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'Embarrassed' Tolman football team falls to C.W. |
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Monday, 14 September 2009 |
By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
CRANSTON – Their appearance on schedule serves as a purpose, these non-league games. Call it a litmus test, for it’s perhaps the last chance – with league play set to commence later this week – to gauge just how far a team has progressed since training camp opened for business four weeks ago.
If you’re Tolman High and head coach Dave Caito, Saturday’s Division I-II crossover with Cranston West High revealed a great deal. How is this possible since the final score was 21-0 Falcons and the Tigers managing just 99 yards of net offense?
The absentee offense, coupled with a defense that was gorged for over 300 rushing yards by a West team coming off a 1-7 league record, told Caito this: changes, necessary ones, loom.
If that means undoing what has been in place for sometime, so be it. If that means going younger, Caito will sign off. The message is clear: Caito will not tolerate another disparaging tale of woe like the one that unfolded at a soggy Cranston Stadium.
“To be satisfied getting blocked and being on the field, that can’t happen,” lamented Caito. “If we have to start freshmen and sophomores and take our lumps, we’ll do it. I’ll take it from those guys, not someone who’s been playing for four years.
“It was bad football,” continued Caito moments prior to delivering the postgame message in the south end zone. “It was an embarrassment and I’m embarrassed with the product we put out there.”
There’s no amount of fertilizer Caito can sprinkle on his lineman to make them sprout up in time for Friday’s D-II opener at Pariseau Field against West Warwick. The Tigers are small in the trenches, a spot where games are often decided. Yet what the Tigers lack in shear girth is shielded somewhat by a gaggle of speedsters.
Caito mentioned early in the preseason his club has taken on a Shea vibe. That means carrying the action to the edges of the field and transform the game into a track meet. Yet before Ousmane Samb, Anthony Bryson, Jordan Johnson, Jahmel Bowman and any other Tolman ball carrier can turn on the afterburners, they must first be sprung free.
If the aforementioned Tiger runners don’t receive at least some blocking, the games in the weeks and months ahead will come to resemble Saturday’s disturbing pattern. Tolman tried to gain the corners virtually all afternoon, yet would often find a gaggle of Cranston West defenders waiting with open arms.
The play that summed up the day came on the final snap of the first half. Johnson, in at quarterback, tried to create something with his feet. Problem was that three Falcons had the senior surrounded and no Tiger blocker was within the vicinity of Johnson, who was eventually hauled down.
Tolman’s leading ground gainers were Samb and Juan Wilson, both churning out 20 yards. Wilson’s output came on the final three plays of the game.
“You’re not going to be able to win too many games when you don’t block or tackle. It’s a bad combination,” said Caito matter-of-factly. “If we want to run speed, we have to block the perimeter. You can’t blame the quarterback because when he has protection, he’s like ‘Oh, something new’ and he can actually look down the field.”
Cranston West, which travels to East Providence this Friday, ran to daylight virtually every time a running play was called. Brent Champagne topped the Falcon brigade with 150 yards. Bryan Stetson was the first West back to plow through with little resistance, scoring from 44 yards out on the Falcons’ fourth play from scrimmage.
Despite fumbling the ball away twice in the first 14 minutes, Cranston West enjoyed a 14-0 lead. Then came an 11-play, 85-yard drive that culminated with Champagne plowing in on a fourth-and-goal from the Tolman 4. The score was West junior’s second of the half and put the home team up a commanding three scores with a minute remaining in the opening half.
“Defensively it was a lack of aggression and intensity,” said Caito.
Though Tolman’s defense tightened up in the second half, the offense remained flat. Two dropped passes – one in the back of the end zone – robbed the Tigers of not just points, but any sort of morale booster Caito actively sought. The Tigers’ longest play from scrimmage came early in the fourth quarter, when Bowman threaded a 39-yard completion to Kyle Maynard.
Bowman and Johnson split the quarterbacking duties, the pair combining for four completions on 16 attempts. Caito says he will continue to rotate his signal callers, both seniors, liberally.
“They’re both like running backs, so we’ll mix them in and out,” said Caito. “They both have speed and leadership. Neither one is a great thrower, but they’re good athletes.”
There could very well be a new crop of Tigers taking the field against the Wizards. If that’s the case, the guilty can only look back to what transpired on Saturday.
“We leaned some guys won’t be stepping on the field the rest of the year,” Caito said. “They’ll be playing JV.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 November 2009 )
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