’Bolts still alive in playoff chase, face must-win Friday

Matt Metcalf
Posted 11/12/14

Not many people thought it was possible a few weeks ago, but heading into Friday night, the Cranston East football team has a shot to punch its postseason ticket with a win over Barrington and a La …

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’Bolts still alive in playoff chase, face must-win Friday

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Not many people thought it was possible a few weeks ago, but heading into Friday night, the Cranston East football team has a shot to punch its postseason ticket with a win over Barrington and a La Salle win over Cumberland.

It wasn’t crazy, only two weeks ago, to consider the ‘Bolts’ playoff chances to be an afterthought. After all, East sat at 1-4, after receiving a 26-0 beat down at the hands of Cumberland.

But the ‘Bolts, against favorable odds, have crawled back into playoff contention. In must-win games, East shutout East Providence on the road, 25-0, before taking care of South Kingstown 35-14 last week.

East’s win over South Kingstown and Barrington’s 22-16 victory over Cumberland has set the stage for a wild final night of the regular season in Division I.

“They’re excited that they have an opportunity,” East head coach Tom Centore said of his team. “Nobody thought a couple of weeks ago that we’d have this opportunity. We know some things have to happen, but it’s a chance.”

After making it to the Super Bowl last year, East’s season didn’t exactly start as planned. It dropped a tough one at Portsmouth by four to begin the season, before coming up a yard shy of a win against Hendricken. That was succeeded by losses to undefeated La Salle and an unexpected lopsided loss to Cumberland.

“We started out with Portsmouth and losing that game was a tough one for us,” Centore said. “Then we beat West, but the Hendricken and La Salle games took us for a loop. I think about it like if we make a play at the end of the Hendricken game, then the one fumble in the Portsmouth game and we could be in first place instead of sixth.”

No matter how they got here, though, they have an opportunity, and now the once improbable is very probable.

But in the extremely competitive world of Rhode Island D-I football, no task is an easy task and Centore knows that Barrington, like many other teams in the league, will present an immense challenge for his team.

It’s also a re-match of last year’s D-I semifinal game, where the fourth-seeded ‘Bolts handily beat top-seeded Barrington, 46-13.

“Last year we played them in two good games, but they’re a different team and we’re certainly a different team,” Centore said. “They’re one of the biggest and most physical teams in the league, so we have our work cut out for us.”

It’s no secret, East needs its best players to be its best players in order to have a shot to win.

“We’re just going to do what we do best,” Centore said. “I think we need the good play from Marquem (Monroe), John Anderson and the defense to continue to be successful.”

East’s quarterback situation, however, is still up in the air. Darrio Carter, who spent much of the year as the ‘Bolts’ starting quarterback, is still questionable for Friday after exiting East’s game against Cumberland with an injury and sitting out the last two weeks.

It’s certainly a tough call for Centore. Carter played well for East to start the year, coming up just short against a few of the league’s better teams, while Anderson led the ‘Bolts to two straight wins against two of the weaker teams in the league.

“We have to see how Darrio’s week goes,” Centore said. “Darrio does some different things than John does. Darrio’s more of an elusive runner and John’s both physical and elusive. John will be available and we hope that Darrio will be as well.”

Situations like this weekend are why they play the games, as East, Barrington and Cumberland all have a chance to slide into the fourth playoff spot for the right to play at undefeated La Salle next Friday night.

But for East, it would be a little bit different. It’s gone from being dead in the water to ascending back into the thick of the playoff race, as the ’Bolts seek their third consecutive postseason berth.

“It’s been a big turnaround for us,” Centore said. “It showed a lot to come back and beat East Providence and South Kingstown. That gave us a chance.”

Now it’s up to East to make the most of it.

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