Cumberland suffers loss to Falcons
CUMBERLAND — Cranston West edged Cumberland, 20-12, on Friday night at Tucker Field in a non-league contest between Division I hopefuls.
“It was a great game,” Cumberland coach Josh Lima said. “Both teams played really hard and played physical. So, we’re proud of our guys for that. I think we left a little bit out on the field, though. A lot of penalties, a couple lapses on offense, defense and special teams. We just didn’t play all facets of the game to the best of our ability.”
“It was a very good matchup,” West head coach Tom Milewski added. “They’re a very good, solid team. It’s good for us. We got a little bit of a tougher test here. Cumberland’s a good team; they’ll do well for the season.”
Midway through the second quarter, the Clippers’ defense stopped the Falcons at the Cumberland 15 on a fourthand-4, and that kept the game scoreless.
From there, on second down, Cumberland junior running back Hayden Lacroix rushed up the middle for a 20-yard gain. Next, on a third-and-7, Cumberland senior quarterback Joe Leonard completed a pass to wide receiver Mike Nocera, a senior, and he took it down the sideline to the West 39. After that, junior wideout Dante Avile-Santos took a direct snap to the 17 for another first down.
But, just when it looked like the Clippers would get on the board, disaster occurred. On the next play, Lacroix rushed up the gut and West linebacker Andrew Dionizo charged towards him and stripped the ball away and took it the other way for a 83-yard touchdown scamper and gave West the lead.
Freshman kicker Madison Alves, the younger sister of West quarterback Cam Alves, added her first-ever extra point to up the score to 7-0.
“I give Madison a lot of credit for coming out here as a freshman in high school into this environment,” Milewski said. “And tonight was the first time she’s ever kicked besides in practice. So, it’s tough and she came through with two big kicks for us.”
Cumberland put together a 65-yard touchdown drive. On second-and-6, Leonard ran for 14 yards for a first down at the West 45. Leonard kept it again on the next play and rushed up the middle for another first down at the 31. Next, Leonard ran again, this time, right 21 yards to the 10. Five plays later, on a fourth and 10 from the 13, Leonard found Avile-Santos in the end zone for a touchdown and pulled the Clippers within 7-6. However, a bad snap on the extra point attempt would keep them behind by one.
West’s Degaitas returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Cumberland 21 with just under two minutes remaining in the half. Then, on third and 26, Cam Alves connected with se- nior wide receiver Shad Pinthiere in the right side of the end zone and that gave the Falcons a 14-6 lead heading into halftime.
Clippers’ kicker Jack Andrews executed a successful squib kick to open the second half and Cumberland started from midfield. Then, on a third and 17, Leonard heaved a touchdown bomb to Nocera and got the Clippers within 14-12 with 9:54 remaining in the third period. However, their two-point conversion attempt was stuffed keeping them trailing by two.
With under five minutes to play in the contest, Cumberland turned the ball over on downs and West took over at its own 35.
Alves ran keepers on both first and second down and moved the chains for the Falcons. On top of that, a personal foul against Cumberland was tacked onto the end of the second run and that gave West the ball at the Cumberland 32. The Falcons chose to take a knee on first down in an attempt to run out the clock, but the Clippers called timeout. So, on the next play, West ran a keeper with Alves rushing up the gut for a 25-yard touchdown scamper that gave West a 20-12 edge with 1:24 remaining.
Cumberland got to the West 42 when Leonard connected on passes to Andrews and Ethan Ellis, but on a third down, the senior threw an interception to defensive back Cam Alves, on a pass that was intended for Andrews and that put the nail in the coffin.
For Cumberland, Lima was happy with his team’s the effort, but he feels they still have some improvements to make.
“We can always get better and that’s why we’re going to sit down and watch the film and talk about how we can get better,” Lima said.
West plays its first division game next Saturday at noon at Conley Stadium against Central and Cumberland hosts Hendricken next on Friday night at 7.