2 weeks Ago By By Tyler Hetu [email protected]
ATTLEBORO — “The City Game” went to Bishop Feehan High Friday night at Tozier-Cassidy Field, as the Shamrocks got on the scoreboard first and ran away in a 31-0 football romp over Attleboro High. Senior running back David Quinn led the way on the ground for the Shamrocks with three rushing touchdowns, dominating between the tackles and going right at a large and physical Attleboro defensive front all night. “David is underrated,” Bishop Feehan head coach Bryan Pinabell said of his team captain from Wrentham.
“He’s overlooked. He’s physical, he runs hard, and I give our offensive line all our credit. We’ve got three first-time starters.
Our offensive line keeps getting better.” The Shamrocks established the run from the outset with 12 straight rushes by Quinn to take the ball from Feehan’s own 41-yard line down to the Attleboro 1-yard line. After an errant snap to Owen Mordas backed up the Shamrocks to the 5-yard line, Quinn again took the ball and brought Feehan to the 2-yard line.
A QB-keeper for Mordas, who bounced around the pile and in for a score, but an illegal procedure penalty backed up the Shamrocks who settled for an Aidan Neary 24-yard field goal instead, making it 3-0 to culminate their nearly 12-minute drive. Attleboro head coach Jim Winters said Feehan’s offensive line and running game were both concerns, making the Bombardiers put players up front to try and limit the run. “It was a worry of selling out for the run,” Winters said.
“We knew we needed extra people. Watching them against Xaverian, they did very well. That O-line is very strong.
“We’re trying to put extra bodies in there and the quarterback (Owen Mordas) is so dangerous too,” Winters added. “We tried to get the 5-yard stop and and then the 3-yard stop. They kind of just took it to us.
I think we were a little shocked offensively and it took us a little while to settle down.” The Shamrocks took their 3-0 lead into the second quarter where, on the first play of their second possession, Quinn broke loose for a 61-yard rushing score down the sideline to make it 10-0 at 10:56. Pinabell said the goal was to hold the ball for as long as possible to prevent Attleboro’s offense from getting to work.
“We want to be able to control the ball,” Pinabell said. “They’ve got some big-play guys over there and we want to keep their offense off the field. I was really proud of how our guys responded in the second half.
We made a few mistakes that kept them in the game at the end of the first half but our guys came out in the second half and created a turnover. I’m really proud of the guys.” Attleboro’s second possession, was assisted by a roughing the kicker call for a first down, and a personal foul on Bishop Feehan near midfield handing the Bombardiers an additional 15 yards.
Attleboro marched to the Feehan 36-yard line, but turned it over on downs following an incomplete pass from Brayden Jones to Kelan Jones. Attleboro only had three possessions in the first half, including a one-possession Hail Mary attempt with one second before halftime. Winters said the penalties on Feehan that gave them chances to respond are a learning experience for the team, and a chance for the Bombardiers to look at who was fighting during those chances to stay in the game ahead of the half.
“The learning experience is any time you get an opportunity, you have to take advantage of it,” Winters said. “They certainly helped us maintain those drives. There’s another gear you have to find.
You have to dig down and go, ‘We’re in a fight here, we’ve got another opportunity, let’s not squander it.’ We’re going to have to watch the film and see who was working hard on that and who wasn’t.” For Pinabell, the penalties are something they had worked on eliminating in practice, but he said that he felt the team looked better defensively in the second half with limited miscues.
“We have to mentally focus a little bit more,” Pinabell said. “We worked on that in practice and we’ve got to keep working on it. The war is going to be won in November and everything we’re doing week-to-week is trying to get us prepared for that juncture in the season.
We’ve got to clean things up and keep getting better. I thought we did better in the second half. We did a good job against a good team.
I know the score says what it says, but they’re going to beat some people.” The Shamrocks opened the second half on defense and quickly caused a turnover, popping out a fumble following an Attleboro screen. Bradyn Goodwin recovered the ball near his own 45-yard line and returned it to Attleboro’s 38-yard line, setting up another short field for the offense.
A few plays later, Mordas hit Aiden Bednarek for a 16-yard pitch-and-catch to make it 17-0 with 9:21 to go in the third quarter. Bishop Feehan added to its lead with a 78-yard scoring drive that ended in a 3-yard Quinn rushing score with 11:53 to go in the game. Quinn capped his night with another touchdown from 3 yards out at 6:57 to close out the scoring.
Bishop Feehan (2-1) and moves into CCL play at home against Archbishop Williams next Friday. Attleboro (1-2) will look to bounce back next Friday in Hockomock League play at Sharon..
