The Newburgh Free Academy football team had its entire offense for the first time this season, and the Kingston Tigers paid the price.

The Goldbacks – playing their first home game since the September 30 shooting-marred victory over the Warwick Wildcats – scored at least two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters on their way to a 55-12 win over the Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Academy Field.

The Goldbacks have now won five straight games after two season-opening losses and are sitting in line for the top seed in Section 9 Class AA. Their 3-0 class record puts them in position to clinch the top seed with a win over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders on October 29.
The Crusaders are 2-0 in the league and play the Tigers this week.

The top three of the league’s five teams will make the playoffs with the top seed getting a bye into the championship game.

“I think we’ve come a long way since the first two weeks,” sophomore Mason Hoover said. “I think we’re really on a roll now and it’s going to be hard to stop us the rest of the season.”

It was hard to stop Hoover, who threw for 287 yards and four touchdowns, and with almost a full season under his belt has taken charge of the Goldbacks’ passing attack. He joined the varsity team last year in the Section 9 Class AA championship game when then-quarterback Dylan Iorlano suffered a shoulder injury.
“I feel like it’s just been a big role to take on,” Hoover said. “It’s been at the start a little bit of pressure, actually, but I think I’ve eased in so far.”

With his weapons, it’s easy to ease in.

Everyone knows his 6-foot-8 target, Deondre Johnson, who caught three passes on Saturday for 61 yards on a touchdown.

He also found Elijah Bevier for six receptions, 144 yards and two touchdowns.

“We have Deondre, but (Bevier) is as good as any receiver we’ve had before Deondre,” Newburgh coach Bill Bianco said. “He’s got Division I schools calling … he can do everything. We have him run the ball at quarterback a little. We have him run and do jet sweeps. We have him throwing trick plays. We have him catching the ball, long ones and short ones. He’s versatile and he can do a lot of different things.”
Tajir Walker handled most of the chores on the ground as he rushed for 82 yards and scored three touchdowns. Jishawn Hall had 62 yards and a touchdown.

“We have a talented team and it’s nice when we have everybody,” Bianco said. “This is the first week this season we’ve had the whole offense. Every week someone’s been out for this or that, so when everybody’s on the field, there’s a lot of different kids that can make plays.”

The game was originally scheduled for Friday night but was moved to Saturday afternoon after security measures were increased and the last home games moved to daytime after the triple shooting in a parking lot on September 30.

That led to a more subdued atmosphere at Academy Field.

“It’s not as packed as it usually would but we’ve still got to no matter what happened,” lineman Fabien Rhodes said.

Rhodes was a key component to keeping the Kingston offense from gaining any traction as he helped bottle up the running game, making a few notable hits. Three of his tackles went for a loss.

Darryl Jackson led the team defensively with eight tackles.

“I feel like we’re getting it together,” Rhoden said. “It was just the two losses in the beginning of the season that really woke us up. It made us focus and be ready for it.”