Defense leads to offense as undefeated Fairhaven takes care of business vs. winless Case

FAIRHAVEN — Outside of a few penalties and a pair of turnovers, Fairhaven High played nearly flawless football in Thursday night’s 49-6 win over Case in South Coast Conference Gold Division action at Alumni Stadium.

“They do everything well,” Case head coach Anthony Palladino said. “They don’t have a weakness.”

Two of Fairhaven’s four touchdowns in the first quarter came off turnovers as the undefeated Blue Devils set the tone early on defense.

“The defense was great,” said sophomore Justin Marques. “It was all defense. We want to be a really good defensive team. It wins us games.”

In addition to scoring a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, Marques had a key defensive play when he stripped the ball from Case quarterback Jack Orton and senior lineman Colin Pacheco was there to scoop it up and return it 30 yards for a score.

“Everyone is putting in hard work,” Marques said. “I feel like we have a better line than we did last year to be honest. They’re working every single day.”

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Fairhaven head coach Derek Almeida said that Pacheco, Marques and seniors Westin Chase, Dylan Roderiques and Kevin Moura are raising the bar.

“Their level of play is extremely high,” Almeida said. “They’re playing as good of football as some of the top kids I’ve ever coached. They’re setting the tone and everybody is following their lead and we’re becoming a better football team because of it.”

Just 16 minutes into the game and the Blue Devils were up 42-0 against the winless Cardinals.

“Our best players are just playing at a high level,” Almeida said. “They get it. They understand the way this game needs to be played. They’re so aggressive and they’re so physical. They just have so much intensity that early in the game we overwhelm people and then it gives everybody else on our roster some boost in confidence. Some of our kids that aren’t necessarily our best players are starting to play at a much higher level.”

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Palladino sees the Blue Devils being a contender in the MIAA Div. 5 playoffs.

“They’re very good at what they do,” he said. “Marques in the backfield is a problem for anybody. They’ve got a chance to do some damage at the state level too. They’re a good football team.”

Senior Westin Chase isn’t surprised with Fairhaven’s perfect start to 2022.

“I knew we were going to be good this year,” said Chase, who missed most of last season with a broken forearm. “I just knew with all the skilled people — me, Justin, Colby (Correia), Jayce (Duarte) — it was going to be good. Our linemen have been amazing too.”

In the past two games, Chase has found the end zone five times, including twice against Case on runs of 11 and 64 yards.

“He’s been big offensively all year,” said Almeida of Chase. “Everybody is going to touch the ball. They’re all going to have big games. I think everybody is going to have their opportunity before the season is over.”

Marques scored his 11th and 12th touchdowns of the season on Thursday night.

“I’m just trying to focus on helping my team win games right now,” he said.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Blue Devils opened the game by marching down the field on a seven-play, 62-yard drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Marques. The first of five extra points by sophomore Jarod Frates in the game made it 7-0 with 9:29 left in the first quarter.

Less than two minutes later, Fairhaven made it 13-0 when Pacheco picked up a fumble caused by Marques and ran it in for the score.

The Blue Devils struck again on their next possession when Chase scored an 11-yard TD run.

Marques ran it in from 17 yards out following an interception by Fairhaven junior William Foster to make it 28-0 entering the second quarter.

Fairhaven added touchdown runs by Chase (64 yards) and junior quarterback Jayce Duarte (20) in the second quarter to give the Blue Devils a commanding 42-0 halftime lead and give the starters a break for the rest of the game.

Case broke through in the third quarter when Orton connected with junior Angelo Ciallia on a 24-yard scoring strike.

Fairhaven capped the scoring in the fourth quarter when freshman Aaron Lague scored his first varsity touchdown on a 22-yard scamper down the right sideline.

WHAT IT MEANS: With the win, the Blue Devils improved to 5-0 on the season. They visit Sharon on Oct. 14. … The Cardinals fell to 0-5. They host Bourne on Oct. 21.

PALLADINO: “We’ve got three seniors and we started three freshmen tonight. The kids played hard. Our effort and attitude are never a question. We’re learning on the job. We’ve got to clean up a lot from a technique standpoint. All that stuff is fixable. We’re doing all the right things and we’ll figure it out.”

ALMEIDA: “I think we can play a lot better than we did tonight. The schedule looks like it could get more difficult. We’ll see how things play out, but we’ve just got to focus on us and getting better every single day.”

NOTES: The town’s Pop Warner football players and cheerleaders were recognized during halftime.

FAIRHAVEN 49, CASE 6

CASE;0;0;6;0 — 6

FAIRHAVEN;28;14;0;7 — 49

Scoring

First Quarter

F: Justin Marques 1 run (Jarod Frates kick), 9:29

F: Colin Pacheco 30 fumble return (run failed), 7:55

F: Westin Chase 11 run (Dylan Roderiques pass from Jayce Duarte), 5:46

F: Justin Marques 17 run (Jarod Frates kick), 1:29

Second Quarter

F: Westin Chase 64 run (Jarod Frates kick), 11:06

F: Jayce Duarte 20 run (Jarod Frates kick), 8:10

Third Quarter

C: Angelo Ciallia 24 pass from Jack Orton (run failed), 4:08

Fourth Quarter

F: Aaron Lague 22 run (Jarod Frates kick), 8:48

Individual Statistics

Rushing — C: Jack Orton 2-8, Devin Silva 4-12, Braden Bibeau 6-23, Nathan Wood 4-19, Lucas Beaulieu 1-2, Nicolas Thorpe 2-9; F: Jason Perry 1-2, Westin Chase 3-83-2, Jayce Duarte 6-54-1, Justin Marques 8-63-2, Dylan Roderiques 1-8, Colby Correia 1-15, Richard Senna 1-8, Aaron Lague 4-42-1, Nate Carroll 1-5, Landon Pickup 2-13, Cam Burke 2-17, Nate Pickup 2-9.

Passing — C: Jack Orton 4-7-37-1-1; F: Jayce Duarte 2-3-18, Jason Perry 1-1-7.

Receiving — C: Angelo Ciallia 3-31-1, Will Lebouef 1-6; F: Connor Sorelle 1-8, Dylan Roderiques 1-10, Richard Senna 1-7.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Fairhaven football beats Case in South Coast Conference action