High school sports coverage is proudly supported by Maine State Credit Union. 

AUGUSTA – The Cony football team started its home opener with a bang on Friday night.

Jasper Parrilli returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, setting the pace for the Rams, who went on to beat Massabesic 28-7 in front of a packed crowd at Fuller Field.

“That was amazing blocking from the team,” Parrilli said. “I had to make a couple shifts in there, but there was some really big holes. I was surprised, like ‘Oh, big hole right there.’ I just hit it, juked one guy out and off for a touchdown.”

Parilli, a senior, scored two touchdowns on the night. He also hauled in a 46-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dom Napolitano on a fade route in the second quarter.

“Today, (Massabesic) seemed to do inside-leverage coverage,” Parrilli said. “I just got good outside leverage and Dom threw a good football and that’s all she wrote.”

Cony (1-1) went after Massabesic (1-1) with a balanced offensive attack. Napolitano, a senior, was 6 of 12 passing for 126 yards and a touchdown. He also added a score on the ground while rushing for 65 yards.

“(Napolitano) is just a great athlete,” Cony head coach B.L. Lippert said. “He didn’t want to play quarterback last year when he was thrust into the situation in the Lawrence regular season game… He spent the offseason learning the playbook. He’s just a good athlete, I trust him implicitly back there with the ball in his hands.”

“We wanted to expose (Massabesic) with the passing game, I think we did that in the first half with the fade balls,” Napolitano said. “We were up, so we emphasized the run a little bit, try to run the clock out. I think we could have completed a little bit more on offense, but overall it was a good effort.”

Caden Schleis-Hooyman added 63 rushing yards on 12 carries and a touchdown for Cony.

Down 20-0 at halftime, the Mustangs responded with a nine-play, 76 yard drive capped off by an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Collin Scully that would cut the lead to 20-7.

“There’s definitely some positives, though it’s hard to see that in a loss sometimes,” Massabesic head coach Lucas Labbe said. “The things that hurt us are fixable. I thought the second half was definitely a different focus. We tried to bring some focused energy instead of being crazed and flying around. I thought the kids responded well. But hats off to Cony, they took that punch and stood their ground. Penalties hurt us, but (Cony) has a couple players and they gashed us for some big plays.”

Cony would eventually respond in the fourth quarter, when Napolitano put the game away with a 3-yard run to bring the score to 28-7.

Scully led Massabesic with 97 rushing yards on 21 carries. Austin Scribner added 53 rushing yards on nine carries.