By ERIC RUEB
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NORTH KINGSTOWN – North Kingstown’s Annie Ragan made a few hitting errors during Game 3 of the Skipper volleyball team’s match against Toll Gate Tuesday night.
There was a ball hit deep, a couple into the net and one into a bad block. Ragan didn’t let it get to her and on game point, she calmed drilled a ball to the floor as if the mistakes never happened.
“Coach always says ‘Keep on swinging, be aggressive at the net,’” teammate Michelle Marguette said. “You’ll learn from your mistakes.”
There is a lot of learning going on in NorthKingstown this season, but the Skippers are transferring from a powerful hitting machine to an intelligent defense squad with a strong attack and it showed in Tuesday’s 25-28, 25-21, 25-22, 25-16 win over the Titans.

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By ERIC RUEB
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WEST GREENWICH – If the Exeter-West Greenwich football team needed a wakeup call this season, it got it in its season opener Saturday afternoon.
Looking for a good start to the year as they prepare to defend their Division IV championships, the Knights were overpowered and outplayed by East Greenwich – a D-III team – in Saturday’s misty non-league opener, 33-6.
It wasn’t the start EWG wanted and after beating nearly every team it played last year, opened some eyes in a hurry.

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By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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WARWICK—East Greenwich boys cross country coach Peter Dion said that last Thursday’s Injury Fund meet, the Avengers’ unofficial season opener, would be a good chance for him to see how his team stacks up this year and what he could expect from them in terms of being ready for the season to start.
Judging by the results, Dion can expect more of the same from the Avs in 2009.
And that’s a good thing.
With all-state runner Nick Ross back and a slew of experienced and talented juniors and seniors behind him, the Avs enter this fall as one of the state’s most talented and deep teams. And while the loss of last year’s New England champion Mark Feigen is certainly one the Avengers will not get over any time soon, Dion says his boys are a much more rounded and balanced team than he’s had before.
 

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By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Every championship winning team has that one moment that they can look back on and realize that’s where they began to turn things around.
For the 2001-2002 New England Patriots, that moment was a close loss to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday Night football. For the 2004 Boston Red Sox, that moment was Dave Roberts’ steal of second base in game 4 of the ALCS against the Yankees.
For the East Greenwich girls cross country team, that moment hasn’t happened yet … but it’s going to.
The team just needs a little more time.
And time, coincidentally, is just what the Avengers have.

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By BRANDEN MELLO

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NORTH KINGSTOWN — Depending on your perspective, Monday’s Division I-South contest between rivals North Kingstown and East Greenwich was either a solid, road victory or the leading contender for the worst officiated game of the season.
For East Greenwich, Tuesday’s game marked the fourth win in a row for the Avengers after an opening-night loss to defending I-South champions South Kingstown. Meagan Hallworth, who was injured for most of last season, scored two goals, one from the penalty spot, while leading scorer Cara Nunez added a goal in the 4-1 victory. 

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By BRANDEN MELLO
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CRANSTON — Because the East Greenwich boys’ soccer team retuned nearly every attacking player from a Division II semifinal squad, it’s no surprise the Avengers are scoring so many goals this early in the season.
It’s no surprise Scott Douglas, Ben Berger, Mike Monti and Tyler Gagne are tearing defenses apart with their beautiful interplay. What is a surprise, however, is the magnificent midfield play of junior Robert Bialy, who missed most of last season.
Against a Cranston West team with aspirations of handing East Greenwich its first loss of the season Tuesday, Bialy dominated the midfield and gave Douglas and the rest of the Avengers a platform to attack from. Monti, who is the fastest Avenger, scored three goals, while Bialy finished off a well-crafted move late in the second half to lift the Avengers to a 4-0 win.

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By ERIC RUEB
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WEST GREENWICH – There isn’t one single running back on the East Greenwich football team that will single-handedly carry the Avengers this year.
It’s not a bad thing – because there’s a few.
East Greenwich’s pronged running attack was on full display in Saturday’s non-league opener at Exeter-West Greenwich and this time it was Kevin Mirandou leading the way with 114 yards and three touchdowns in the Avs 33-6 win.

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By ERIC RUEB
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WOOD RIVER JUNCTION – It was a non-league game, a double-overtime thriller played in weather no one wanted to be in.
And even though Chariho lost, it was a good loss – but the Chargers would have liked to come out with a win.
“I don’t think it matters how, why, where,” Chariho coach Mike Kelly said. “It’s tough to lose, period.”
After three quarters of dominating football, the Chargers saw Narragansett wake up just in time to tie the game, then were overrun by a suddenly awake Mariner offense in a 20-18 loss in double overtime Friday night.
While it wasn’t an ideal outcome, Chariho had to be pleased with the way it played.
 

To continue, read the 9/17 edition of the Chariho Times

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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WARWICK—It’s a permanent problem in high school cross country.
Each season, no matter how good you do as a team, how fast you run or how many trophies you win, you’re almost always going to lose your top runners to graduation.
It’s hard enough to replace one key runner, let alone three, but for some reason, Chariho boys cross country coach Bill Haberek is optimistic about his team’s chances this fall.
Sure, the Chargers may have lost David Hurley, Tim Calcagni and Sean Kelley, the team’s top three finishers at last year’s state meet, but Haberek thinks he’s found the pieces to replace them.

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By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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SOUTH KINGSTOWN—South Kingstown field hockey coach Margaret McGregor stood on the sidelines at Curtis Corner Middle School Tuesday afternoon watching her Rebel girls play out the final 60 seconds of regulation against Chariho and, in her mind, began preparing for overtime.
Tied 0-0, McGregor watched Charger goalie Susan Woodard  kick away shot after shot, a stone wall seemingly denying any chance the Rebels had of winning in regulation. And let’s face it, with two winless seasons in a row coming into this fall, South Kingstown has never been the type of team to pull out a clutch victory down the stretch so, if it had gone to overtime, the Chargers may well have won.
But Chariho will never know. See, SK may not have won in regulation … but they didn’t need overtime either and that old line of thinking about the team’s ability in the clutch? Consider it no longer true.
South Kingstown junior Emma Morgan scored off of a penalty corner in Charger territory after time expired, threading the ball through a sea of white and green jerseys, and that goal brought an exciting and competitive game to a sudden and abrupt end as the Rebels outlasted the Chariho, 1-0, to improve to 3-1-1 on the season.

To continue, read the 9/17 edition of the Chariho Times