By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

WOONSOCKET -- Central Falls High’s final regular-season home game of the year took place on Mount St. Charles Academy’s upper field on Monday afternoon, but that didn’t stop the Warriors from feeling right at home in winning their sixth straight match.
Junior striker John Osorio produced his first multi-goal game of the year for the Warriors, who did all of their scoring in the final 25 minutes of the first half and ended up with a 4-0 victory that cemented the Division I-North champions’ best regular season in six years.
Not only did the victory boost the Warriors’ win streak, it also allowed them to head into the postseason with a 12-4-2 mark and wraps up the second half of their schedule with an 8-0-1 record that saw them allow just four goals and post five shutouts.
“We beat some good teams along the way,” offered C.F. veteran coach Bobby Marchand, whose squad has also totaled 21 goals in its last five games. “We are peaking and we are peaking at a very good time. We have a good goalie and a good defense, and while we’re not a big scoring team, we’re scoring enough to win.”
The Warriors, who will be the fourth seed in the playoffs, will now take on the survivor of tonight’s opening-round duel between fifth-seeded Bishop Hendricken High and 12th-seeded Coventry High on Thursday night at 6 p.m. at the Higginson Avenue Complex – provided the field is in playable shape.
While the Warriors cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Knotty Oakers in the middle of their recent unbeaten streak, they also suffered their worst setback of the season in the form of a 6-2 loss to the Hawks back on Sept. 24, which was the last time C.F. has tasted defeat.
“That was the worst defeat that we’ve had in five or six years,” confessed Marchand. “but we’re hoping that we get a chance to avenge that and then advance to the semifinals.”
While the Warriors head into the playoffs on a roll, the Mounties, who are the 11th seed, venture into the postseason in a slump. The defeat was the fifth in the last sixth games for MSC, which concludes its regular season with a 6-10-2 mark.
To make matters worse for the Mounties, they have to trek down Routes 95 and 4 tonight for their first-round opener at 6 p.m. against sixth-seeded South Kingstown High.
The Mounties turned in a strong effort in a 1-0 setback to the Rebels in their lone meeting on Oct. 10, but that game took place on MSC’s smaller playing surface on its lower field. Tonight, they will have to contend with the Rebels on their larger home turf at the Curtis Corner Middle School.
“South Kingstown is going to be tough,” said MSC coach Miles Henderson, whose team posted a 3-2 win over the Warriors in their initial Sept. 8 meeting. “They’re very physical and well-coached and they have a lot of talent on their team. It’s going to be a challenge, but I definitely give us good odds.”
Both teams were supposed to play last Monday afternoon, but due to that day’s inclement weather and both sides already facing their share of makeup matches during the week, the contest was moved to Saturday, but again, Mother Nature refused to cooperate.
“This was the only day we could play,” offered Henderson. “It’s tough when you have to play back-to-back games, but unfortunately you have to play the cards that you are dealt.”
Yesterday’s forecast brought plenty of sun and a gorgeous fall day for outdoor activities, but the weekend’s heavy rain made the middle of the Warriors’ field a slippery quagmire and forced the contest to be played on the Mounties’ campus.
Nevertheless, junior standout Victor Parra netted the only goal the Warriors needed at the 15-minute mark by tapping in a pass from Diego Giraldo. The goal was Parra’s division-leading 15th of the season and ninth in his last five games.
Osorio’s goals came within less than three minutes of each other, as he found the back of the net off an assist from Emmett Dixon at 25:10 and again with the help from Francisco Catano at the 28-minute mark, and Olavo Monteiro concluded the scoring by scoring off a pass from German Santos with 2:20 to play in the half.
While Marchand was pleased with the triumph, he was also equally proud to report after the game that his team went through the entire regular season without picking up a single card.
Last season, the Warriors picked up just one yellow card, which was the second fewest in the state behind Portsmouth’s zero, but this season, it was the Patriots who ended up with just one card – ironically, during their 3-1 loss to the Warriors last Wednesday.
“We are the only high school team in the state that went through the whole season with no cards,” reported Marchand, who has never received a card in his 23 years of coaching. “I’m very proud of this team for winning the division and receiving a bye. But we have a very nice team, and to know that we also have very nice kids is a coach’s dream.
“I remember three or four years ago, we got 14 cards, and if we got one more, we would have got kicked out of the playoffs. Since then, (assistant) coach (Carl) Africo and myself have made it a point that while we want to win, we also want to be true sportsmen, and we wanted to combined those two things.”
“I have to compliment C.F.,” admitted Henderson. “This is the second year in a row that they have shown tremendous sportsmanship in terms of the count of their yellow cards. That shows a tremendous amount of discipline on their part, and I have a ton of respect for coach Marchand and everything that he does over there at C.F.”
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Mount St. Charles        0 – 0 – 0
Central Falls               4 – 0 – 4
First half: CF – Victor Parra (Diego Giraldo), 15:00; CF – John Osorio (Emmett Dixon), 25:10; CF – John Osorio (Francisco Catano), 28:00; CF – Olavo Monteiro (German Santos), 37:40.
Second half: No scoring.
Shots on goal: Mount St. Charles 3, Central Falls 14. Goalie saves: MSC – Brendan Combes (11 saves), CF – Bryan Barrios (3 saves).