Little Goes Right For Stoneham In Opening Loss

PEABODY, Ma. - The problem with the extra four minutes of game time Friday night wasn't fatigue. No, the problem was that long before the additional time mandated by the change in rules, Stoneham coach Bob Almeida had seen enough.

"They took it to us in every phase of the game," said Almeida after the 35-14 season-opening loss to Bishop Fenwick. "They're very talented athletes. They were physical. They tackled better than we did. They did every phase of the game better than we did, that's for sure. They're a really good football team."

With much of the pregame attention on the change from NCAA to high school rules, once the game started it was just football as usual. By any set of rules, Fenwick senior David Cifuentes dominated the night, running for 111 yards and three touchdowns. He also kicked all five Crusader extra points.

With Victor Fernandes at quarterback, Stoneham stalled on its first series. Fenwick took over and on its fifth play of 2019, Cifuentes scored on a 36-yard run. Stoneham's next series ended on an interception and Fenwick went back to work. Their six-play drive ended with a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. After 12 minutes and a couple seconds, Stoneham was down, 14-0.

But on its next possession, Stoneham looked like its 2018 self, back when it beat Fenwick in the playoffs and went on to win the Division 6 Super Bowl. The Spartans, led by DeShawn Chase (18 carries, 60 yards) went on a 13-play, 74-yard drive that ended on Chris Dragone's 1-yard run. Max Davis drilled the extra point and it was suddenly 14-7. Neither team threatened in the remaining four minutes of the now 24-minute half and teams headed to the locker room in a one-score game.

"But it really wasn't," said Almeida. "Then they laid it on us. They imposed their will on us."

For proof, Fenwick opened the third quarter by going 57 yards and scoring on Cifuentes second touchdown, this one from 17 yards out, and it was 21-7. Stoneham, playing without the injured Seth Russell, struggled again on offense while also committing two penalties on the next series.

But Fenwick struggled on its possession and was forced to punt. That's when quarterback/punter Jason Romans launched a 57-yard beauty that rolled dead at the 5-yard line. On the third play Stoneham fumbled and Fenwick's Matt Juneau recovered on the 1. Once again the quarter ended and once again Fenwick scored on the first play of the next quarter, taking a 28-7 lead seconds into the fourth.

The teams would exchange touchdowns in the remaining minutes with Fenwick scoring on a 62-yard punt return and James Scally replacing Fernandes and scoring on a 2-yard run to make the final, 35-14.

With a number of players already hurting, the coming bye week will help.

"Desperately needed by the way," said Almeida. "I don't [like the bye week], but I do right now. We need to regroup. We were very poor tonight. We got totally handled by a very good Fenwick team."