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By JAMES BESSETTE
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WEST WARWICK — Jokingly, before kickoff on Saturday at Maznicki Field, West Warwick head coach Shane Lagor went up to his quarterback, Russell Strickland, and told him that assistant coach Jason Briggs said it’s been two weeks into the season and Strickland “hasn’t shown up yet.” Three plays into the second half, Strickland made his grand entrance, with the Tolman Tigers having front row seats.
Using primarily his legs, Strickland took the Wizards on his shoulders through the final 24 minutes against the Tigers, enabling West Warwick to complete a remarkable turnaround to earn its first league win of the season – second overall – by edging the Tigers 21-20. After being treated in similar fashion as a piñata during a birthday party during the first half, Strickland, with much-improved blocking, reverted back to his days as a running back for the Wizards, rushing for 124 yards in the second half, including a 50-yard scamper through the middle for West Warwick’s first touchdown of the game a little over a minute into the third quarter. “I feel awesome right now,” Strickland said with an understandable shortness of breath. Last week, there was some concern regarding Strickland’s health after he left in the third quarter against Pilgrim with an apparent leg injury. However, during last week’s practice sessions, Strickland participated in a number of the hill runs behind Deering Middle School to develop an abundance of leg strength, as well as building up stamina in order to outrun a very-athletic Tolman team. “We ran so much during practice this week,” Strickland said. “We did a ton of hills. That helped us out late in the fourth quarter, because I was not tired. Not at all.” Strickland also showed a fearless demeanor on a few runs up the middle in the fourth quarter on the Wizards’ scoring drive to take the lead. On two of those runs, Strickland channeled former Denver quarterback John Elway from Super Bowl XXXII, diving for that extra yard and spinning in midair when getting tackled, drawing a quick, loud cheer from his teammates on the sidelines, and also some extra beads of sweat on the foreheads of each West Warwick coach. On the two-point conversion after West Warwick took the lead with 2:59 to go in the game when Strickland scrambled out of the pocket towards the left corner of the end zone, diving over a potential Tolman tackler to sneak the ball over the goal line. “I wished he would stop jumping,” Lagor said jokingly of Strickland. “But, that’s what gets him fired up for some strange reason. He’s a strange duck at times. But, he’s a competitor. This team has hearts of lions. I cannot express how proud I am of this football team.” The comeback by the Wizards was made even more amazing because of the lack of execution, both physically and mentally, the team displayed in the first half. Along with Strickland being sacked four times, West Warwick committed six penalties – two of them unsportsmanlike conducts – totaling up 63 yards, 20 more than the Wizards had in total offense, as well as fumbling the ball three times. One of those unsportsmanlike conducts helped aid Tolman’s first scoring drive in the first quarter, with running back Jason Lafond breaking a pair of tackles on a seven-yard slant to paydirt. Lafond would add another touchdown to his personal stat book early in the second quarter, a one-yard belly through the goal line for a 14-0 Tolman lead. “We initially didn’t come out and execute,” Lagor said. “We’ve been trying to work certain guys into certain areas. I told those specific players that if they made a mistake, it’s on me. But, the guys rebounded in the second half and did a tremendous job.” After Jimmy Mullins helped West Warwick move within one at 14-13 on a one-yard touchdown up the middle with no time left in the third quarter, the Wizards forced Tolman to its third three-and-out of the second half and marched the ball from their own 19-yard line all the way up to the Tolman 8 for goal-to-go. Then, West Warwick moved tight end Charley Parent to the right side to help create a double block on the “scat” play on 4th-and-goal from the Tolman 7. Once done juggling the high snap, Strickland found a wide-eyed, wide-open Amine Malki in the right corner of the end zone for the touchdown, putting West Warwick up 21-14 after the conversion. For Tolman, the stunning loss was a letdown on all fronts. The Tiger offense, after mustering a hard-fought 93 yards against the stingy Wizards, Tolman generated just 25 total yards in the second half. “Unfortunately, we played two quarters of football and not four,” Tolman head coach David Caito said. “That was our big problem today. That touchdown pass that (Strickland) threw was a fourth-down play. If we had stopped him there, we’d probably have won the game.” Tolman finally woke up on offense right after West Warwick took the lead, with quarterback Jordan Johnson leading the team 51 yards on just seven plays. The drive was capped off when Johnson hooked up with Hady Coumbassa for a 15-yard touchdown after Johnson scrambled towards the Tolman sideline. With the Tigers not wanting overtime based on their struggles in the second half, Caito opted to go for the two-point conversion and called for Lafond to run a straight shot up the middle. Unfortunately for Tolman, Lafond was stopped short of the goal line, sealing the win for the jubilant West Warwick team. “We just didn’t look good in the third and fourth quarter,” Caito said. “We didn’t want to go into overtime, so I wanted to go for the win.” Tolman 7 7 0 6 - 20 West Warwick 0 0 13 8 - 21 STATS PASSING TOLMAN WEST WARWICK Johnson 6-13, 60, TD, INT Strickland 5-8, 27, TD RUSHING TOLMAN WEST WARWICK Johnson 9-35 Strickland 11-127, TD Lafond 10-24, 2 TDs Mullins 9-30 Henao 4-1 Alves 11-18 White 3-(-2) Paygai 1-(-2) RECEIVING TOLMAN WEST WARWICK Etienne 3-45 Parent 1-16 Kachuk 1-22 Alves 2-15 Coumbassa 3-15, TD Malki 1-7, TD Legault 1-(-1) |
