Plenty of Valley flavor in Rhody all-star football game
Cumberland’s Lima to coach Team Toppa, while EWG’s Mancuso leads Team Stebbins
CUMBERLAND – It’s one final opportunity to play football in a high-school setting.
For many, it will be their last chance to put on a helmet and shoulder pads. Period – end of story.
Regardless, if that final chapter in a gridiron setting comes to fruition next month or four years from now, there is one indisputable fact. On tap is one more high school football game for Rhode Island’s Class of 2016.
Soon-to-be graduates have been selected by the R.I. Coaches Association, which created this intrastate contest with the intent of fostering greater participation. For 14 years, Rhode Island competed in a senior All-Star Game against its New England neighbor to the west, Connecticut. That idea was scrapped in favor of a contest that’s simply referred to as the Rhode Island AllStar Game.
The fourth installment takes place Saturday, June 25 at Johnston High School. Kick-off is at 4 p.m. Cumberland High head coach Josh Lima will serve as one of the head coaches while Matt Mancuso, who holds the same position at Exeter/West Greenwich, leads the other all-star squad.
“You have kids from Cumberland and Central Falls bonding and working together,” said Lima. “They become teammates and it’s really cool to see.”
Since the players on each side hail from all corners of the state, the coaches decided to drop the “East” and “West” taglines that were used in the past. Lima’s squad will be known as Team Toppa – named after the longtime Rogers coach – with Mancuso’s team going by Team Stebbins in tribute to the late Cranston mentor.
“The premise this year was to name the teams after past coaches in our association,” said Lima.
Those athletes on Lima’s squad include, in alphabetical order, Bishop Hendricken, Central, Central Falls, Classical, Coventry, Cumberland, La Salle, Pilgrim, Ponaganset, Smithfield, St. Raphael and Woonsocket.
As for Mancuso’s contingent, his talent base includes players hailing from Cranston East, Cranston West, East Providence, Exeter/West Greenwich, Hope, Juanita Sanchez, Lincoln, Mt. Hope, Scituate, Shea, South Kingstown and West Warwick.
Reached earlier this week, Lima indicated that each all-star coaching staff kept last year’s format that helped to fill out their respective rosters. Coaches would first pick players from their respective schools, then conduct a “draft” in which they’d choose players from other schools to play for them.
With Lima having coaches from Toll Gate, Coventry, La Salle, St. Raphael and Smithfield on staff and Mancuso’s coaching pool coming from West Warwick, South Kingstown, Cranston West, Cranston East and East Providence, the draft-eligible schools included Central Falls, Lincoln, Shea and Woonsocket.
Team Toppa assembled 20 players based on the coaches on Lima’s staff with Team Stebbins featuring 29 players. Lima chose Central with the first pick of what turned out to be an eight-round draft.
“Going into the draft, there could be a school that has only one kid, but that kid can really help your roster,” said Lima. “Sometimes you’re drafting a school based off, ‘They have five kids and we need depth.’”
The first step in crystallizing the roster took place at a combine in April. It featured a lot of the same events used during the NFL combine for collegians – the 40-yard dash, shuttle, bench press, one-on-one drills, etc.
“It was a good opportunity for the kids to move from drill to drill and for the coaches to see who has what and what kids would be good additions to your team for the game,” said Lima.
Game planning will commence June 13 with the first of 10 practices leading up to the June 25 matchup. Lima’s team will conduct its workouts at Toll Gate in Warwick.
Eighteen athletes from four area schools will play for Team Toppa, including five from Central Falls (Kelvin Alvarez, Jyide Ortiz, Scott Valencia, Alexander Villegas, Marcelino DaVeiga), seven from Cumberland (Andre Bibeault, Jerome Evans, Ryan Farrell, Nick LaFreniere, David Lazenberry, JeanLuc Lussier and Jake Salisbury), three from SRA (Tunde Akinjobi, Kevin Gonzalez and Kaleel Harley) and three from Woonsocket (Derek Levasseur, Isaiah Thomas and Milaan Washington).
There are only five locals on Team Stebbins, among them two from Lincoln (Nathan Fay and Malik Rocha) and three from Shea (Leandro DeBrito, Jeovon Fortes and Ali Merhi).
“If you’re in Division I, you play your Division I opponents and so on, but there is talent in Division II, III and IV,” said Lima. “This game is a way to show that they belong in the top division and can play with those guys. It’s a nice aspect and a cool environment for the kids to play in.”
Putting on his coaching hat, Lima laid out a few ground rules that figure to be repeated a few times during the time spent with his all-stars.
“We’re here to have fun and showcase talent,” he said. “We’re going to keep it simple.”