By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Th season’s going OK for the South Kingstown girls tennis team, even if its struggled to find wins.
Things continued Tuesday, as South played well but didn’t have enough to match East Greenwich in a 6-1 loss.
On paper, the match was a rout but, just a little analysis shows there was more to this contest than meets the eye.
See, when the Rebels and Avengers squared off back on Sept. 1, the general feeling around the Broad Rock Middle School tennis courts were that the match was in the bag for EG before the Avs even got off the bus, that the contest was a cakewalk and that the Rebels wouldn’t even compete.

For more, read the 10/2 edition of the Narragansett Times.

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NARRAGANSETT—Kathryn Mahoney stood on the sidelines at Narragansett with her hands folded above her head, watching, unbelievably, as the action in front of her played out like a scary movie.
Here were her Mariner girls, 30 seconds away from a 1-0 victory over Moses Brown, playing like they were the team getting beat, playing like they hadn’t just spent the previous 79 minutes dominating the Quakers in every phase of the game.
Mahoney took a deep breath as Moses Brown forward Alexandra Sacco just narrowly missed the net on a diving stop by Mariner keeper Elizabeth Castro. She took another as Sacco failed to knock in the rebound, the ball kicked away by Narragansett defender Brittany Pereira and, as the final whistle blew, she took a deep breath, well, more like a deep sigh of relief.

For more, read the 10/2 edition of the Narragansett Times.

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SOUTH KINGSTOWN — When the South Kingstown girls soccer team met La Salle in the regular season last year, the team’s diametrically opposite styles of play produced the best game of the Division I season. When the top two teams in Division I met Tuesday night at Curtis Corner Middle School, the styles were the same but the game wasn’t nearly as riveting.
The Rams, who won the Division I state title against the Rebels last year, attempted to play the ball on the ground through All-American Allison Kelley and the state’s top scorer, McKenzie Meehan, but the Rams’ attack routinely broke down around the 18-yard box.
For their part, the Rebels struggled to control the midfield which dried up the supply of long balls to speedy all-state forward Amanda Graham and nimble junior Chelsea Gates. Tuesday’s game played out like the state final as the Rams opened the scoring before Graham struck back. But, Elizabeth Laprade struck the game-winner 23 minutes into the second half to keep the Rams undefeated and hand the Rebels a 2-1 loss. 

For more, read the 10/2 edition of the Narragansett Times.

By ERIC RUEB
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NORTH KINGSTOWN – And then there was one.
Wednesday battle of undefeated Prout and undefeated North Kingstown was going to give everyone a chance to see how good the Crusaders were after making the jump to Division I this season and Prout did not disappoint.
With perfect defense, Elise Walsh running a perfect offense and Nicole Peacock dominating with a surprising quick middle attack, the Skippers never had a chance as the Crusaders cruised to an 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 win and leaving them as the last undefeated team in all of Division I.

For more, read the 10/2 edition of the Narragansett Times.

By ERIC RUEB
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WEST GREENWICH – Every win won’t be pretty.
Good thing appearance doesn’t mean much as much as wins to the Exeter-West Greenwich boys soccer team right now.
Playing some of the stingiest defense in Division III-South, the Knights went into Tuesday’s game against Johnston with a .500 record. With the offensive playing its best game of the year – and the defense playing perhaps its worst – EWG cruised in with an 8-3 win, a big one for the young Knights.
“Every game is important. Johnston’s a good team and we’re happy to get the win,” EWG coach Matt Savoie said. “Every game is important and we can’t lose any points. We’ve been giving away too many.”

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Standard.

By ERIC RUEB
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NORTH KINGSTOWN – It wasn’t a loss, but for the North Kingstown girls soccer team, it might as well have been one.
The Skippers had Portsmouth right where they wanted them. NK found a way to get a go-ahead goal and with eight minutes left, it looked like they were leaving with a huge crossover win.
Then came the defensive breakdown, the game-tying goal and a lot of disappointed faces on the sidelines.
North would have gladly signed up for a tie with Portsmouth before the game started, but after controlling all aspects of the pitch the entire night and taking a lead with their No. 1 scorer injured on the sidelines, seeing 3-3 on the scoreboard didn’t please the Skippers.
“I thought we had this one,” NK captain Kelly Scully said. “…We’re still learning how to hold a win without letting them tie it up. It’s hard for us to keep progressing forward when we always get in these ruts. Our team can’t handle it.”

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Standard.

By ERIC RUEB
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WEST GREENWICH – Expectations weren’t high coming into this season. The Exeter-West Greenwich girls tennis team just wanted to go out, play and have some fun.
Winning hasn’t changed a thing.
Relying on its singles play in the early part of the season, the Knights have finally found some solid doubles play and it continued Tuesday against East Providence, as the No. 2 team of Juliann Tefft and Brittany Dorrance and the No. 3 team of Kristen Pari and Jen Gouveia won the final two matches of the day, giving Exeter a 4-3 win to improve its record to 7-2.

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Standard.

By ERIC RUEB
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BARRINGTON – The North Kingstown football team knew the decked was stacked against them.
But when someone shows quad aces and all you’ve got is a pair of threes, it stings a lot more.
No. 2 Barrington, loaded with extremely talented players at nearly every position, dominated from the start and scored 21 points in the first six minutes, two seconds, before going on to beat North 42-21 and the dissatisfaction of being blown out for the second straight week was evident before, during and after the game.

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Standard.

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NORTH SMITHFIELD—After their 27-point loss to Middletown two weeks ago, Exeter-West Greenwich assistant coach Steven Alves told the Scarlet Knight football team that they were like a ship out on the ocean, drifting along at sea with no one stepping up to man the controls and determine the direction in which they were heading.
If that analogy was true, then Friday night, that ship began to take on water and, if the Knights keep playing the way they’re playing right now, it won’t be long until that ship—and this season—sinks.
North Smithfield running back Roger Sherman ran up and down the field on the Scarlet Knights, scoring two 50-plus yard touchdowns as part of a 171-yard, three score effort as the Northmen, one of Division IV’s perennial cellar dwellers, upended Exeter-West Greenwich 34-12 to drop the Scarlet Knights to 0-2 in league play this fall.

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Standard.

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Everything about the 2009 East Greenwich High School football team screams contender.
Offensively, the Avs have one of Division III’s toughest running games with backs Kevin Mirandou and Max Palmer averaging nearly 10 yards per carry, one of its strongest lines and one of the most accurate quarterbacks behind center.
Defensively, EG is one of the most difficult teams to run the ball on, they never give up the big play and they hit like it’s going out of style.
The Avs have the confidence, the attitude and the swagger of a contender. What they don’t have is the proof that they are one, their only divisional game thus far this season a 26-20 double-overtime loss to Johnston two weeks ago.
Tomorrow night, the Avengers have a chance to get all the proof they’ll ever need.
East Greenwich hosts Ponaganset tomorrow evening in the first football game at the brand-new Nick Carceri field. Well, allegedly. With the amount of times the opening of the new field has been postponed, it could very well end up at Eldridge, at Cole, at Ponaganset or in a parking lot somewhere.

For more, read the 10/1 edition of the Pendulum.