Skippers too much for Clippers
ccotter@ricentral.com
NORTH KINGSTOWN — The Cumberland High football team played a great second quarter against the North Kingstown Skippers.
The Clippers’ only problem was the other three periods of play.
They responded to NK’s opening 21-0 salvo by drawing within a single score by halftime, but were shutout in the second half of a 35-14 defeat.
“That’s a really good team,” NK head coach Joe Gilmartin said of the Clippers. “We had a couple kids make big plays. We had a couple passes over the top. Those guys went up and made plays.”
After falling behind by three scores in the span of a single quarter, the Clippers found their footing on offense and used two long drives to scratch their way back into the game.
Dante Aviles-Santos had a monster day at wideout, catching 13 passes and scoring both of his team’s touchdowns.
Aviles-Santos found the end zone twice in the second quarter.
He was the catalyst on the Clippers first scoring drive, a 17-play affair that featured four catches by the wideout.
The potent air-attack - complimented by the bruising running of Jack Andrews - forced Gilmartin and the Skippers to alter their defensive schemes.
“[We played two] different defensive fronts, but we had made that adjustment beforehand,” Gilmartin said of the 14-point second quarter compared to the shutout second half. “Midway through the second quarter - we were in a four-man front, after that we stacked up everybody at the line of scrimmage.
“When they started throwing it - and pretty effectively - we had to get out of that. Played some different coverages.”
North Kingstown fumbled the ball away on the possession directly following Cumberland’s opening score.
Andrews broke off a huge run into the red zone right after the fumble, and Clipper quarterback Joseph Leonard dropped the ball off into the end zone for another Aviles-Santos score.
After scoring on two straight possessions, the Clippers received the ball to start the second half.
Their offensive efficiency evaporated in the second half, as penalties and three turnovers prevented them from sticking with the Skippers.
“Guys up front, I think conditioning played a role,” in NK’s favor, Gilmartin said. “I think they got tired. We had a good opportunity up front because they were tired.”
The NK offense - for their part - took off in the second half, finally getting the passing game involved after running back had Gabe Sloat scored two of their three first half touchdowns.
Tyler Pezza caught a fade in the corner of the end zone from quarterback James Osmanski in the third, invoking shades of his older brother and current freshman at Bryant, Zach Pezza.
“We have some good receivers,” Gilmartin said. “We had 461 total yards of offense. That’s pretty good. If you’re scoring 35 points on somebody, that’s a really solid effort.”
As troublesome as the Clipper passing attack was in the first half, the Skippers seemed equally affected by a brutal bout of illnesses that have been ravaging their lockerroom as of late.
“We have a lot of kids that are sick,” Gilmartin said.
“We have 20 kids that missed practice at some point this week. [Standout defensive lineman Dylan] Poirier didn’t play in the first - none of the guys who missed a day of practice played in the first quarter. Probably had 12 who missed two days - they didn’t even dress.
“We had three different things that went through our team. Hand, foot and mouth disease. Contagious as freaking can be. Some kids with strep throat symptoms. We had some kids who had a stomach bug. Three things that hit us and we were really just trying to gut it out. I didn’t think we’d have enough guys, quite frankly. I didn’t think we’d have enough to get over the hump, but our kids played great, they really did.”
The Clippers fall to 2-2 in league play on the season, ahead of a game against 1-3 South Kingstown that's scheduled for this coming Saturday at the Rebels' field.