The Cranston West football team dropped its third straight decision when Central ran away with a 27-7 win in Providence last Saturday.
The Falcons played a strong first half and used a Kelan Cornell rushing touchdown and solid defense to make it 7-7 at the break. The score remained tied until Central put up a touchdown with 3:04 left in the third quarter and then the Knights would roll to a pair of scores in the fourth to set the final score to 27-7.
The Knights made the most of their opportunities throughout the game and forced three West turnovers – two interceptions and a fumble – which would be the difference down the stretch.
“We had some turnovers on offense, some miscues and we weren’t able to score enough points. I thought defensively we played well in the first half but had a few breakdowns in the second half, they made some big plays on us. They played better in the fourth while we had some mishaps,” said West head coach Tom Milewski.
Anthony Salas led the way with 76 rushing yards while Kelan Cornell added 65. Charlie Cornell hauled in four catches for 37 yards to pace the Falcons through the air.
With the loss, West dropped to seventh place in the Division I standings and will be hosting La Salle in this week’s regular season finale.
A win could help push the Falcons up in the RPI standings and possibly earn them a home playoff game. The Falcons are not concerned about the standings, though, and are looking to pull off the upset on Senior Night.
“We just talk about our opponent and make sure we do the things we need to do. We keep talking about one game at a time. We need to go out there, beat La Salle and let the chips fall as they may,” said Milewski. “If we show up and do what we do, and we showed signs of it the last couple of games, we’ll come out fired up. It’ll be Senior Night so it’ll be bittersweet, we have a healthy rivalry with La Salle. If we bring our A game and they bring theirs, it’ll be a war.”
The Falcons are expecting the typical La Salle formula: Fast offense and aggressive defense.
“They play an up-tempo game on offense and put pressure on you on defense. We have to minimize mistakes and play our game. La Salle likes to pressure you,” Milewski said.
West is also thankful to be playing host in this huge matchup, playing in front of what should be a packed house on Friday night.
“It’s a great help. We have one of the best atmospheres to play in as the home team,” said Milewski. “We like it, it gets loud and that’s how it’s supposed to be. We’ve had good success at home this year.”