The Cranston West football team is looking to carry on its success after enjoying a bounce back season in 2022 in which it reached the Division II semifinals.

Although West graduated 17 seniors, including standouts like Marcus Chung and Dimitri LeBlanc, it will return a nice core of talent including quarterback Kelan Cornell who had a breakout campaign under center last season.

“We have a lot of pieces to the puzzle so we just need to figure out how to fit them in. We’ll need the next few practices and scrimmages to figure it out, but in the long term we’ll be fine. We may take our bumps early on, but we have the pieces to be successful,” said head coach Tom Milewski, who has been encouraged by Cornell’s progression as he enters his junior year. “Kelan has done a nice job. He did a lot of work in the offseason Manage Attachmentsand has stepped up as the commander of our offense. It’s good for us knowing that we can trust Kelan. He has some experience from last year and knows what it is like to be in the stress of a game and have the mental toughness to finish.”

Cornell added: “I feel a lot better with the offense. I’m just trying to continue to keep my skills up and execute the plays. I definitely feel more comfortable with the offense and coaches, so I’m trying to step into a bigger leadership role.”

Chung was a true do-it-all player for the Falcons and was their primary playmaker on offense. West is looking for answers in the preseason but has seen a few different guys emerge as potential suitors moving forward.

“We have a couple of guys that can fight to replace him. We have some guys in the backfield like Ray Mahoney and Jack Majcher that are really starting to step up. We have young guys like Kelan and Adrian (Samayoa), Jared (Parent) has taken over the offensive line and has helped solidify that group,” said Milewski.

Although West will have a young roster, Parent and the Falcon captains will still hold the team to a high standard and feel that they have a chance to compete for a title.

“We have a lot of talent but we do have a young team. Every year our goal is to make it to the Super Bowl. I know they’re young, but we just want them to come in here and compete. Our main goal is a championship and that’s our mindset,” said Parent, who is a captain along with Cornell and Samayoa.

West will play its injury fund exhibition against Coventry next Friday and then open with a non-league matchup against West Warwick the following Thursday. Samayoa is excited to kick things off and to take on some of the state’s best clubs.

“Everyone gets hyped for the Homecoming game and the Hendricken game. Every game is going to be a battle, though.  We’re going to have to come together to get it done,” said Samayoa.