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Football playoff berths on line for Cumberland, Lincoln, N.S. |
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Friday, 06 November 2009 |
By ERIC BENEVIDES
Sports writer
Tonight’s going to be either a ‘Good Friday’ or a ‘Black Friday’ for four of the area’s high school football teams in their hunts for a postseason berth, as tonight’s ‘must-win’ Division II-B battle between Cumberland and Lincoln and Division IV clash between Central Falls and North Smithfield highlight the Week 9 schedule in the Blackstone Valley.
The Clippers are 3-3 and tied for fourth place in the Division II-B standings with Toll Gate, while the Lions are 2-4 and hoping to push into the playoffs in the same manner that the Clippers did a season ago.
If Toll Gate wins, then the Titans will go to the playoffs, but if the Clippers, who fell in overtime to Toll Gate during the season, top the Lions and South Kingstown (5-1) take care of the Titans tonight at Warwick Vets’ field, then the Clippers will make the grade for next week’s Division II quarterfinals.
But should the Lions and the Rebels win, that will create a three-way tie for fourth place, and Lincoln, at 3-4, would earn the final playoff berth because of its head-to-head tiebreaker with Toll Gate, which they blanked by a 19-0 score a month ago.
“Once you get to the dance, whether you’re undefeated or 3-4, anything can happen,” said Lincoln head coach Dave Waycott. “We’d just like to get our ticket this weekend.”
The Warriors and the Northmen, meanwhile, will battle each other in North Smithfield for their Division IV playoff lives. Both squads are tied for sixth place with three losses each, while four teams each have two losses behind first-place Middletown.
With the Islanders (5-1) already guaranteed a playoff berth, that means that six teams are fighting for three spots, and anyone getting four losses would certainly be out of the running to play past Thanksgiving.
There is another local game of added significance on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Woonsocket’s Division II-A clash with Westerly in the friendly confines of Barry Field. The Villa Novans, Bulldogs, and Mount Hope are tied for first at 5-1, but a victory by the Novans would give them home-field advantage in the playoffs for the first two rounds.
As for the Blackstone Valley’s other two playoff teams, Ponaganset, which clinched the Division III regular-season title last week with a 14-6 win over second-place Johnston, will take to the road to face last-place Narragansett in a 2:30 p.m. game, while East Providence, which topped Rogers High last week to claim a Division I playoff berth, has a bye week.
The other teams in the area will be ‘playing for pride’ and hoping to grab a win or two along the way.
Tonight’s schedule pits Tolman against Mount Hope at Pariseau Field and Burrillville at Chariho in Division II-A action, Pilgrim against Shea at Max Read Field in Division II-B play, and Burrillville at Chariho and Johnston at Smithfield in the Division III ranks. All games will start at 7 p.m.
On Saturday at 4 p.m., St. Raphael takes on Bishop Hendricken at Pariseau Field in a Division I affair.
Here’s a look at the three must-see games of the week:
Cumberland at Lincoln
For the past three years, Cumberland vs. Lincoln has been one of the area’s most exciting showdowns, and this season’s battle, which falls on Lincoln’s Homecoming Night, should be no different.
Last year, it was the Clippers who knocked the Lions out of the playoffs and squeezed into the division’s last postseason spot with a 3-4 mark by posting a 20-15 victory in their league finale at Tucker Field. The Lions also dipped to 3-4 with the loss, but the Clippers had the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Two years ago, the Clippers also nipped the Lions by a 30-27 score, and the season before that, Cumberland eked out a one-point overtime victory.
Both teams have experienced their share of difficult losses this year -- none more than Clippers, who lost two games on the last play of overtime to Toll Gate and Coventry and saw a fourth-quarter lead evaporate in last Friday’s 32-21 loss to Cranston East.
“We’ve been in a close game in every game we’ve played this year,” added Cumberland head coach Chris Skurka. “We’ve squandered some chances, but we’re still in the (playoff) hunt. We’ve been like a cat with nine lives.”
The Lions, who come into this contest with three straight defeats, suffered the toughest loss of the bunch when they absorbed a stunning 22-20 defeat to then-winless Pilgrim two weekends ago.
