Singing a winning tune
Tolman survives major scare from Central Falls
PAWTUCKET — In the end, all Tolman High football head coach Jay DeLawrence could manage was a mammoth sigh and a mighty weak grin.
After all he had been through, who could blame him?
Two-plus hours before, he and his staff believed his Tigers were in for a rather easy Friday evening after catapulting to a 19-0 cushion over natural local rival Central Falls, doing so in a heart skip over 11 minutes.
Veteran mentor Jeff Lapierre’s bunch, however, never stopped grinding. It eventually rallied for two quick scores, then the combatants dealt with a 27-minute delay after fan fights broke out just behind the stands at Max Read Field. Police responded and asked Tolman Athletic Director Frank Laliberte to announce they wanted the stands cleared.
When play resumed, the Warriors needed only two snaps to close a 64-yard, sixplay drive ending on senior quarterback Luis Gonzalez’s 13-yard scoring toss to frosh Andreni Maldonado in the left section of the end zone.
Maldonado’s two-point conversion rush off left tackle actually gave CF the two-point lead, but the Tigers immediately returned the favor to eventually clinch a wild, thrilling 27-21 Division III victory.
A possible blowout erased, people brawling in and near the stands, a lengthy delay in play? Seriously?
“Pretty crazy, huh?” DeLawrence answered after the weird Homecoming win, one that improved his bunch to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in league action. “We jumped out in front quickly, we came out playing fast, and our calls were working like clockwork, but I think we relaxed a little bit (with the hefty lead).
“I have to give it to ‘Coach Lap,’ he kept his boys brawling down 19, and he made it a typical, tough Blackstone Valley game,” he continued. “The difference in the end was we answered their score, then just stiffened up on defense. We stopped letting them from bullying us down, but that was tough. Really tough.”
The Warriors fell to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in D-III, but Lapierre couldn’t – wouldn’t
– argue with his team’s mental and physical strength.
“I said earlier in the week we had to be as close to perfect as possible, with minimal mistakes, and we made some, but we played hard (Friday),” he said. “We gave up some big plays. I have to say I thought we had a good vibe all week at practice, and we played like it.
“It’s a little late in the season, but I really feel we’re starting to believe in each other,” he added. “We had some guys who had been out with injuries come back (Friday), so that helped. It was just our internal fortitude.”
Sophomore signal caller Jordan Cooper produced a solid night for the hosts, completing 11 of 18 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns while scoring the other on a keeper. (He did toss a pick).
Senior receiver Isai Prince snared two receptions for 89 yards and a TD, while classmate Danny Akinsheye grabbed three for 56, sophomore Elijah Osei another three for 58 and senior L.J. Benton one more for 42.
Fellow 12th-grader Cute Today, whom DeLawrence had issued a first-half “detention” for missing a practice earlier in the week, mustered 37 ground yards on nine handles, while Osei tacked on another 23 on three carries.
Actually, Cooper earned 282 yards with 10 more on the turf.
For the Warriors, Gonzalez connected on nine of 22 pass attempts for 145 yards and two scores with a pair of interceptions. Sophomore Alex Maia proved to be a favorite target with 79 yards on four catches, and Maldonado contributed 27 more on two. Senior tight end Jaquell Christal managed only one for 20.
Classmate Tyrone Hazard, usually a nose tackle, plowed for a team-high 68 yards on five touches, Gonzalez 51 on six keepers, senior Darryl Fleurantin 26 on eight and classmate Travonne Randolph 34 on another eight.
When it comes down to it, the result came down to the Tigers’ spirited opening stanza and wherewithal down the stretch.
“I don’t think we got overconfident, but instead made some simple mistakes, things we should know better than committing,” Akinsheye said. “We finished with five turnovers, and it’s hard to win a game with (such a number), but we kept pushing through. We held our heads high and walked away with a victory.
“(When CF came back), I wasn’t worried all; I knew I had the weapons on offense,
at
all-purpose and my line was playing great,” he continued. “Once the ball was back in our hands, I knew any of our skill position guys were going to make a play.”
Tolman’s surge began on the initial snap from scrimmage, when Cooper found Osei deep down the right seam for 49 yards. Four plays and 18 yards later, Akinsheye snatched a 13-yard toss in the right flat for the TD, and junior Leandro DePina booted the PAT for the 7-0 cushion.
Just 1:46 had elapsed. Following a three-and-out, not to mention senior Sulayman Faal’s 24-yard punt return, the Tigers were back in business at the CF 31. This time, on the third play, Cooper bootlegged nine yards around he left tackle, but DePina’s extra point clanged off the right post with seven minutes remaining.
The Warriors seemed connected on their next possession, though Tolman halted it at its 35 with a sack. On the next hike, Cooper threw deep down the left hash to Prince, and the catch-and-run went 68 yards, though sophomore Hector Velasquez blocked DePina’s PAT try with 58 ticks left in the period.
Lapierre and Co. didn’t know it at the time, but they were about to shove a pin into Tolman’s cushion. Gonzalez immediately fashioned a six-play, 81-yard drive ending on a 30-yard aerial to a wide-open Maia.
It nevertheless looked like the
Tigers would rebuild the lead when Cooper completed a 42-yard pass down the left sideline to Benton, though he fumbled and Maia recovered. Nothing came of that, though a 13yard hooked punt left CF with a first-and-10 at the THS 47. Two snaps after that, junior Nasier Johnson intercepted Cooper at the Tigers’ 2 with 2:03 remaining before intermission.
DeLawrence played it safe, as sophomore fullback Aaron Carrion bulled three yards to the 5. Unfortunately, however, Randolph stripped the football before Carrion’s knee hit and rambled five yards for the paydirt. Fleurantin converted the extra point to slice the gap to 19-13.
Faal actually returned the ensuing kickoff 21 yards to the Tolman 41, and the offense maneuvered down to the 19 before time ran out.
At the start of the third, Lapierre unveiled his secret weapon Hazard; his name fits whether he’s playing nose tackle or running back. He gained 31 yards on his first carry and 32 more on this third before Laliberte hustled down from the press box to inform the officials, led by Bruce Guindon, that the police wanted to clear the stands. That took 27 minutes.
Once play resumed, Gonzalez connected with Maldonado for that a 13-yard scoring toss, the latter also ran for the two-point con
Photo by Ernest A. Brown version to give the Warriors, unbelievably, the 21-19 lead, but it didn’t last long.
Aided by two straight encroachment penalties and a 33-yard screen toss to Akinsheye, Cooper delivered a stellar swing pass to the left to Osei, who trotted into the end zone what proved to be the game-winning score. Tolman ensured it with the two-point aerial try to Akinsheye with 3:10 left in the third.
On three separate occasions the rest of the way, CF took the pigskin to near midfield or beyond but failed on each attempt – they included, in order, a turnover on downs, a DePina pick and a 14-yard pass to Maldonado (to the Tolman 32 with 25 ticks remaining) that ended in a disastrous fumble.
“The last TD pass Jordan threw, he ran that play perfectly; heck, he even faked me out of my shoes,” DeLawrence said. “This was Osei’s first game back after transferring from St. Ray’s. As for Cute, we’re a different animal with him in the backfield, and Jordan’s getting better every day. I’ve also got two good wideouts, and then you put that big boy back there, it’s like ‘Pick your poison.’”
Noted Lapierre: “Early on, Tolman just had some big plays that caught us in bad coverages, and we had a few problems fixing it before we did, but – wow! – we still didn’t let any of that stop us.
“The kids kept at it; and I’m proud of them.”
they
kept
fighting,