|
By JAMES BESSETTE
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
COVENTRY — On Wednesday at 2:15 p.m., Shane Lagor made his daily trip down into the boys’ locker room at Deering Middle School to round up his West Warwick football team for practice when he came across a unique sight. The locker room was empty. To his surprise, all of the Wizards made an earlier-than-usual trip up to Maznicki Field for practice, getting hyped up and getting to work for what would be a 22-2 West Warwick victory over Coventry on Thanksgiving Day. It was a welcoming sight for Lagor since life for the Wizards hasn’t been exactly chipper since the Orange and Black saw their playoff run last only one home game for a second-straight season.
But, the idea of keeping a stranglehold against the Oakers on Thanksgiving – as well as the Amby Smith Memorial Trophy in the main office at West Warwick High – after receiving a 10-foot tall crucifix with a Wizard tied to it at the school quickly erased all of the bad memories the Wizards experienced against the Clippers on Nov. 15. “They started to feel the rivalry in different ways and our guys quickly rose to the occasion,” the West Warwick head coach said after Thursday’s win. “We’ve been having some down practices and guys feeling sorry for themselves. We had a pep rally (Wednesday) and it really did light a spark for us. I’m usually the one trying to get guys out of our locker room and it was a ghost town. Everyone was at the practice field ready to go.” After surviving an early scare from Coventry – a safety sack on Russell Strickland by Adam Cloutier and a potential free kick touchdown return by Jon Ruest that was called back because of a block in the back penalty – the Wizards would eventually end their 47th get-together with the Oakers in similar fashion as 35 other instances, on the winning end of the scoreboard. Much of the West Warwick offensive spark was provided by Willie Alves, who scored a pair of touchdowns, a 69-yard run to the right on a 1st-and-29 play early in the first quarter and then a one-yard punch up the middle just before halftime. The game had some added meaning for Alves outside of it being his final time on the gridiron as a Wizard. Three weeks ago was the one-year anniversary of the passing of Alves’ aunt and West Warwick High teacher Sally Jane Rainville, a loss that was certainly felt by many throughout the town. However, Alves gave his family some solace on Thursday with a strong performance that included him rushing for 89 yards. “It was hard on a lot of my family members,” Alves said. “One of the things that I like to see is my family seeing me come out here and do well on the football field.” Thursday was also the conclusion to what was a successful debut by Lagor as West Warwick head coach. In what was an extremely competitive Division II-A this Fall that ended with controversy, Lagor led the Wizards to a 5-2 divisional record – 7-3 overall – and the top seed in the playoffs. Even though Lagor had a strong offensive background, being the West Warwick quarterback in the mid 1990’s and then the team’s offensive coordinator, the Wizards posted the best defense in II-A – 82 points allowed – and held the opposition to 10 points or less in six of West Warwick’s 10 total games, including shutouts against Pilgrim and Mt. Hope. Theoretically, the West Warwick defense did post a shutout on Thanksgiving since the Oakers’ points came on a safety. “With this group, I had high expectations and they lived up to them,” Lagor said. “They came to practice and bought into it right away. They came out with tremendous attitudes. I loved coaching them and I was glad to have these guys as a first-year team. This will be a very special group that I will remember forever.” |
