By ERIC RUEB

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CRANSTON – When it came down to it, bend but don’t break wasn’t just a theme for the South Kingstown football team’s defense; the cliché summed up the entire season. For a dominant Division II football team, the Rebels didn’t run over teams like La Salle in Division I or Exeter-West Greenwich in Division IV; they did what was necessary to win a particular game at a particular time.

Despite giving Tolman 300 yards of total offense and four trips in the red zone, South gave up just one score before Tim Hazard’s 10-yard run in overtime set the stage for another defensive stand as the Rebels beat the Tigers, 14-6, for their second straight Division II Super Bowl title.

“We set a goal at the beginning of the season and we just met it,” South first-year head coach Eric Anderson said. “There’s no other feeling than what I’m feeling right now. The kids did an outstanding job all season, man.”

“Defense is unbelievable,” said Hazard, who had three sacks in the game to go along with his game-winning score, earning MVP honors. “Defense wins championships and we proved it here today.”

South’s success this season was because of its defense. Against Division II opponents in the regular season, the Rebels never gave up more than two scores in one game. The most points a D-II team scored against SK was in last week’s semifinal, when the Rebels beat Toll Gate 34-22, but two of Toll Gate’s touchdowns were on special teams.

The Rebels did give up their fair share of yardage this season, but it was the way the defense played with their backs to the wall – or goal line, if you prefer – that was the difference between winning and losing.

When SK needed it the most, the defense was there. With just over six minutes left, Tolman had 2nd-and-2 from the South Kingstown 8 and looked ready to take the lead. The next three plays went for –2, 2 and nothing, the final run a sneak by Tolman’s Jordan White that had to be measured, mainly for Tolman, because every SK player pointed downfield. The Rebels knew it was short – and it was.

“We thrive for that. When we get into that situation we know we’re capable of stopping that,” South quarterback and safety Ben Hamill said. “We know our front is better than there’s and we’re stopping them.”

“I came up and hit the lead blocker,” South’s Derrick Stanton said. “I hit him and saw where the ref put his foot down for where the ball was and he was about a half-yard short.”

If there was a team that was built for overtime, it was South Kingstown, apparent on the ensuing drive where the Rebels managed to get the ball to midfield, but ate up nearly the entire clock.

But in overtime – where the ball is placed on the 10-yard line, giving each team four shots to score – the Rebels run is perfect. The thunder of Hazard and lightning of Kane Noka and Pat Franco is an unstoppable force in short-yardage situations.

“Four plays to stop Tim?” Hamill said. “We could have given it to him four times and they weren’t stopping us for 10 yards.”

The Rebels didn’t need to. They ran 33 Belly, with Noka as the lead blocker, and Hazard followed his fellow senior off tackle and crossed the goal line near the left pylon, walking off looking calm and collected, ready to play defense, a façade if there ever was one.

“With the helmet on you couldn’t see it, but I put on a cheese,” said Hazard, who finished with 63 yards rushing. “I was so happy like ‘Yes, we did it again.’”

“It’s relief,” said Hamill, whose hands were raised in the touchdown signal before Hazard even scored. “After a tough fight like that the whole game, expecting a struggle, maybe get to fourth down, then he just busted it on the first play and it was huge. “

While the game wasn’t over – and still wasn’t after Hazard ran in the 2-point conversion – it was over. “Once a team goes down,” Hazard said, “that’s the end of the team.”

Tolman struggled in its red-zone trips all game, getting stopped at the SK 21 (not the red zone, but maybe rouge), 14 and 7, getting its only score on a 1-yard plunge by Jahmel Bowman at the start of the fourth quarter.

Bowman was sacked by Matthew LaValley for a 10-yard loss; a holding call on second down brought the ball to the 35 and there was a better chance of a beach party breaking out than a Tigers’ score. Two incompletions later, the Rebels were Division II champs.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Stanton said. “But from everyone saying we’re too young, too inexperienced, to small, it gave us a lot of motivation to work hard.”

“They bent a lot. We certainly gave up the yardage,” Anderson said. “… They bent, didn’t break and I’m proud of the kids.”

Tolman 0          0          0          0          0          -           0         

South Kingstown          0          6          0          0          8          -           0

Second quarter

S-Kane Noka 6 pass from Ben Hamill (pass failed), 3:49

Fourth quarter

T-Jahmel Bowman 1 run (pass fail), 10:41

Overtime

S-Tim Hazard 10 run (Hazard run)

Tolman South Kingstown

First downs      16        7

Rushes-yds       46-104 31-127

Pass comp-att-int         11-21-1           5-11-0

Passing yards    153      68

Total offense     257      195

Fumbles-lost     0-0       2-2

Penalties-yds    4-30     6-46

Time of possession       29:27   18:32

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Tolman – Jordan White 13-40; Jahmel Bowman 12-37; Ousmane Samb 4-22; Jason Lafond, 4-20; Jordan Johnson 13-(-15). South Kingstown – Tim Hazard 16-63, TD; Kane Noka 8-49; Pat Franco 5-24; Ben Hamill 2-(-9).

PASSING: Tolman – Johnson 5-9-93; Bowman 6-10-60, INT; Richard Kachuk 0-1-0. South Kingstown – Hamill 5-11-68, TD.

RECEIVING: Tolman – Jared Coyle 4-41; White 3-72; Allens Etienne 3-34; Samb 1-6. South Kingstown – Noka 3-69, TD; Justin Favreau 2-(-1).