BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 14/15 nationally ranked Endicott football team defeated Hilbert, 58-0, in Saturday afternoon's home-opener at Hempstead Stadium.
After the Gulls defense forced a quick three-and-out on the first Hawks drive, the offense took over and set up a field goal try for Ryan Smith (Glastonbury, Conn.), which he drilled from 25 yards out.
Moments later, the Gulls offense got the ball back with a forced fumble and recovery by Hector Johnson (Worcester, Mass.). The offense then converted off of the turnover, as Clayton Marengi (Lynnfield, Mass.) found tight end Everett Knowlton III (Mansfield, Mass.) in the back of the end zone for an eight yard touchdown, making it 10-0 Gulls just four and a half minutes in.
On the following drive, Marengi and Knowlton linked up again for a 37 yard completion prior to a Marengi five yard rushing touchdown.
The Gulls found the end zone twice more before the half, as Shane Aylward (Tewksbury, Mass.) hauled in a 14 yard touchdown reception and Marengi ripped off a 55 yard run to the end zone in consecutive drives to put the hosts up 31-0 heading to the break.
In the second half, the offense kept rolling, as Marengi connected with Jayson Little (Natick, Mass.) for a 15 yard touchdown just a minute into the third quarter.
Marengi ended his day 10-13 with 157 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in addition to his 64 rush yards and two rushing touchdowns (five rush attempts) to lead the Blue and Green's offensive explosion.
Shea Lynch (Peabody, Mass.) entered at quarterback in the third quarter and threw touchdowns to Mat Leone (East Lyme, Conn.) (Q3 | 8:19) and Nick Stinson (South Portland, Maine) (Q4 | 12:33) in the ensuing Endicott drives.
Ryan Boyce (Northbridge, Mass.) capped off the Gulls' scoring in the fourth quarter with a 19 yard run to the end zone.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The two teams met for the first time ever last season, when Endicott won 66-0 in Hamburg, N.Y. (9/30/23)
- With his five receptions, Aylward is now two away from Nate Lewis's program record 154 career receptions.
- The Gulls defense limited the Hawks to 157 total yards of offense and also caused four fumbles (recovered three).
- Endicott's defense has allowed just 6.67 points per game over its first three contests.
- The Hawks were held to 2-11 (18%) on third down.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 14/15 Endicott (3-0) hosts RPI next Saturday, 9/28, in a 12 PM kickoff for the Homecoming weekend game at Hempstead Stadium. Hilbert (0-3) travels to Lycoming next Saturday for a 1 PM kickoff.
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(Photo Credit - Kaeli Talora '25)
