By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET --- For close to three quarters, Shea High did everything in its power to hang tough with mighty La Salle Academy in their non-league season opener on Friday night at Max Read Field.
But the Rams, one of the teams expected to contend for the Division I championship this year, zapped all the drama out of the game by scoring 18 points in the final quarter and waning seconds of the third and cruised to a 32-0 victory that allowed the hearty fans who braved the inclement weather to make an early dash for the parking lot.
Senior fullback Gus DelFarno was a one-man wrecking crew for the Rams, as he rushed behind La Salle's mammoth front line for 166 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 handoffs. Senior tailback Kendall Perry added 61 yards and a score on 10 carries for the Rams, who finished the night with 244 yards on the ground.  

The lopsided loss was tough to absorb for the Raiders, but Shea High coach Dino Campopiano was quick to point out the positives in his post-game thoughts.
"I'm very happy with the guys," he added. "They played with a lot of intensity. La Salle's obviously a great team, but I thought we did some nice things and we played very hard.
"In the fourth quarter, La Salle just wore us down, but I think overall we played well, and it's something to build on. We went out and played hard and we definitely accomplished some things. We still have a lot to work on, but I think we're ready for league play, and if we can play with that intensity the rest of the way, we'll be OK."
The Raiders had a golden opportunity to break on the board on the game's opening series. On six plays, they brought the ball from their 28 to the Rams' 28, but they turned the ball over at the 10 when Bryan Sanchez, who caught an 18-yard pass from quarterback Albert Amado, got stripped of the ball by defensive back Kyle Bannon as he was getting tackled by a swarm of white jerseys.
La Salle's offense then went to work. A 29-yard carry by Kendall Perry, followed by a strong 33-yard run by DelFarno, brought the ball to the Raiders' six, and two plays later, DelFarno made his first venture into the end zone with a six-yard carry around his left tackle.
DelFarno doubled the Rams' lead on the last play of the quarter with a 35-yard touchdown run down La Salle's sideline, but the Rams were limited to just 13 yards of offense in the second quarter.
The Raiders controlled the clock for those 12 minutes, and again, worked their way into the red zone on the first drive of the quarter when a 23-yard run by Mark Vassallo ignited a four-play, 34-yard drive that brought the ball to the Rams' 18. But that drive died when Amado was sacked twice for a loss of 25 yards and Shea was forced to turn the ball over on downs.       
The Rams, who went 0-for-5 on their extra-point attempts in the game, managed to get two points on a safety with five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Raiders went three-and-out on a series inside their own 10 and were forced to punt from the back of their end zone, and punter Josh Burgo took the snap and wisely ran out of the end zone. 
The Rams got the ball back on offense and put together their longest drive of the game that ended in a one-yard run by Perry with 6.7 seconds left in the quarter.
Shea tried to answer back with its best drive of the night. A 46-yard pass play from Amado to Vassallo, followed by a 15-yard personal foul penalty, gave the hosts the ball a first-and-goal at the Rams' nine. But the Raiders then lost 14 yards on a fumble and Amado was sacked on the next play for a 12-yard loss, and they eventually turned the ball over on downs.
DelFarno sent the fans to their cars with 7:44 to play in the contest when he broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown run that featured a handful of missed tackles by the Raiders, and after Shea fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Bob Amendolara capped the scoring with a 13-yard TD run. 
"I thought we hurt ourselves at times with our fumbles (Shea lost three of its five fumbles in the game) and some of the mistakes we made," added Campopiano. "But La Salle was just a better team tonight, and that's why I like to play a team like that in our opener. They're a great ballclub and they're well-coached, and to me, you can always get a lot out of a game against a team like that."   
The Raiders, who will host Lincoln High next Friday night in its Division 2-B opener, finished the game with 177 yards of offense, with 113 coming through the air on Amado's air. Vassallo hauled in five of his passes for 94 yards.
***
LA SALLE, 32-0
La Salle  12 0 8 12 -- 32
Shea  0 0 0 0 -- 0
LS -- Gus DelFarno 6 run (kick failed)
LS -- Gus DelFarno 35 run (kick failed)
LS -- Safety, punter John Burgo ran out of end zone
LS -- Kendall Perry 1 run (kick failed)
LS -- Gus DelFarno 67 run (kick failed)
LS -- Bob Amendolara 13 run (kick failed)

   La Salle  Shea
First downs  5  7
Rushes-yards  28-244  32-66
Passing   3-8-0  8-11-0
Net passing  76  9
Sacks-yards  3-37  1-5
Fumbles-lost  2-1  5-3
Penalties-yards  7-60  4-41
Punts-average  3-32.0  3-3.0
***
Individual statistics
RUSHING: LS -- Gus DelFarno 11-163, Kendall Perry 10-61, Bob Amendolara 1-13. S -- Mark Vassallo 8-26, Malcum Moniz 4-13, Albert Amado 3-12.
PASSING: S -- Albert Amado 8-11-0-113. LS -- Joe Charest 3-8-0-14.
RECEIVING: S -- Mark Vassallo 5-94, Bryan Sanchez 1-18. LS -- Gus DelFarno 2-7.