The Bishop Hendricken football team came back to pick up a 28-16 win over Cranston West in a non-league matchup last Friday night.

West came out strong in the first half on each side of the ball and would take a 16-14 lead into the halftime break. Hendricken would turn to its rushing attack in the second half and the move would pay off, as Oscar Weah and Ronjai Francis would pick up scores to give Hendricken the lead and allow the Hawks to control the clock in the final 24 minutes.

“They came out in an I-formation and just came at us. We couldn’t get it. We did a nice job in the first half and they did a nice job in the second half. It was great coaching on their part to take the air out of the football and to run at us. Grind us down, grind us down, grind us down,” said West coach Tom Milewski after the loss.

The two teams were tied 7-7 after one quarter. West quarterback Kelan Cornell connected with Marcus Chung for a score while Jayden Falcone connected with Noah West for a 30-yard strike for Hendricken.

The teams would exchange scores again in the second quarter. Cornell connected with Hudson Carvalho on a 90-yard catch and run touchdown. Falcone would cap off a Hendricken drive with a touchdown the following sequence to make it 14-13. Jack Majcher booted a field goal with 27 seconds remaining in the second quarter to make it 16-14 at the halftime break.

Carvalho also came up with a pair of interceptions in the second quarter to help West shut down the Hawks’ passing attack, which only completed two passes all night.

“Hudson has done a great job for us on both sides of the ball. He showed great hustle on defense, made some key third and fourth down receptions on offense. He’s been doing a nice job for us. I am happy for him, he’s a great kid that has worked hard to get here. He’s doing well,” said Milewski.

Hendricken coach Keith Croft was pleased with his team’s second half performance, but expects cleaner play moving forward.

“We were happy, but we never really felt totally in control. It was a frustrating game, we just kept giving up big plays, having breakdowns on special teams. Offensively, too many turnovers. There are still things we need to do better. Credit to Cranston West, though, they played hard and gave us everything that they had. They played a very clean game, they didn’t make many mistakes,” said Croft. “West did a nice job (in the first half) controlling the clock, then we did a nice job controlling the clock in the second half. We just didn’t have enough big plays on offense, defense or special teams. To be a championship-level team, you need to do that.”

Despite the loss, Milewski was proud of his unit and felt that it took another step forward.

“You measure yourself against Hendricken, they’re a good team. I’m proud of our guys, they battled, they didn’t back down. We needed a play in the third quarter and that has been our thing … we can’t pull together four quarters. We can play two-and-a-half, three quarters, but still haven’t put four quarters together. We’ll learn from it. Hats off to our guys, they kept fighting,” Milewski said.