Bishop Fenwick (Peabody, Mass.) senior wide receiver Ryan Lipka caught six passes in the first half Friday night during a 36-0 loss to St. Mary's (Lynn, Mass.). The Crusaders ran only 12 plays in the second half.
That gave the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder 105 catches for the year, making him the first Massachusetts receiver ever to catch 100-or-more passes, according to Bob Holmes of the Boston Globe.
The unofficial state record of 94 catches had been broken the previous week by Lipka, who entered the St. Mary's game with 99.
"To go over 100 is really something – that's a milestone," coach Dave Woods told MaxPreps. "Everybody in the stadium knows we are throwing the ball to him. All the favorite routes we like to run, they put a guy right there. Every week he says, ‘Coach, what do you think they are going to do this week?' ‘'
Lipka now has 105 catches for 1,158 yards and eight touchdowns. He also has seven two-point conversions and two PAT kicks.
"He was an unknown coming into his senior year because we didn't throw much last year," Woods pointed out. "For us this is absolutely incredible because we always have been more of a running offense."
To illustrate the Crusaders' lack of passing over the years, their
career receptions record was 71 and their total yardage record was 859.
However, this year Woods went to the popular spread and for the last three games he has featured five wide receivers.
That enabled senior quarterback Bret Kidik (6-1, 190) to showcase some of his special skills, too. He has completed 223 of 382 passes for 2,634 yards and 22 touchdowns and he, too, is setting many school records.
The pass-happy duo has one game remaining, a Thanksgiving Day date with
Austin Prep (Reading, Mass.).
"I've got a feeling he (Lipka) is going to put some numbers out of reach," Woods predicted.