“I knew (Pilgrim) went through a lot of adversity heading into that game,” added Waycott. “I told the kids before that game, ‘Adversity makes people stronger,’ and (Pilgrim) played as if they had nothing to lose.”
Offensively, Cumberland quarterback Dan Canavan is also 98 passing yards away from reaching 1,000 for the season, and the Clippers’ ground game is averaging 178.5 yards per game. Lincoln quarterback Ryan O’Dell has also been solid running (seven TDs) and throwing the ball.
“You have to be aware of where O’Dell is at all times because he can throw the ball and he can run the ball,” said Skurka. “They have a senior-ladened team and a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.”
“Cumberland can run the ball and they can pass it,” said Waycott. “They’re definitely not one-dimensional. They have a good quarterback and a lot of skill players that you have to look for.”
If there’s some extra good news for the Clippers, it’s that this game will not be taking place at Tucker Field. Cumberland is unbeaten on the road, but 1-5 on their home grass.
Central Falls at North Smithfield
The Northmen came away with arguably the biggest upset win of the season last weekend when they bused home from Aquidneck Island with a 21-7 win over the then-unbeaten Islanders, a squad that -- despite being a Division IV club -- has been considered one of the best in the state.
In that big victory, Rico McCray, the Islanders’ talented 1,000-yard tailback, was limited to 32 yards on three carries before coming out of the game with an injury, and the Northmen took advantage of three interceptions.
“We were watching the film of the game,“ said C.F. head coach Mo Jackson. “(Middletown) was moving the ball up and down the field, but they couldn’t punch in it. They probably outgained North Smithfield by 100 yards.”
After tonight’s game, the Warriors have one more league game, on Saturday, Nov. 21 at Exeter/West Greenwich, which sits at 3-2 and also in the playoff hunt. The Northmen close out their division schedule on the road with duel against North Providence next weekend and Scituate (3-2) on Thanksgiving.
Classical and Hope are also 4-2, but Classical still has to battle Scituate and EWG, Hope wraps up against EWG and last-place Providence Country Day, and Scituate also has to encounter Middletown.
Not only will the Warriors and Northmen have to run the table, but they will also need some outside help. C.F. would need either Scituate to lose two of its final three games or EWG to beat Hope this weekend. N.S.’s only hope is to have the Spartans lose two of their last three.
“It’s exciting,” remarked Jackson. “At this time last year, we were out of the playoffs and just playing for pride. But now we have two critical games left on our schedule that we have to take one at a time and a chance to go to the playoffs.”
If the Northmen hope to defeat the Warriors, they will have to give the same showing they produced against the Islanders. But C.F. has won three of their last four games since putting sophomore Steven Vazquez at quarterback, and tailback Albert Bello and talented wide receivers Robert Alers and Antonio Mena have also played well.
And defense will also have to be the name of the game for the visitors, who forced five turnovers in their win over North Providence last weekend. They will surely keep close tabs on quarterback Matt Rondeau and tailback Roger Sherman.
Westerly at Woonsocket
Both teams couldn’t have found a better way to finish their regular seasons and prepare for their postseason openers than by playing each other in a key battle for playoff positioning.
While a victory by the Novans locks up the division’s top seed, a win by the Bulldogs won’t be enough to give them the No. 1 seed. Westerly would also need Tolman to stun Mount Hope for that to happen, but if it doesn’t and the ’Dogs beat the Novans, then they would be the second seed.
Woonsocket would then need another upset in the form of winless Warwick Vets beating West Warwick (4-2) in order to be seeded third, but should the Wizards take care of business, the Villa Novans would wind up as the fourth seed because they lost their regular-season meeting with West Warwick.
If the Novans plan to beat the Wizards, their outstanding defense, which has given up the second-fewest points (43) out of the 16 Division II teams, will have to bring out its best again, especially in its quest to stop the Bulldogs’ top offensive threat, tailback Ricky Doucette.
Offensively, expect the Novans to give the Bulldogs a healthy dose of their terrific backfield tandem of 1,000-yard tailback Travis Gagne and bruising fullback Jordan Barr. Quarterback Dom Hernandez and wide receiver Jose Merced could be in line for big performances as well. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 November 2009 )
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