By KEVIN RYDER
Special to the Times

WARWICK — The South Kingstown football team went into Friday night’s game against Toll Gate at Hurricane Field with one simple mission: To win the game and claim the top spot in the Division II playoffs.
Mission accomplished. In a very big way.
The Rebels (6-1 in II-B, 8-1 overall) used a 26-point second quarter to take control of the game and dominate the Titans (3-4, 4-4) in a 47-15 victory. With the win, South will host West Warwick (5-2, 7-2), the fourth seed from II-A, Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Curtis Corner Middle School.
“That was our goal from the beginning of the season,” said SK head coach Eric Anderson. “It’s huge to win the division; that guarantees us home field [until the Super Bowl], which I think is very important. Hopefully we’ve completed the last step of the regular season and the new season starts [Friday].”

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By ERIC RUEB
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NARRAGANSETT  - The celebration began the moment the ball started to veer out of bounds.
After playing its best defensive game of the year, it looked like the Narragansett football team had survived Ponaganset’s last-ditch effort when quarterback Josh Morgan’s fourth-down pass sailed over his receiver’s head and out of bounds.
As Narragansett raised their hands in victory, in came a yellow flag, a bullet through the Mariners’ heart.
“That,” Narragansett linebacker Zach Gendreau said, “just crushed me.”
The controversial roughing the passer call by head referee Donald Iannazzi gave the Chieftains another shot and three plays later, Morgan found Adam Walsh in the back of the end zone for a 15-8 win Saturday afternoon.

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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WAKEFIELD—If there’s one thing the Prout girls volleyball team learned from Friday night’s 3-1win over Chariho, it’s that, in the playoffs, there’s no such thing as an easy match and the path to another state title for the Crusaders is going to be filled with obstacles and challenges regardless of who is on the other side of the court.
If there’s one thing the rest of Division I learned from Friday night’s Prout victory, however, it’s that the Crusaders are more than ready for a fight.
Prout senior Nicole Peacock had a game-high 14 kills, teammate Elise Walsh racked up 42 assists and the Crusaders survived a surprisingly competitive match against Chariho Friday, winning 25-12, 25-27, 25-17, 25-13 to advance to URI and the semifinal round of the Division I playoffs.

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By BRANDEN MELLO
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PROVIDENCE — Sunday’s Division I girls’ state final contest between undefeated and untied La Salle and I-South champion South Kingstown followed the same script as the previous three meetings between the two best teams in the state.
Just like the two meetings last year – including the 2008 Division I final – and the teams’ game earlier this season at Curtis Corner Middle School, the Rebels did a great job soaking up the pressure from the technically astute Rams before La Salle eventually scored the opening goal.
Unlike the last three contests, however, Sunday afternoon the Rebels couldn’t respond to a La Salle goal with a tally of their own. Senior midfielder Elizabeth Laprade finished a great cross by fellow senior Daria Capaldi in the 43rd minute to help the rams win their second straight state title with a 1-0 victory over the Rebels at Rhode Island College.
“We did everything we had to do,” South Kingstown coach Jim Kelly said of his team’s effort. ‘We knew (a goal) would come from a mistake or from an odd ball and it came from an odd ball. It got through a scrum and (Laprade) just happened to be there to put it in. Do we look back and say “we should’ve, we could’ve?’ They proved they were strong and we tried to give them everything we had.”

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NORTH SCITUATE—It would be really easy to dismiss the accomplishments of the boys cross country teams from South Kingstown and Prout High School Sunday afternoon in the RIIL Cross Country State Championship meet.
The Rebels finished eighth as a team, the Crusaders finished 15th.
Nothing to write home about, right?
Wrong.
Although neither SK nor Prout were able to find their way into the top-six team rankings, and neither, therefore, qualified for New Englands, the afternoon wasn’t a total waste for boys in Rebel blue and Crusader red.

