Complete Clippers overwhelm ’Bolts
Aviles-Santos accounts for 3 TDs to help Cumberland reach .500
CRANSTON – Until what proved to be the final play of the game, the most exciting and rousing part of Cranston East’s showing came not from a player or two but its heralded marching band.
It produced one heckuva Senior Night show at the break on Friday evening, earning cheers galore from the hefty crowd on the press box side of Cranston Stadium.
That decibel wasn’t heard again, however, until that last play, when senior tailback- turned- quarterback Erode Milsette plunged one yard on a sneak with 4.9 ticks left in regulation and time running out. The usual signal caller, junior Ben Harding, couldn’t run the play because his helmet had been knocked off on the previous play.
The noise continued when classmate Aaron Fonseca booted the extra point, but Division I-A visitor Cumberland controlled the tempo, the crowd and its destiny with a more-decisive-than-itlooked 21-7 victory.
Despite losing the shutout bid, the Clippers’ defensive line proved to be responsible for its improving to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in league play.
That daunting line of senior Julian Brooks and junior Emmanuel Ireland, the tackles, and bookends Eddie Inscoe and Patrick Conserve yielded Harding only three completions on a dozen tries for zero yards, and also forced him into three picks with a six-yard sack.
“We wanted to end it with a ‘doughnut,’ but we couldn’t get it done, but a win is a win,” Brooks sighed with his comrades by his side.
Interrupted Ireland: “I’m kind of upset. I called out ‘Eight! Eight!’ (Milsette’s jersey number) because he was under center. We knew from studying the films what was coming; he just punched his way through. We wanted the shutout.”
Linemen on either side never get any credit, but they deserve it here. Of, course, as always, so does CHS senior quarterback Dante Aviles-Santos, who assembled yet another typical, terrific outing. He not only accumulated 62 yards on eight keepers, one for a TD, but also went five-for-14 for 97 yards and two more through the air.
Senior Isaiah Cole chipped in 46 ground yards on 13 handled, and junior Ryan Larson 31 more on five.
“We knew they were going to run their quarterback a lot, so we had to contain him within the box,” Inscoe, a senior, said. “The coaches told us, ‘Don’t let him outside!’ I have to say they did a great job of preparing us.”
Coach Josh Lima, who happens to be a Cranston native but played at La Salle, contained his excitement after the triumph – barely.
“I’m not surprised because these guys work hard; we’re just young,” he noted after his post-game soliloquy with his squad. “We’re playing freshmen and sophomores, have young guys stepping up, which is huge, but we’re young and we’re making a lot of mistakes. We just have them and keep growing.
“I thought our defense played extremely well,” he continued. “We had Emmanuel Ireland, Patrick Conserce, Ed Inscoe, Julian Brooks, Sean Toure … rotating throughout the game and they played really well up front. Our defensive coaches did a great job of this week of preparing our guys. Offensively, we started fast in the first quarter, but the defense played lights out in the second half.”
The Clippers exhibited their defensive prowess early in this one, first with a sack, then with sophomore Jaden Pimental’s interception of Harding and ensuing return of 18 yards to the East 37. Following a pair of flags,
to
keep
correcting
Photo by Chuck Nadeau / CN Photography one on each side, Aviles-Santos took a bootleg off left tackle and scampered 32 yards down the same sideline for the score.
When junior Ryan Larson had problems with the center snap on the PAT, he scrambled around the right side and dove past a defender for the pylon to register the two-point conversion with 7:45 remaining in the first quarter.
Senior Ben Fogell immediately responded with a splendid onside kick, one recovered by Inscoe at the Bolts’ 28, and – after a weird 15-yard infraction pushed it back to the 43 – the Clippers took two snaps to get back to the original line of scrimmage.
On a third-and-10, Aviles-Santos
tossed up a high floater to senior Shane Meerbott in the left corner of the end zone to complete a 28-yard TD pitch-and-catch for the 14-0 advantage.
Unfortunately for Fogell, his extra point was blocked by senior Colin McGuinness.
Just four snaps later, junior corner Aidan Faria picked off Harding once more, but the East defense stiffened and halted that possession at its own 47.
The half ended with the Bolts
38, but they ran out of time.
At the start of the third period, the Clippers manufactured perhaps their most impressive drive of the contest, from their own 35 to the East 5, but a strange, 12-yard holding penalty pushed it back to the 17. On a fourthand-15 situation, junior Darro Kan sacked Aviles-Santos six yards to crush that possession.
The hosts, though, weren’t as fortunate on the next CHS possession. After a 28-yard punt and four-yard Larson return, Lima’s bunch needed just five plays for his quarterback to toss up a 29-yard touchdown to sophomore Jack Proctor with 33 seconds left in the third.
That happened to be Proctor’s first varsity catch, and it occurred with him wide open over the middle. Fogell tacked on the PAT for the 21-0 lead.
East immediately put together a superb drive to the CHS 24, but a six-yard sack and junior Marc DiSalvo’s pick at the 7 brought that to a screeching halt with 4:35 remaining in regulation.
All that was left: the Bolts’ final, 23-yard scoring possession.
“It’s a win, and we battled hard for it,” Ireland said. “Despite their record,; that’s a good team they have; with that quarterback, East’s a really solid team, and I wish them the best for the rest of the season. They played hard for the entire game, and you have to respect them for that.”
**
at the CHS
Cumberland 14 0 7 0 – 21
Cranston East 0 0 07–7
CUMB – Dante Aviles-Santos 32 run (Ryan Larson run) CUMB – Shane Meerbott 28 pass from Aviles-Santos blocked)
CUMB – Jack Proctor 29 pass from Aviles-Santos (Ben Fogell kick) CE – Erode Milsette 1 run (Aaron Fonseca kick)
(kick