By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

NORTH PROVIDENCE – It was all in front of Central Falls High. Post a win over North Providence High and see the playoff dreams become realized. Lose and pay heavy consequences, i.e. render the remainder of the schedule obsolete.
With the stakes clearly defined, the Warriors called it curtains on Saturday in a hard-to-take 20-13 setback on the Cougars’ Homecoming afternoon. Now with four league losses next to its name – all coming to league foes currently positioned above the Warriors in the standings – CF can cancel out those Division IV postseason plans.
“We’re definitely out, there’s no way we can get into the playoffs,” said a dejected CF head coach Mo Jackson after his squad slid to 3-4, 4-4 overall. “(Saturday against the Cougars) was a playoff game for us and we were ready for the challenge. We had breakdowns, but hats off to North Providence. They played hard and came out with a 20-13 victory.”

Essentially the Warriors gift-wrapped this one for the Cougars (4-2, 5-3 overall). Central Falls was guilty of three turnovers (two fumbles lost, one interception by quarterback Cory Cassamas) with two of the miscues directly leading to 12 points for North Providence.  
The other major bugaboo for CF was its run defense. More like a lack thereof, for North Providence shredded, dissected and obliterated to the tune of 288 yards as a unit. Cougars junior Marc Manfredi was a one-man wrecking ball with 238 yards on 26 carries and a score.
What made matters frustrating for Jackson & Co. was that North Providence was predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. The Cougars repeatedly ran off to their left side, yet the Warriors couldn’t do anything to make NP head coach Glenn Williams dig deeper into his playbook.
Just how relentless was the Cougars’ running attack? Manfredi gashed the Warriors for more than 10 yards on nine separate occasions, meaning there was very little in the way of resistance.
“From youth level and up we just want to run right at you,” said Williams, whose crew now possesses the inside track to the fourth and final playoff berth with two league games remaining. “We felt if would sustain our line and get good blocks on the linebackers, we could get a four to five-yard pop. We try to run the clock.”
“We expected they were going to run hard, nothing fancy,” said Jackson. “We just couldn’t stop them.”
The Cougars’ run first, second and last approach was further illustrated by quarterback Nick Ayala completing a single pass. It proved, however, detrimental to the Warriors’ cause. Looking like a fish out of water in the back corner of the end zone, NP junior Thomas Doyle made a 19-yard catch, his knees on the ground, to give the Cougars a 6-0 lead with 40 seconds remaining before the halftime festivities. The scoring drive helped erase the memories of a first-and-goal scenario earlier in the second quarter in which North Providence came up empty.
Not content to simply run out the clock, Jackson figured to take a shot and see if his Warriors could come away with some points. Three completions by Cassamas helped set up a 27-yard field goal attempt by Jason Giron. The kick was short, but thanks to a North Providence defender running into Giron, Central Falls received one more shot.
Jackson settled on sending the offense back out. With one second remaining, Cassamas connected with Antonio Mena from two yards out. Giron tacked on the extra point, giving CF a slim but confidence boasting 7-6 lead.
The lengthy Homecoming celebration helped cool off the Warriors, and not in a good way. Jackson opted to go for it on fourth-and-two near midfield on CF’s opening possession of the second half, but the Cougars held serve, setting up a short field at the Warriors’ 41.
Manfredi capitalized, plunging in from three outs to reclaim the lead for North Providence, 14-7. Central Falls handed the ball back to the home team on the ensuing possession as North Providence sought to deliver the knockout blow. Michael Rossi capped off an 11-play drive, covering 4:31, with a six-yard score to give the Cougars a 20-7 advantage early in the final quarter.
Central Falls did mount one final charge with Cassamas connecting on a 24-yard catch-and-run with Eric Wilcox, cutting into North Providence’s advantage with 4:07 remaining. The Warriors decided to forgo an onside kick attempt, believing it would better serve them to give the Cougars’ potent ground attack more of a field to work with.
Things were looking up as the kickoff sailed deep into North Providence territory, but junior Christian Pezza helped get his team out of the shadow of its own goal, returning the kick to the Cougars’ 34.
North Providence proceeded to drip off valuable seconds as the Central Falls’ offense remained planted on the sidelines. Cassamas, who injured his throwing hand sometime in the second quarter, threw for 175 yards.
“All the plays were there,” said Jackson. “We just didn’t execute.”
***  
N. PROVIDENCE, 20-13
Central Falls 0 7 0 6 -- 13
North Providence 0 6 8 6 -- 20
NP – Thomas Doyle 19 pass from Nick Ayala (run failed)
CF – Antonio Mena 2 pass from Cory Cassamas (Jason Giron kick)
NP – Marc Manfredi 3 run (Raymond Criner pass from Doyle)
NP – Michael Rossi 6 run (pass failed)
CF – Eric Wilcox 24 pass from Cassamas (pass failed)
 
   CF  NP
First downs  15  16
Rushes-yards  20-88  46-288 
Passing  15-28-1 1-4-1
Sacks by  0-0  1-10
Net passing  165  19
Punts-avg.  1-39.0  2-38.0 
Fumbles-lost  4-2  0-0
Pen.-yards  3-20  10-65
***
Individual leaders
Rushing: CF – Albert Bello 11-61, No. 30 4-23, Emmanuel Versailles 1-0, Cory Cassamas 2-2, Antonio Mena 1-0, Robert Alers 1-2; NP – Marc Manfredi 26-238, Michael Rossi 6-23, Christian Pezza 8-24, Raymond Criner 3-13, Nick Ayala 4-5.
Passing: CF – Cory Cassamas 15-28-1-173; NP – Nick Ayala 1-4-1-19. 
Receiving: CF – Antonio Mena 5-45, Robert Alers 6-64, Emmanuel Versailles 1-11, Jean Carlos Avila 1-8, Eric Wilcox 1-24, Albert Bello 1-21; NP – Thomas Doyle 1-19.