The Cranston West Falcons fell to the La Salle Academy Rams 28-20 last Friday night under the lights at Cranston Stadium during a Division I football showdown that determined first place in Division I-B. Due to the new playoff format, the loss puts the Falcons into the D-I playoffs, which starts this Friday night while La Salle moves on to play in the State Championship opposite No. 1 seeded Bishop Hendricken of Division I-A.

While West head coach Tom Milewski wishes his team got the victory, he and his team can hold their heads high knowing they left it all on the field.

“We talked about no regrets and I don’t think we have any regrets,” Milewski said. “The kids played hard. We battled. We competed. It came down to that last second. We just needed one more play. We just couldn’t do it, but I’m proud of our team.”

The Falcons received the opening kickoff and drove 55 yards down the field for a score. That possession was capped by a 19-yard throw from junior quarterback Cam Alves to running back Andrew Dionizio, who brought the ball to the 1. Alves ran a keeper into the endzone with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter. Freshman kicker Madison Alves added the extra point after that and made it 7-0.

The Rams answered that with a 67-yard touchdown drive during their ensuing possession. That march ended with junior quarterback Nathan Lussier rushing a keeper into pay dirt from one yard out while cutting the La Salle deficit to 7-6. A bad snap during the extra point attempt kept the Rams from knotting the score.

The West offense got as far as the La Salle 44 during its next possession before turning the ball over on downs to the Rams.

With La Salle in West territory, Lussier completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Brandon Young and gave the Rams a 12-7 advantage with 6:21 remaining in the second quarter.

After another West three-and-out, La Salle started another drive from its own 10 with 2:44 remaining in the second quarter.

On first down, freshman running back Jacob Gibbons rushed right, 12 yards for a first down at the Rams 22. Next, Lussier ran a keeper seven yards to the 29. Then on a 2nd-and-3, Lussier threw a dart to senior wide receiver Elijah Perry for a 71-yard touchdown and that extended the Rams’ lead to 20-7 with 1:37 left in the half. After that, junior Daniel Catanzaro added the extra point and made it 21-7.

In the final minute and a half of the first half, West drove 66 yards to the La Salle 13 before Alves had a pass picked off by Rams senior Rickey McNeill in the back of the end zone.

Though, the Falcons inched closer when with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, sophomore running back Brennan Stetson rushed left, 69 yards, down the sideline and into pay dirt and pulled West within 21-14.

“Brennan Stetson is going to be a very good football player” Mileswki said. “He’s a little spark plug. He’s a fast, shifty little back. He’s tough, works hard, plays a little defense for us, plays linebacker, plays tailback, will go out in the slot. He’s a very versatile player. He’s really come into his own as a sophomore this year.”

During La Salle’s next possession, the Rams marched 67 yards down the field and scored. The drive ended with a 12-yard rushing touchdown from Lussier that put La Salle up 28-14 with 8:27 to play.

West would answer that with a 64-yard scoring drive that saw Alves complete a 15-yard pass to Stetson, who brought it to the 5 before the quarterback ran a keeper up the gut and into pay dirt and pulled the Falcons within 28-20.

West put forth a great effort and they will look to improve on it this week when they open the playoffs against No. 5 seeded Shea from Division I-A.

“They had a great week of preparation and they worked hard, and we’ll get better,” Milewski said of his team. “We’ve got to look at the tape and get ready for the next round. The season is not over. We have a playoff game next Friday night. La Salle’s a good team. They’re the defending champion. And we battled with them. We hung with them, we just came up a little bit short.”

West junior wide out Matt Carvalho went down with an injury midway through the fourth quarter last Friday night and the team hopes to have him back in time for their first playoff game tomorrow.

“It sounded like he may have just rolled his ankle,” Milewski said. “That’s going to be something that could hurt us if he can’t play because Matt’s really stepped up this year on offense and defense. He’s one of our lockdown corners and he’s really been our utility guy at wide receiver in our short passing game. Hopefully, he’s okay.”