By ERIC RUEB

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CRANSTON – You associate cold weather with football. The Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field when the Packers played the Cowboys is the aptly named Ice Bowl; Adam Vinatieri’s clutch kicks for the Patriots in the legendary – at least in these parts – Snow Bowl.

Some teams look forward to these types of games, where cold weather or snow separate winners from losers. Monday night’s matchup of South Kingstown and Tolman in the Division II Super Bowl wasn’t one of those nights.

It was cold Monday, the type of cold that freezes water in less time than a scoring drive, the type of cold where you think players will shatter after a big hit.

The cold definitely played a role in the Rebels offense Monday, but not in a good way.

SK relied on a balanced offense all season but with a temperature in the mid-20s that dropped to single digits with the wind chill, passing was a problem for the Rebels.

“It was a little tough to throw the ball tonight,” SK coach Eric Anderson said. “Which we had planned.”

With upward of nine Tolman defenders in the box, South’s power run was limited, but the Rebels kept trying to pound the ball because of the risk passing. Quarterback Ben Hamill threw 11 times, but maybe three or four of the passes looked clean coming out of his hand. He completed five in the game for 68 yards and did throw for a score, a 9-yard play-action pass to Kane Noka in the second quarter.

“It was cold,” Hamill said. “It affected it a little bit, but I was anxious on a couple of them.”

The weather didn’t save Anderson at the end of the game. One of the few coaches who dressed for their state final practically rather than traditionally – coaches in Sunday’s Division I, II and IV games wore shorts and dressed light in frigid temps while Anderson was bundled up well – but it didn’t save him from a Gatorade bath at the end of the night.

Senior Derrick Stanton was one of the players involved in the post-game soaking and the water froze on Anderson’s jacket and Stanton’s jersey shortly after the shower.

“Huh,” Stanton said. “It is that cold.”

Offensive performance … really

South Kingstown’s offense Monday night was non-existent.

Tolman filled the box with lineman and linebackers expecting the power run that worked so well for the Rebels this season.

“We knew they were going to load up on Timmy and they did,” Anderson said. “I think they had nine guys in the box.”

South never abandoned the run, but didn’t light it up through the air either. The cold may have played a part, as freezing temperatures made passing a risky proposition. Hamill threw only 11 passes in the game.

“I wanted to do what coach wanted. He had a better perspective than me from the sideline,” Hamill said. “We switched balls at halftime because the ball we were using was rock hard.”

With the ball at their own 7 and 5:53 left in a tied game, South didn’t go to the air. It kept running before a Kane Noka fumble gave it back to the Tigers.

And even getting it back at their own 39 with 22 seconds left, South kept trying to run.

“The way we saw it was they were going to drop back and we were one block away from Tim ripping off a few extra yards,” Anderson explained when asked about the curious decision to run rather than pass late in the game. “He was one block away. He just tripped up a little bit. We thought he was going to rip off 10, 15, 20 yards, which is probably more effective than chucking it up.”

Staying on point

Despite the struggles on offense and Tolman racking up the yards against the defense – although not scoring – the Rebels never showed frustration, at least visibly.

“When they scored. That was my frustration,” Hazard said. “They scored and that just made me real mad and I knew we had to do something about it.”

It’s an attitude that’s been a key to the Rebels success this season and the team gave credit to Anderson – who took over for legendary coach Bruce Tardif – and his staff.

“There was frustration, but a lot of other teams when they see teams driving the ball, teams start to argue with one another,” Derrick Stanton said. “Coach (Cy) Butler, who’s our new coach this year with Anderson, his motto all season on any side of the ball was do your assignment. Don’t worry about anyone else’s assignment. The coaches will fix the problems.

“Don’t yell at your teammates because it doesn’t help anything out. We just listen to that and if we don’t make it, we say OK, just make it on the next one.’

A revolving door

Tolman started the game with Jordan Johnson as the quarterback, but at least five different players took snaps from the center in the game.

After the success the Miami Dolphins have had, it’s become trendy to call the formation “The Wildcat,” but in high school football the offense is commonplace. Because there are really no true throwing quarterbacks, it’s not unusual to see multiple players taking direct snaps and using misdirection to get the run game going.

But Tolman’s wide variety of athletic players was a concern coming into Monday’s game.

“Their speed on offense,” Hazard said, “is unbelievable.”

“We certainly gave up the yardage,” Anderson said. “Like I said Tolman’s a great team; I don’t know how many backs they have that they can keep giving the ball to.”

Quick hits

-South Kingstown became the first Division II repeat champion since the 2000 and 2001 Westerly team. The last repeat champion in any division was East Providence, which won the Division I title in 2002 and 2003.

-It was the fourth Division II title for the Rebels, who also won in 1934 and 1997; South won D-III titles in 1955 and 1989 was a co-champ in 1957 and 1963. SK also won the 1928 Class B title, which pre-dates the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.

-South’s second-to-last possession of the second half earned three first downs, the first three of the half for the Rebels.

-Of the 24 total minutes in the first half, South held the ball for a meager 8 minutes, 8 seconds.

-SK longest play on offense was a 35-yard pass from Hamill to Noka in the third quarter; Tolman’s was a 38-yard run by Jahmel Bowman in the fourth.

-Hazard’s touchdown run was his longest run since a 13-yard run on South’s second offensive play from scrimmage.

-The Rebels lose only six players on their roster to graduation: captains Hazard, Noka, Stanton and Nathan Nascenzi as well as Nicolas Rayta and Bryant Hill.