Broncosimpressive
CRANSTON — The Burrillville boys soccer team took a big step toward hosting a Division II quarterfinal with a 2-1 victory over second-place Cranston East Thursday at Cranston Stadium.
Cam Toti and Nick Hammond scored the goals for Burrillville, which improved to 5-1-2 with the victory.
“The boys played great soccer,” Burrillville coach Mark Gilchrist said. “The entire team played a high pressure game against their talented players. We shut down time and space on their key played and forced them to make bad decisions. We had great team work from our defense.”
Gilchrist credited Cam Harrigan, Zak Gieseke and Jacob Cohquette for their play in defense, while midfielders Nick Gosselin, Zach Bonnell, Paulo Melo and Toti controlled the tempo of the game.
Burrillville hosts Chariho Wednesday afternoon.
NORTH SMITHFIELD – There’s no doubt in Rhode Island Wardogs veteran chief Ruben Costa’s mind when his team’s collective mindset shifted from one of selfishness to unity.
Costa’s crew had just suffered two straight defeats to the Middleboro Cobras (27-21) and the Boston Bandits (28-12) to open the New England Football League’s Triple-A Division campaign; the first was the toughest to take, as the Wardogs’ defense yielded a touchdown in the final 1:20 of regulation.
“After that loss to the Bandits, I told our guys, ‘You have to toughen up. You’re better than this. Games aren’t going to be handed to you just because you were in the championship game last year,’” Costa stated on Monday afternoon.
“I also told them that they needed to get back to playing Wardog football – that is, everyone had to be accountable for themselves, that everyone had to do their own job and trust their teammates would be doing the same in front of them and behind them,” he added. “It seemed like, in those first two games, all three units were lacking that trust. They weren’t worried about themselves but what others were doing.
“That’s no way to play semi-pro football.”
Apparently, those words sunk in. The following Saturday night, that in early August, Rhode Island beat up the Southern Maine Raging Bulls, 32-13, and that started a regular season-ending, eight-game win streak, one that ended last week with a decisive, not to mention satisfying, 28-10 triumph over those same Cobras.
During that terrific stretch, the Wardogs recorded a 29-16 verdict over the Connecticut Panthers (the same team that had beaten then in last year’s N.E.F.L. Super Bowl), and edged the North Shore Generals (21-14), but then exploded for six blowout wins, those