By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

CRANSTON – Tolman’s 7-0 victory over Cranston East in the Division II playoffs on Sunday night assured the Blackstone Valley of a participant in this year’s Super Bowl.
The Tigers will host Cumberland on Dec. 2 in the semifinal round with the winner gaining a berth in the Dec. 8 Super Bowl contest at Cranston Stadium.
Tolman’s defense carried the Tigers into the semifinals with a dominating performance on Sunday night. The Tigers ganged up on Thunderbolts’ halfback Albert Duran, holding the 205-pound junior to 29 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Deprived of his running game, Cranston East quarterback Robert Reardon hurried his throws and finished 2-for-24 through the air, tossing an interception to Allens Etienne late in the third quarter and then running for his life in the final quarter as Tolman’s defense applied heavy pressure. The Tigers finished with four sacks for 31 yards.
“The game plan was to stop Duran and make them throw the ball,” Tolman coach Dave Caito said while walking off the Cranston Stadium field. “Our defense was tremendous.”

Tolman’s offensive blueprint also succeeded, even if the Tigers managed just one score, a 78-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jordan Johnson on Tolman’s first play from scrimmage in the second half. Johnson took the snap from center and swept left end behind a series of blocks from his linemen. The swift junior broke into the secondary and eluded two more tacklers while using his downfield blockers to good advantage. Johnson finished off the touchdown run with a final burst of speed, giving Tolman the only points it would need in this defensive struggle.
“It’s a good thing Jordan got into the end zone,” Caito agreed. “We needed that touchdown. Jason Lafond had a chance to get in earlier in the game and we ended up not scoring.”
Lafond had Tolman’s biggest play of the first half, a 42-yard run to Cranston East’s 11-yard line. After Ousame Samb gained five yards on first down, Cranston East’s defense stopped Lafond for one yard, then forced an incomplete pass by Johnson. On fourth down, Johnson’s pass into the end zone was intercepted by CE’s Pierre Borgelin.
Cranston East’s offense did nothing in the second half, punting on four of its first five possessions and losing the ball on Etienne’s interception near midfield.
As time wound off the clock, the home team got the ball back with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter. Tolman’s Brandon Brown and Jared Coyle teamed up to sack Reardon on first down. After an incomplete pass, Coyle deflected a long pass intended for the dangerous Joseph Boseman-Hinds on third down.
Facing fourth-and-20 from Tolman’s 42-yard line, Reardon got himself sacked by Tolman’s Johnson and Daniel Eerhart with 1:59 left in the game.
Tolman took over and tried to run three conservative plays into the middle of the line. On third down, Lafond lost the football at his own 40-yard line while fighting for extra yardage, giving the Thunderbolts one last crack at tying the game. Just 61 seconds were left at this point.
Reardon threw three incompletions, then got a gift call of pass interference on fourth down to prolong the drive. With the ball now at Tolman’s 44, Tolman’s Coyle drew a legitimate pass interference flagl with 31 seconds left, putting the ball at the Tigers’ 29-yard line. Reardon ran out of trouble and gained three yards on first down, then spiked the ball to stop the clock. His third-down pass went incomplete into the end zone with 13 seconds left, and his last-gasp fourth-down pass also fell harmlessly to the ground as time ran out.
Cranston East stayed in the game by winning the turnover battle, forcing four Tolman giveaways while losing the ball just once, on the interception by Etiennes. The Tigers gained 260 yards in total offense to just 50 for Cranston East. No statistic speaks louder than that one in describing this outcome.
Caito credited a position switch for keying the defensive effort.
“We moved Brandon Brown, a linebacker, right over their center, in a nose guard position,” Caito admitted. “That seemed to work really well. We got great efforts from everyone on our defense tonight. It would be hard to single anyone out. They all played great.”
Next up for the Tigers is their Thanksgiving Eve contest against crosstown rival Shea followed by the playoff semifinal contest against Cumberland six days later.
***
TOLMAN, 7-0
Tolman  0 – 0 – 7 – 0 – 7
Cranston East 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
TOL – Jason Johnson 78 run (Ousame Samb kick)
***
  TOL  CE
First downs 11  6
Rushes-yards 36-246  23-62
Passing  3-7-2-14 2-24-1-19
Sacks  4-31  2-19
Total offense 241  50
Fumbles-lost 3-2  1-0 
Punts-avg. 8-27.2  6-37.6
Penalties-yards 8-69  8-62
Individual statistics:
Rushing: Tolman – Jordan Johnson 9-100, Jordan White 16-79, Jason Lafond 7-48, Ousame Samb 3-9. Cranston East – Albert Duran 13-29, Jamey Scheer 6-31, Nicholas Marhand 2-(-3), Robert Reardon 2-5.
Passing: Tolman – Jordan Johnson 3-7-2-14; Cranston East: Robert Reardon: 2-24-1-19.
Receiving: Tolman – Jordan White 2-17, Ousame Samb 1-(-3). Cranston East: Jamal Jean-Pierre 2-19.