Win or go home for Saints Friday against Cumberland
Burrillville, Westerly meet for Division II title
BURRILLVILLE – There are more than a few area teams embroiled in playoff hunts this weekend, but two seem to be grabbing the most recognition throughout the Blackstone Valley.
First, in Division I-A, St. Raphael Academy will travel to Tucker Field to battle Cumberland High at 7 Friday night, and the victor will open the inside door to a playoff bid.
And, second, Burrillville will host Westerly in a Division II-B clash at Alumni Field at 2 p.m., Saturday, and whomever wins will capture the league crown.
Broncos coach Gennaro Ferraro perhaps summed up his and all other coaches’ feelings best when he stated, “The key to us being able to win is we as coaches put the players, all of
“If we play the way I’ve seen us play, and I know what these guys are capable of, we’ll win.”
— Burrillville’s Gennaro Ferraro
them, in the best position to play aggressive and smart. If we play the way I’ve seen us play, and I know what these guys are capable of, we’ll win.”
This is the final regular-season weekend for teams across the Ocean State, and quite a few are chasing their respective tournaments. Take, for instance, St. Raphael, which will enter its contest against the Clippers (3-4 overall, 3-3 league) a game back at 2-4 in I-A action (3-4 overall).
SRA coach Mike Sassi indicated he, his staff and his team have several things to worry about when it comes to the Clippers, among them senior quarterback Dante Aviles-Santos, classmate running back Isaiah Cole and senior receiver Shane Meerbott. Then again, there are others, including sophomore tight end Jack Proctor, junior pass catcher Emmanuel Ireland and classmate Ryan Larson.
“We know (Aviles-Santos); he was a Saints player as a freshman, so I saw him for a year,” Sassi stated. “We know the ability he has; he’s definitely a dual threat. They run a spread offense, and it’s very potent. Their receiver, Meerbott, he’s one of the best receivers I’ve seen in the league this year.
“Defensively, they mix up their coverages and fronts, so we’re not 100 percent sure what we’re going to see.”
He also mentioned his squad could have made things easier if it had clinched a triumph over Central last weekend; instead, the Knights, survived, 35-27.
“We got the ball back (after the game-winning score), but at the end of the game when it really mattered, they just made more plays than we did,” he noted. “Now this is a new week. There’s no guarantee, but if we do win this game, I think it puts us in pretty good position to earn a playoff spot, providing East Providence loses (at Cranston West, which upset La Salle last Friday).
“Our goal is to execute, that’s it,” he continued. “Not to make excuses, but we’re playing a lot of really young players right now – four freshmen and five-six sophomores, so it’s hard, but they’re learning … I’ll also say I have a lot of respect for their program. Josh (Lima) and his staff do a good job.”
Offered Lima: “Saints are a good team; we always have pretty good battles with them. That team has been competitive in every game this year, and it’s because they have a lot of good players. They’re good athletes and they compete hard, which is always a positive.”
He explained the Saints employ a spread/wing-T offense paced by a backfield including senior Devin O’Malley and sophomores Andre Gray and Henrique Ross.
“All those guys are physical runners,” he said. “They run hard, and they;re hard to bring down. They’re also bigger kids.
“They also run a multiple defense, and they’re just as athletic,” he added. “They have a lot of guys who can make big plays. In our (21-7) win over Cranston East (last Friday), I thought we played very well defensively, and the same goes for special teams. Offensively, we moved the ball extremely well, but we had three or four unfortunate penalties that prevented us from putting points on the board.”
(Actually, they had two touchdowns called back due to infractions).
“We’re just trying to get better and better; you can never be 100 percent satisfied with any game. The past couple of weeks we’ve been improving, and we’re continuing to try to build on that.”
In another I-A clash, Shea (5-2, 4-2) will tackle undefeated Hendricken (70, 6-0) at 7 tonight and truly could use a victory to forget a disappointing loss at North Kingstown last weekend.
“We just have to show up and play football; that’s it,” head coach Dino Campopiano stated of his charges. “We can’t make any mistakes. We have to play solid football. They run a spread offense, a lot of zone read, sweeps; they’re actually very similar to us and North Kingstown. They rely on their speed, and obviously their line is very good, and huge. They’re a very complete team.”
When asked how Shea rebounds from that most recent defeat, Campopiano shrugged, “Oh, we can rebound, but we have to get back to playing winning football. Last week, we played well at times, but we made too many mistakes; we had penalties at bad times, we gave up an interception for a touchdown and we gave up three TDs on fourth downs.
“That’s definitely a point of focus this week,” he continued. “I can’t say there weren’t positives last week because there were. We definitely played hard and we moved the ball on NK, and that’s hard to do. We did some nice things, but, like I said, we made too many mistakes. You can’t do that against good teams.
According to Campopiano, the keys to the Hawks’ offense are senior signal caller Tom Comella and classmates/backs Angel Samchez and James Gobewole.
“We played hard, but not necessarily smart, against NK,” Campopiano said. “Against Hendricken, you have to be perfect to beat them, but not only are they really good, but they don’t make any mistakes. They don’t beat themselves. They don’t have dumb penalties. They don’t turn the ball over. They complete their assignments … We have to be perfect.”
Getting back to the Broncos-Bulldogs clash, Ferraro claimed he was still reviewing game films of his opponents’ wins over Mount Pleasant (24-20) and non-league foe Capital Prep of Connecticut.
“They execute very well,” he said of his alma mater. “They run a single-wing (offense, meaning anyone in the backfield will tote the pigskin), and (senior Rocco Cillino) is the main guy, but they also have (classmates Anthony Durante and Derek Mason and junior Xavier Ledbetter).
“They don’t throw much, but they don’t have to. What makes Westerly so effective is the way they execute. They’re whole practice system and off-season is centered around this offense. They want to pound you into the ground. It was the same way when I was there (in the late 1980s, when they employed a Delaware wing-T style.
“I think they have the best ground game in our division,” he added. “They have fast skill guys, a big, strong line and they don’t make any mistakes. We just have to tackle them; we have to make sure they hit the ground 150 times in this game. It doesn’t matter if we’re on offense or defense. We have to tackle them, and make sure we knock their blockers off their feet.”