By ERIC BENEVIDES

Sports writer

With the Division II-A and II-B battles taking a weekend off, most of the Division II teams decided to fill in the void in their schedules by inking in some non-league tests, and three of them (Tolman High, Shea High, and Cumberland High) will take the field tonight at 7 p.m. in what promises to be some entertaining games.
The game with the most local interest will be at Pierce Field, as the Tigers take on a Division I team with a bye, East Providence High, for the third straight season, while in Pawtucket, the Division II-B Raiders entertain Division II-A West Warwick High at Max Read Field.

In another Division II crossover affair, the II-B Clippers, who are sky high after their upset win over Toll Gate High in Warwick High, hope to keep the good times rolling when they head to Bristol to tackle II-A Mount Hope High.
There is another game of significance that means something in the Division I standings, and it takes places tonight at 7 p.m. at Pariseau Field, as defending champion St. Raphael Academy (1-1 in league play) hosts North Kingstown High (2-2) in a clash of .500 teams looking to break into the upper tier of the standings.    
Tonight's action starts off with a 5 p.m. game at North Smithfield High against Providence Country Day and the Northmen. Both teams are winless in the Division IV ranks, and this may be their best chance to break into the win column.
The big game of the bunch on Saturday pits Toll Gate High at Lincoln High in a 1 p.m. clash at Ferguson Field. Both squads need to win this game in order to stay alive in the hunt for a Division II-B playoff berth. The same can be said for Smithfield High's 2 p.m. duel at Eldredge Field in East Greenwich against Division III foe East Greenwich High.
In a Division IV game of importance, Central Falls High will try to knock Hope High from the unbeaten ranks on the Blue Wave's campus, and in another Division III contest, unbeaten Ponaganset High faces winless Central High at 10:30 a.m. on the Chieftains' turf.
Woonsocket High and Burrillville High, who both play in the Division II-A ranks, have bye weeks, but will battle each other next Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on the Broncos' turf.
A capsule look at the nine Rhode Island games of local interest:

North Kingstown at St. Raphael
The Saints, who saw their 12-game win streak in the league come to an end two weeks ago with a 38-12 loss to East Providence, are coming off a bye week and hope that the extra work they put into practice benefits them in their battle with the Skippers, who have totalled 80 points in beating Rogers High and Cranston West High in their last two games. 
While the Skippers (3-2 overall) have scored points in bunch, they're also allowed them in bushels. They have surrendered close to 27 points per night, and in their victory over winless Rogers, they yielded 35. If the Saints can avoid the turnover bug that plagued them in their loss to the Townies and keep the chains moving behind quarterback Tyler Malo and his backfield, they should be able to find the end zone early and often.   
Another key for the Saints (2-2 overall) tonight is to find a way to contain All-State tailback David D'Errico, who is among the Division I's leaders in rushing yards (603) and TDs (eight). D'Errico has rushed for over 155 yards in each of the Skippers' last three games and he will surely have the attention of the Saints' 'D' all night long. If D'Errico runs wild again, the crowd could be in for a high-scoring encounter. 

Tolman at East Providence
Two teams coming off embarrassing league losses to unbeaten teams -- the Tigers dropped a 35-6 decision to Westerly High in their battle for first place in the Division II-A ranks and the Townies were 35-7 losers to Barrington High -- will try to get back on track in this non-league affair.
The Tigers (2-2 in the division, 2-3 overall) have seen their four games leading up to last weekend's disaster go down to the wire, and they hope they can hook up in another close game against a team that has defeated them in the past two seasons. The Townies (2-2 in Division I, 3-2 overall) got a sliver of good news in their loss to the Eagles when they saw Corey Blair play his first game of the year in the Townies' backfield and pick up 84 yards on 16 carries. Blair should see an increased workload in tonight's game.

West Warwick at Shea
The Raiders desperately needed to put forth a performance like the one they did in last Friday night's victory over Coventry High. Not only did the Raiders run for an even 200 yards in their 21-8 victory over the Oakers, but their first-string defense, which had struggled in the early going of the season, stepped up and kept Coventry off the board for 3 1/2 quarters of play.
This week, the Raiders (2-2 in Division II-B play, 2-3 overall) take on a very improved team in the Wizards (3-1 in II-A, 4-1 overall), who are off to their best start in five years and fresh off blowout victories at home over Chariho at Burrillville High. Quarterback Russ Strikland and tailback Willie Alves had had some huge offensive performances in the last few weekends, and the Raiders will do everything they can to hold them down.       

