SPORTS

West holds on to upset Townies at Homecoming

By ALEX SPONSELLER
Posted 10/4/22

The Cranston West football team picked up a statement win over visiting East Providence last Friday night, getting the 28-22 Homecoming victory to emerge as a contender in the Division II …

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SPORTS

West holds on to upset Townies at Homecoming

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The Cranston West football team picked up a statement win over visiting East Providence last Friday night, getting the 28-22 Homecoming victory to emerge as a contender in the Division II race.

The Falcons were entering the game at 1-2 and off a 23-0 shutout loss to St. Ray’s. The Falcons came out flying and would take a 28-0 lead in the first half. Senior Marcus Chung had a career performance for West, taking the opening kickoff the distance then picking up two more rushing touchdowns in the first half, one coming on an 80-yard rush.

“We stressed all week in practice that we had to set the tone and show them that we belong here. After last week, we said that all we could do is get better at practice,” said Chung after the win. “Everybody sees the Providence Journal, they see the picks, ‘East Providence is back.’ We came out and made the statement that we could hang. It really just motivates us.”

“It was great. We talked all week about how we had to get off to a fast start against East Providence. We had the big return, the offense made some plays, the defense bent but didn’t break. Things were clicking and we ran right at them which is what our game plan was for the week,” added West head coach Tom Milewski.

West would jump ahead 21-0 after the three Chung touchdowns, and would add one final score in the final minute of the first half when quarterback Kelan Cornell connected on a touchdown pass to Tommy Pilderian to make it 28-0.

The Townies would score in the opening drive of the second half and pull within a touchdown in the final four minutes of regulation. However, West would recover a late onside kick and run the clock out in the final minutes to secure the win.

Milewski was happy to see his offense bounce back after being shut out the previous week and was glad that the defense hung in there in the end.

“When (the offense) is clicking, it’s good. Marcus had a heck of a night, Dimitri (LeBlanc) had a heck of a night, the offensive line had some nice blocks, Kelan had the nice touchdown pass. A lot of things went well for us on offense so it is definitely a nice step forward,” said Milewski. “We knew what we had to do to stop them but had trouble doing it (in the second half). I have to give our defense credit though, because when our backs were against the wall, they made the plays.”

Chung was also excited to put on a show in front of a packed house.

“You saw it right there, 28-0 in the first half. When we come out and play, it’s a scary sight for other teams. The fans came out and gave us great energy, it’s really not hard when you’ve got fans like that,” said Chung.

The Falcons improved to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in league play. Milewski hopes that the big win will give his team a boost as it heads into the back half of its schedule.

“This is a good one for us and a good one for the school. It was our first home game, it was our homecoming, we came out and started out just like how we wanted to and held on in the end. It was exciting for the fans, coaches and I am happy for the kids,” said Milewski. “We needed this win tonight to get us going.”

West, homecoming

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