at least it was early in the season,” Rogers said. “It allowed us to gel as a unit and get an understanding of how to play without him. Today we put on display how much better we've gotten since the last time we played La Salle.”
This game had a different
feel compared to the regular season edition, but part of it was likely that Campbell only had two carries for the Rams. He left the game on the second drive due to a right ankle injury and didn’t return. The injury essentially killed any bit of potential La Salle offense. The Rams had just 40 total rushing yards on 14 carries.
On the other hand, the Skippers played phenomenal defense, not allowing the new primary ball carrier, Charles Sayegh, any running room. In the regular season matchup, Sayegh ran eight times for 89 yards. On Friday, he ran seven times for 22.
Through the air, the La Salle combination at quarterback of Jaden Moseley and Grey Iannitti threw for over 100 yards, but the Skippers tallied two interceptions, the first for Sterner on a deflected pass by Encarnacion and the second by Encarnacion himself.
The Skippers made four fourth-down stops and forced two punts. The only blemishes were two long La Salle passes – a 26-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Bearden and a 30-yard touchdown pass to Timoy Stitchell – but neither got the Rams to within closer than eight points.
NK held a lead the entire game, starting with an opening possession touchdown. NK sophomore Cooper Berthelot caught the score, a 25-yard pass where he got open on a streak down the left sideline after a hesitation move freed him up.
The second NK touchdown came on the first drive of the second quarter, a sixyard pass to Encarnacion. Rogers came under pressure immediately and scrambled right before somehow lobbing a perfect pass off his back foot to the back of the end zone where only Encarnacion could catch it.
While Rogers finished with only 89 passing yards, it was about as impressive of a sub100 day as a quarterback can have. He made a few perfect sideline throws, including one on fourth down to Berthelot on the first drive – the play that got them to the 25 for the opening touchdown.
Rogers struggled with turnovers this season, but when the lights were the brightest he had zero.
“I challenged him this week, we all did,” Giorgi said. “We told him, ‘What better game would there be to take over than this one?’”
Rogers’ biggest moment, of course, was his receiving touchdown thrown by Iacuele, the play internally called the ‘Skipper Special,’ which put them up 21-6 just before halftime.
This wasn’t the first time Iacuele or Rogers played that respective role. Iacuele, a junior, came into the Skippers’ program as a quarterback but shifted to wide receiver, the same path Rogers took until the senior returned to quarterback this season. Iacuele threw a touchdown pass on a trick play earlier this year on more of a flea flicker, but the Skippers haven’t used that strategy since – until Friday.
The most profound difference overall was the presence of the run game. Encarnacion ran 18 times for 94 yards with two touchdowns, both coming in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
“Today was just our day. It definitely brings a lot of confidence,” Encarnacion said. “Everybody decided to lock in, especially the offensive line. We all came in ready and pumped up. The line and running backs stay after for a while and we all run through the plays multiple times to make sure we execute everything the right way.”
Additionally on the ground, Sterner had three runs for 22 yards – all on end-around plays – including one for an 8-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Rogers ran six times for 31 yards.
Establishing the run game is the key to unlocking the potential of this Skipper offense. Encarnacion averages 7.1 yards per carry on the season, but he’s had three different games of under 10 carries where the Skippers fell behind and needed to pass their way out of it.
With 18 carries on Friday, Encarnacion was able to break off a few longer runs and showcased his bowlingball style of running, a few times breaking a tackle at the line of scrimmage and ending up with a 10-plus yard gain.
“In that first game against La Salle, we were in it. It was 21-21 and we made a couple of mistakes,” Giorgi said. “I told them that it was my mistake for not running it as much as we should have. The goal today was to establish the run, keep their offense off the field and take as much time off the clock as we could. And we did exactly that.
“In practice, we talked about perfection,” he added. “We needed to play a perfect game to beat La Salle – they're a very great program – and that's what we ended
up doing in all phases.”
Another aspect that was perfect on Friday was the kicking game. Liam Kennett made all six of his extra-point attempts and added a 39-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. He’s been nearly automatic this season, following up a legacy created by his uncle Adam Kennett who set kicking records at NK and made the 1995 All-State team.
Liam Kennett also serves as the punter and the placekicker, which he’s excelled as well. On Friday, La Salle started four different drives inside their own 20: three after kickoffs, one after a punt. Kennett even made a tackle on a third-quarter kick return that went all the way to the 50.
“The more reps I get, the more confident I am in game,” Kennett said. “That’s the secret.” Super Bowl bound After their regular season loss to La Salle in Providence, the Skippers gathered in their usual post-game huddle on the field before boarding the bus home. In his speech, Giorgi yelled: “We’re going to see these guys again and we’re going to beat them.”
This win is the type of confidence boost that the Skippers need because they’ll be underdogs again in the D-I Super Bowl against Bishop Hendricken next Sunday at Cranston Stadium. But it’s going to take much more than just confidence to beat Hendricken which has won 11 of the last 13 state titles.
“They're a very heavy run team,” Encarnacion said. “We're probably going to have to load up the box a little bit more often. They have fantastic running backs. We just have to contain the run. If we do that we'll have a great chance.”
Hendricken beat NK 2114 in Week 2 of the regular season, a close game that was tied into the fourth quarter. The Hawks have a major size advantage in the trenches which took away NK’s run game and forced a gameplan of repeated quick throws by Rogers: anything but a quick throw resulted in a sack – he took six of them.
With either result on Sunday, making it to the Super Bowl and taking down La Salle is a massive step forward for a program under a first-year head coach.
“It means a lot to this program,” Giorgi said. “It's going to build us. It's going to get more kids to want to come and play. This will change our program no matter what. I'm just proud of my boys.”