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Thursday, 05 November 2009 |
SOUTH KINGSTOWN—If a school-wide flu couldn’t slow down the South Kingstown football team, nothing was going to, not even the speed possessed by Shea High School.
Despite its billing as a matchup of the first place and last place teams in Division II-B, Friday night’s Rebels-Raiders matchup was actually a tight, closely contested battle for 22 minutes.
The rest of the game? Not so much.
SK quarterback Ben Hamill shined on Senior Night for the Rebels, going 9-of-14 through the air for 189 yards and two touchdowns, classmate Zach LeValley had two interceptions, one which he returned for a 35-yard touchdown, and the Rebels kept pace for the top seed in Division II-B with a 51-32 win over Shea.
For SK coach Eric Anderson, Friday was the type of game you just try to survive.
All week long, the Rebels practiced without a myriad of starters, all in and out of school with the flu.
Still, when it mattered most, South found a way to put enough plays together for a victory. That’s just what good teams do.
“We only really had one decent day of practice all week,” Anderson said. “So I think that’s kind of what you saw in the first quarter was a lot of guys who hadn’t really played as a unit all week and I don’t care how good you are, if you don’t practice, that’s the result that you’re going to get.”
Shea dominated South Kingstown in the first period, using its speed to break off long gains and hassle Hamill in the pocket.
The Raiders led twice Friday, striking first blood on a 48-yard interception return by Henry Pires in the first quarter and later going up 14-6 on a 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Josh Burgo to senior Manny Baptista.
But that’s where the good news ended for Shea. From the two-minute mark of the second quarter on, it was all South Kingstown, all the time.
The Rebels scored two touchdowns in the final 2:17 of the second period, the first a three-yard run by Hamill, the second an eight-yard pass from Hamill to Justin Favreau and, try as they may, Shea was never competitive in the second half.
South had four running backs find the end zone in all Friday, with senior Patrick Gee leading the charge with a 98-yard performance.
With the win, South Kingstown improved to 5-1 on the season and thanks to an early-season win over Coventry, the Rebels can clinch the No. 1 seed in Division II-B with a win over Toll Gate this weekend.
“We’ve just got to get back at it next week,” Anderson said. “We have to focus on Toll Gate and we’ve got to look at the next week as it’s really important to clinch. I want to be back at this field, I don’t want to be able to be on the road for the playoffs so it’s important, this game is important.”
SK-Toll Gate kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday night.
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