Claremont
What has happened the last three weeks, however, has made everyone forget any doubts. With an impressive 35-14 win over Stevens on Friday night under the Barnes Park lights the Tigers, now 4-0, have moved to the top of the heap in D-III’s North Conference.
The Tigers have been a run-first team for years, and it surely makes it easier with a running back such as John Thibault. The sophomore scored three touchdowns, added a conversion and ended up with 202 yards from scrimmage. He also now has 12 touchdowns and leads the Upper Valley with 80 points.
Thibault also knows that those yards are not all accumulated by himself. “We have a lot of people that know what to do,” he said.
When asked if he gets excited when his number is called in the huddle, as it was 24 times against the Cardinals, he answered succinctly.
“Nah,” he said with a huge grin. “Just give me the ball.”
The Cardinals (2-2) sustained a disappointing loss not only because it was against their chief rival, but also because the Tigers seemed to be the more intense and enthusiastic team.
“Yes, they certainly had more emotion,” Stevens coach Paul Silva said. “I don’t know what happened to us.”
There were a couple of key moments in the game before Newport eventually took control in the second half.
Holding a 14-0 lead and driving deep into Stevens territory late in the second quarter, Newport fumbled the football into the hands of the Cards’ Derrick Stanhope, who returned the ball to Newport 5 with 3.3 seconds on the clock. The Cards were tagged with a five-yard penalty on the ensuing play, and their first half-ending pass from the 10 went incomplete.
That miss loomed large when Stevens scored first in the third quarter. Cardinal Joe Desilets got a hand on a Newport punt, giving Stevens the ball on the Newport 45. Keaghan McAllister (19 rushes, 122 yards) carried the football five times on the drive, capping it with a 4-yard touchdown run. A conversion pass to Lucas Mudge made it a 14-8 game.
Whatever emotional boost Stevens attained from that score was quickly squashed. Newport used eight running plays in response, with Cody Turgeon (6 rushes, 35 yards) taking it in from the 5 followed by Thibault’s 2-point run for a 22-8 lead.
Stevens drove to the Newport 2 on its next possession. Once again, the Cards backed up with a penalty, Newport’s Michael Gasper caught McAllister behind the line for a loss, and Stevens’ fourth-and-goal pass attempt from the 10 failed.
Thibault scored Newport’s first two TDs, taking it from the 2 on the Tigers’ first possession. Thibault found a big hole from 19 yards out for his second score of the opening stanza to make it 14-0.
Continuing his big night, Thibault took the mystery as to who was going to win this game with a 67-yard TD dash early in the fourth quarter. The final Newport score was a 56-yard pass from Ethan Houde to Turgeon.
Stevens scored in the last minute on a 33-yard Quentin Bicknell pass to Desilets. McAllister ran for the points.
Newport coach Rich Boone, while smiling widely, said that the win carried some mixed emotions for him.
“I graduated and coached here,” he said.
Asked where all of his team’s intensity and enthusiasm came from, he said: “I have great coaches. I just direct traffic. I’m like an air traffic controller.”
Newport returns to Maryn Field next Saturday afternoon to host Fall Mountain. Stevens plays at Kearsarge next Saturday night.