It was a defensive battle on a chilly November night at Cranston Stadium on Friday. South Kingstown matched up against the Thunderbolts from Cranston East in a football game, East's Homecoming game. The Rebels took the lead early on, but the Bolts defense carried them to a 14-7 victory.
On each team's first offensive possession, they failed to get a first down. The Thunderbolts punted and their special teams did a fantastic job, downing the ball at the 1 yard line.
Despite being backed up near their end zone, the Rebels put together a four play 99 yard scoring drive to take the lead with just over 5 minutes left in the first quarter. On 3rd down and 6 from the 5 yard line, co-captain Sean Conley busted through the middle on a delayed hand-off, and had a 93 yard run, down to the Bolts two yard line. Co-captain Nicholas Neill finished off the scoring drive with a two yard rushing touchdown, and the Rebels led 7-0.
Find out what's happening in Cranstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
On the next Thunderbolts possession, a huge third down play set up the tying touchdown. Sophomore Marven Beauvais hauled in a 53 yard catch, putting them at the Rebels ten yard line. Four plays later, Nate Isom rushed to the left end for the touchdown, tying the score at 7.
South Kingstown's Jacob Beretta's 28 yard catch on a third and 11, put the ball on the Thunderbolts 48. The Bolts defense forced a punt, and the Rebels were stuffed on the fake punt attempt.
Find out what's happening in Cranstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Bolts took over at South's 43 yard line, but a costly turnover gave the field position advantage back to the Rebels. Bolts quarterback Kyle Tracy was picked off by Garrett O'Dowd, who returned the interception 38 yards to East's 36 yard line.
East senior Vang Chhit made a huge defensive play, which ended the Rebels drive. His fumble recovery at the 25 yard line shifted the momentum again. The Thunderbolts defense played fantastic on Friday night.
"Defensively they played tremendous and were well-prepared," Tom Centore, East's head coach, said.
The Rebels were driving down the field on their second possession of the third quarter. The Bolts defense made another play, setting up their offense in great field position. Senior Michael Aurelio recovered a fumble, which came off a sack, and returned it 20 yards to the Rebels 34.
East's offense was unable to take advantage of the great field position, and Kyle Tracy's incomplete pass on 4th and three, gave the Rebels the ball back.
Neill was tackled for a loss on a fourth and two play, giving the Bolts good field position yet again. From their own 45 yard line, East ran a sweep around the right side to running back E.J. Isom. Isom took it down the right sideline, cut inside and bolted into the end zone, giving East a 14-7 lead with 4:50 left in the game.
"He made a great run and it was a tremendous block on the edge," Centore said.
The Rebels refused to go down without a fight and methodically moved the ball down the field. South Kingstown drove the ball inside the Bolts 10 yard line, but another turnover doomed them.
Conley fumbled the ball on the hand-off and Mike Raspberry recovered, giving the ball to the Bolts at their own 13 yard line, with just over a minute remaining in the game. It was the fourth turnover of the game by South Kingstown, and they only had one timeout left.
Their defense forced East to punt and the Rebels would get one final opportunity. A fair catch was called for, and South began their final drive at the Bolts 40, with 11 seconds left. The Thunderbolts defense would not allow the Rebels to gain any yardage, and they won the game 14-7.
East improves to 2-4 in league play and keeps alive their slim playoff hopes. They must beat the top seeded and undefeated LaSalle Rams next Friday and Cranston West on Thanksgiving, in order to qualify for the playoffs.
"The defense has a lot of confidence and we stopped them on a bunch of short yardage situations on third down," East's head coach added.
