The Cranston West football team held on to beat Woonsocket 21-18 in the Division II Quarterfinals at home last week.

The Falcons were once again led by senior running back Marcus Chung, who rushed for three scores and over 200 yards in the win.

“This being my first ever playoff win in high school football, the feeling is crazy. This is a great team and I know that we’re going to get back to work and work hard in practice. Hopefully it pays off,” said Chung after the win.

After a scoreless first quarter, West would score on back to back drives on Chung touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead. The second drive was set up by a Steven Girouard interception.

The Villa Novans would respond by getting on the board with a score of their own with 29 seconds left in the half. Woonsocket would then get a pick-six moments later to cut the lead to 14-12 at the break and steal the momentum.

West scored again in the third to extend its lead to 21-12, but Woonsocket returned the favor and would stay within striking distance until late in the fourth.

The West defense would come up with a stop, and Chung and the offense would run the clock out to secure the win. Perhaps the play of the game came in the final drive when the Falcons converted on a third-and-11 situation to extend the drive.

“We work on that all the time and that has become big for us. We want to control the end of the game, grind the (opponent) down and manage the clock. Woonsocket has an explosive offense so we didn’t want to give them the ball back. We turned to Marcus and the offensive line to get the job done,” said West head coach Tom Milewski.

Chung was confident heading into that final drive and demanded the ball.

“I always say that I want the ball. Fourth quarter, six minutes left, I want the ball. I told Coach the play, he agreed. Our communication has been great all season on offense and that’s why we were able to (convert),” said Chung.

Dominating up front was key for West after the tough finish to the first half.

“It was good for us. It was a little more adversity than we wanted to have, but we told them that we wanted them to come out and finish. We wanted to do our thing, take over the line of scrimmage,” said Milewski.

Chung added: “We obviously weren’t happy, but we were still up at half and that’s what matters. Coach told us to step on them in the second half and that’s what we did.”

West will now hit the road to take on Portsmouth in the semis, with a chance at a Super Bowl berth on the line.

The team will once again need to rely on its rushing attack, and Milewski is more than confident in his big time leader.

“It was great for Marcus and great for our team. He’s become our workhouse. When we need a play, we know we can turn to him. He runs downhill, he’s physical, he’s really become one of the best backs in the state,” said Milewski.