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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NORTH SCITUATE—You could forgive South Kingstown girls cross country coach Sherry Hathaway if she was a wee bit nervous prior to the unveiling of the final team results in Sunday afternoon’s RIIL State Cross Country Championship meet.
See, Hathaway was in an uncomfortable position. A year ago, she watched her Rebel girls come up seven points short of sixth place, and therefore seven points short of a berth into the New England regional meet. Their season, in an instant, came crashing down and ended in disappointment.
So, Sunday, as the teams were announced from last place to first, Hathaway  hoped South Kingstown’s name wouldn’t be called until at least 12 other schools were.
But when their name was called, you could almost feel the collective sigh of relief from the girls in Rebel blue.

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By BRANDEN MELLO
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PROVIDENCE — While the Avengers from East Greenwich won the Division II boys soccer title Saturday afternoon, the avengers from Prout found a way to win its first title as well.  
After finishing behind Tiverton in III-South in each of the last two years and after years of struggling to beat the 2008 Division III champions, the Crusaders finally avenged all of those past defeats, including two close defeats during the regular season, Saturday night at Rhode Island College.
In a game that will be remembered more for what it meant to Prout rather than how the game was played, the Crusaders scored on the only brilliant offensive move of the game when Robert Stout ruthlessly one-timed a perfect J.P. Underhill cross into the back of the net in the 38th minute to lift the No. 3 Crusaders to a satisfying 1-0 win over the No. 1 Tigers.
“This time, we didn’t make many mistakes, our defense was tight. We played hard and got the goal,” Stout said. “I think part of the reason we played better than them was because once we got that first goal, they lost a little bit of confidence and we had a little momentum and it carried us through.
“This is unbelievable, senior year; this is the best it gets. We were a little nervous and testy to start but we calmed down and got the win.”

For the full story, pick up the 11/11 edition of the Narragansett Times

By BRANDEN MELLO
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CRANSTON — When South Kingstown girls’ soccer coach Jim Kelly was asked how his Rebels were going to slow down a La Salle team which has scored 99 goals this season and just hours earlier had destroyed a very talented East Greenwich team 5-0, Kelly had a simple response.
“Well, I think if we got to church Saturday night, we might be able to do something,” quipped Kelly as he prepares for his fourth state-title showdown with the Rams in the last eight years. “They are the team, they are a strong, strong team. All we can do is try to make some adjustments and hope we get lucky. I can’t make any predictions.
“When I saw them tear (East Greenwich) apart, I said ‘Maybe they used their good game and we had a lousy game, more or less, so maybe we’ll have the good one and they’ll have the lousy one.’ What can you say?”
After the what the Rams did to East Greenwich it is easy to see why Kelly is so differential to the defending state champions, who haven’t lost a game since they were shocked in the 2007 state final by Ariel Teixeira, Tara Turnbell and Mt. Hope. But, what Kelly told the press after Wednesday’s win certainly won’t be what he tells his players when they take the field at Rhode Island College Sunday at 12 p.m.

For more, read the 11/6 edition of the Narragansett Times

By ERIC RUEB
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NARRAGANSETT – The night couldn’t have gone any better.
Almost.
For the first time in school history, the Narragansett football team hosted a Friday night football game and lost in the pregame fireworks, the strong performance by the band, the Thriller routine by the cheerleaders and one of the best fan turnouts of the season, the Mariners lost the game to Classical, 20-14.
And while losing is never fun, Friday night was still one to remember for everyone involved.
“It means a whole lot because it’s the first night game in Narragansett history,” Mariner senior captain Jose Novoa said. “I’ll be talking about this to my kids.”
“Friday night lights is the old high school tradition,” Narragansett’s Matt Eldridge said. “You’re always psyched and with Friday night lights, you’re doubly-excited to play. You’re under the lights, the spotlights and there were twice as many people here. It was great.”

For more, read the 11/6 edition of the Narragansett Times

By KEVIN RYDER
Special to the Times

PROVIDENCE – The South Kingstown girls volleyball team wouldn’t go down without a fight, pushing Classical to the limit before falling 25-12, 25-12, 23-25 and 25-21 in a Division I quarterfinal playoff match Wednesday night.
The Rebels, the sixth seed from the South Division, finished the season 8-11, while the Purple, the third seed from the North Division, improved to 13-6 and advanced to play at North Kingstown (South’s second seed) tonight at 6:30 pm.

For more, read the 11/6 edition of the Narragansett Times