La Salle picks up big win over NK

PROVIDENCE — With one quarter of near-perfect execution on both sides of the ball, the La Salle football team accomplished what it had set out to do.

Now the Rams know what has to happen next.

With rival Hendricken on the horizon, La Salle wasn’t overlooking North Kingstown. Why would it? The Skippers not only showed up but with 7:36 left in the third quarter, the game was tied. Terrence Campbell went on and did Terrence Campbell things, the defense played in a way it hasn’t this fall and, when the quarter was over, the Rams led, 42-21, and the score didn’t change the rest of the night.

“It feels great. We played a lot of teams beforehand to get us great and to really work on us,” La Salle tight end and defensive lineman Mason Mangiante said. “It really paid off in this game and you can tell with the way we played. We played as a family.”

Winning mattered, but how La Salle won mattered more with its annual clash against Hendricken coming up next week. Here’s what stood out in the Rams’ win over NK on Friday night:

Last year, Campbell was one of the best players in the state and that hasn’t changed much. As far as two-way players go, he’s one of the top two players in Rhode Island and probably not No. 2.

The junior was terrific in the first quarter, rushing 12 times for 100 yards. His 4-yard run with 2:02 left sent the Rams into the locker room up, 21-14. North Kingstown had an answer to start the second half, scoring on its opening drive.

And then Campbell took over.

On the first play from scrimmage following Trent Sterner’s 11-yard TD catch, Campbell found a hole, shed two tackles, cut right and was gone for a 74-yard touchdown run that shifted the direction of the game.

La Salle’s defense got a stop as NK went for it on fourth-and-2 from its own 36 and the offense went to work. Campbell had an 11-yard run that put La Salle at the NK 4 and there aren’t many defenses stopping him from that distance.

The Rams forced a turnover and with Campbell on the sidelines getting a breather, the offense worked it back into the red zone. A holding call took it out and Campbell went back in the game, popping off a 15-yard run followed by two runs from the 10 for another touchdown.

Campbell’s third-quarter damage? Seven carries, 117 yards, three touchdowns — a good night for most players.

“Terrence was being Terrence,” La Salle quarterback Jaden Moseley said. “The big guys up front were opening the holes for Terrence to make a move and that was a big part of the game.

“We just let him cook. Terrence Campbell, just give him the ball once and when he pops one, we’re good.”

Moseley stepped into the starting role this fall with pretty big shoes to fill after two-time All-Stater Dean Varrecchione graduated following the Rams’ Super Bowl title last fall. It hasn’t been easy.

He struggled in La Salle’s win over

Central earlier this year and has taken his lumps during nonleague, out-ofstate games, but on Friday, Moseley took charge of the offense.

Moseley’s arm talent is obvious. He zipped balls to Mangiante in the seams, showed touch on deep balls to Timoy Stitchell — on one Stitchell made the catch of the year by pinning the ball to his defender’s back, only to have it called back because of an illegal formation — and wasn’t afraid to use his legs either.

“Today, I had fun,” Moseley said. “Playing with fun, just having fun, that’s what gets me going.”

La Salle’s second drive was a tonesetter. The Rams went three-and-out on their opening possession and NK responded by driving down the field to La Salle’s 10 before Stitchell stepped in front of a ball in the end zone for an interception.

A block in the back on the return brought it back to the La Salle 3, but Moseley hardly looked fazed pinned against his own end zone. He completed 5-of-5 passes for 83 yards — 2 catches and 57 yards by Mangiante — on an 11play, 97-yard drive that ended with Moseley scoring on a 1-yard bootleg to the right.

“It was game-changing,” said Moseley of the drive. “I’m a big guy with energy and with the crowd, our student section was packed, and with the play Timoy made, everything was piling up.

“When we have that energy, I feel like we’re dangerous.”

Moseley has plenty of talented receivers — Campbell is a weapon, Stitchell showed his big-play capabilities and sophomore Antonio Bearden is a terrific possession receiver — and you can now add Mangiante to the mix.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 250-pound senior started the year on the line but when coach Geoff Marcone asked if he wanted to try tight end, Mangiante jumped at the opportunity.

Mangiante is terrific as a blocker in the run game, but his three-catch, 76yard performance showed another side of his game. At his size, wearing No. 87, it was hard not to think of another tight end who played a few big games in the region.

“It is Baby Gronk,” said Mangiante, when asked about the comparison to former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. “I loved Gronk from when I was little and it was also one of the only numbers I could choose from.”

Down 14-0, North Kingstown’s offense put together short scoring drives highlighted by big plays, tying the game at 14 with 3:08 left in the first half. The Skippers opened the third quarter with their longest scoring drive, going 65 yards on eight plays, ending with the Sterner TD.

La Salle didn’t let the Skippers find the end zone again. The next drives ended with a four-play turnover on downs, a fumble and three straight three-andouts that prevented NK from putting a dent in the three-touchdown deficit.

What happened? Just some simple adjustments.

“Our coach gave us a great scheme for the second half,” Mangiate said. “He really put us together. Our whole team, we hyped each other up and we got to work.”