Improving Saints play well in home loss to champs

PAWTUCKET – Immediately after sustaining a tough but expected 27-14 loss to seven-time defending Division I Super Bowl champion Hendricken at Pariseau Field on Friday night, St. Raphael Academy veteran chief Mike Sassi – naturally – wasn’t pleased.

Sophomore quarterback Thomas Comella and junior fullback Mike Rodrigues both notched first-half touchdowns in the I-A clash, but the back-breaker came on the final play of the second period. That’s when senior Dylan Gardner returned an interception 35 yards to the end zone to lift the Hawks to a 20-7 cushion at the break.

The Saints’ lone score in that opening half came on sophomore signal caller Devin O’Malley’s 50yar scoring toss to classmate Braxton Fontaine.

“We have a really young team, but we felt we could play with them,” Sassi stated on Sunday afternoon. “We told the kids we could play with them, but I think they had to experience it a little bit; they had to understand exactly what that would entail.

“We actually played a freshman on the offensive line (left tackle Giovanni Barbosa) because we lost our only senior in the first quarter due to injury,” he added. “We (as coaches) thought he did a solid job. We played three other freshmen in the game because we had no other choice.

“I’d say there still are a lot of pos- itives. Basically after our lone senior went down on the third play of the game, we played the remainder with all underclassmen – and we kept the score respectable. We’re going to keep looking forward.”

Junior tailback Pride Clark scored the final TD for the Saints (2-2 overall, 1-2 in league play) early in the fourth quarter.