Cumberland at Mount Hope
The Clippers (1-3 in Division II-B action, 2-3 overall) couldn't have scripted a better way to win their first division game than by shocking the Titans and their All-State talent, Doug Johnson, and tonight, they will try to prove that they're not a "one-week wonder" by knocking off another tough opponent in the Huskies, who have played much better than their 1-3 record indicates.
Tailback David Elkas had a breakout game against the Titans, rushing for 210 yards on 22 carries, and the Clippers will be looking for him to pick up some more real estate at the expense of the Huskies. The Clippers, who have averaged close to 20 ppg., has also received an area-best nine touchdown passes from quarterback Dan Canavan.

Providence Country Day at North Smithfield
Something has to give in this battle of the beatens. Both teams are averaging less than nine points per game and have allowed more than 26 ppg.
The Northmen, who are 0-2 in the league (0-3 overall) and have had bye week in two of the last four weekends, are going to need a big performance out of quarterback Matt Rondeau, who has accounted for three of NS's four touchdowns with a pair of TD passes and a 55-yard touchdown run. The Knights (0-3, 0-5) received a solid showing from tailback Nate Morris (89 yards rushing, two TDs) in last weekend's 40-14 loss to Central Falls.

Toll Gate at Lincoln
This Division II-B duel features two teams who are coming off poor performances from the past weekend, and at 1-2, desperate for a victory that will keep them in the playoff hunt. The Lions ran into one tough customer in undefeated South Kingstown and absorbed a 28-0 setback, while the Titans, who were tabbed by most folks as the team to beat in the division, were upset by Cumberland High, 24-9.
The Lions need to get their offense cranking again this weekend. After scoring 27 points in a Sept. 19 win over Shea High, they have been blanked in back-to-back games, bitten by the turnover bug, and totaled less than 175 yards of offense in losses to Cranston East High and the Rebels. The unexpected "bye week" two weekends ago (due to the Oct. 3 tragedy on the Lions' campus) also hurt the team a little bit, but a strong week of practice should cure what ails Lincoln.

Central at Ponaganset
The only morning contest in the state pits the defending Division III champions against the winless Knights in a game that should be over by halftime. While the Chieftains are unbeaten and in a three-way tie for first place with also-perfect Tiverton High and Narragansett High, the Knights are 0-3 in the league (0-6 overall) and have yielded an average of 28 points per game in their league losses.
While the Chieftains will be taking care of business, Narragansett will visit Tiverton later that night. Next Saturday, the Chieftains will also venture to the Tigers' campus for a 7 p.m. showdown, and on Nov. 8 comes another big test at home against the Mariners.

Smithfield at East Greenwich
Smithfield hopes to keep its paper-thin Division III playoff hopes alive in this contest of 1-2 teams with the always-tough Avengers, who finally jumped into the win column with their 34-12 victory over Mount Pleasant High last weekend.
The Sentinels, which is 3-2 overall, took one on the chin last Saturday when Tiverton came to town and pinned a 41-0 defeat on them. If they plan to defeat the Avengers, their offense, which has struggled against league competition and produced just 17 points in three games, is going to have to come alive and get the job done in the red zone. The defense is also going to have to keep an eye on tailback Harrison Saunders, who has scored five of his team's nine touchdowns this season.

Central Falls at Hope
The Warriors (3-2 overall, 2-2 in Division IV play) will head to Providence and take on what has been the feelgood story of the year in the Blue Wave, who are off to their first 3-0 start in over 20 years and hadn't won three games in a season since 1996.
Granted, the Blue Wave's three victories have come against teams with a combined mark of 3-6, but if the Warriors (who sit in fifth place in the standings) plan to crack the top four and return to the playoffs, they will surely need to bring out their best in this showdown.
The Warriors and Blue Wave have hooked up in some memorable shootouts in the past few years, and this could be another high-scoring affair. Not only have the Warriors scored the second-most points in the division (108), they have also allowed the second most (118), and the average score in their games has been a shade under 60 points (59.2).