By BILL KOCH

Contributing writer

CRANSTON – Cranston East validated on Sunday why football coaches are constantly preaching about solid special teams play.
The Thunderbolts scored on a punt return and set up another touchdown thanks to a bobbled Lincoln punt snap, cruising to a 21-0 victory over the visiting Lions at saturated Cranston Stadium.
Jamal Jean-Pierre’s 76-yard return midway through the second quarter proved to be the winning score, the result of some crisp blocking by his teammates, and Robert Reardon’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Jon Alves-Cortes with 59.3 seconds to play in the half ultimately put the game out of reach.

With neither team able to hang onto the ball (nine fumbles combined, four turnovers) in the wet conditions, long scoring drives were virtually impossible, making good field position all the more important.
“Special teams, discipline and ball control were going to be the keys,” Cranston coach Tom Centore said. “That play that Jamal made was huge.”
Lincoln’s early deficit would have been difficult enough to overcome at full strength, but starting quarterback Ryan O’Dell was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with an injured left hip. Back-up Brian Larocque replaced O’Dell midway through the Lions’ fourth series, and Lincoln was forced to scrap most of its game plan the rest of the way.
“All the stuff that we had prepared for, that kind of took us out of it,” Lincoln coach Dave Waycott said. “Unfortunately, practice is only so long and Brian doesn’t get many reps. That takes us back to our base formations.”
Waycott said that O’Dell, a talented two-way threat both running and passing, had suffered a hip pointer and didn’t believe that the injury was anything that should keep the sophomore from missing much time. O’Dell limped to the sidelines after being dragged down on an option keeper with just under eight minutes to play in the second and Jean-Pierre’s game-changing return came barely three minutes later. He fielded David Dicicco’s punt along the right sideline and slipped through a host of would-be tacklers at the East 35, allowing his speed do the rest as he raced down the sideline to give the Thunderbolts a 7-0 lead.
“It was (good blocking) by my whole team,” Jean-Pierre said. “I just made the play.”
Cranston doubled its advantage just before halftime thanks to a critical special teams mistake by Lincoln, as the Lions’ fumbled a punt snap inside their own 30 and gave the Thunderbolts excellent field position with 1:06 left in the second. Cranston went for the jugular on the first play, as Reardon aired it out down the left sideline and Alves-Cortes outmuscled his defender at the goal line to make an acrobatic catch for a 14-0 lead.
It was more of the same in the second half, with Lincoln’s offense unable to get much going thanks to Cranston’s solid defense and a string of penalties that kept the Lions on their half of the field. Lincoln was flagged 14 times in the game, including three personal fouls and a roughing the kicker penalty that gave Cranston a first down on a drive that ran the final 7:15 of the game off the clock.

Lincoln  0 0 0 0 – 0
Cranston East  0 14 0 7 – 21
CE – Jamal Jean-Pierre 76 punt return (Jaquan Scripsack kick)
CE – Jon Alves-Cortes 27 pass from Brian Corvese (Scripsack kick)
CE – Albert Duran 4 run (Scripsack kick)