Exeter-W. Greenwich/Prout Finish Regular Season With Blowout Win

WEST GREENWICH, RI — The Exeter-West Greenwich/Prout football team clinched a playoff spot last week, but that didn't stop the Knights from finishing the season strong, defeating Hope in a 34-14 blowout on the road.

The domination started early. On the Knight's first offensive play, quarterback Chris Cardolino threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Conner Hawes, giving the team a lead they would never look back from.

"It was something we never did, but we watched enough film and knew they would play man coverage, Coach Cliff Fortin said. "I knew if we could protect the QB, we could get the ball thrown. It’s a great play when it works."

The big plays continued in the second quarter for the Knights. Cardolino threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Christian Dimery, taking a 12-0 lead. Later in the quarter, Hope would score and convert a two-point conversion.

Second quarter it was Chris Cardolino throwing another touchdown, this time to Christian Dimery for 20 yards, to take a 12-0 lead. Hope finally out a long drive to together and out a score in and added a 2 point conversion to shrink the lead to 12-8.

The Knights then moved the ball down the field with only one minute left in the half. The Knights had two shots at the end zone, but came up short with the ball hitting the Hawes' hands, but he could not corral it in. That would have been Hawes' second touchdown of the half.

The domination only grew in the second half, both offensively and defensively. The Knights pass rushers recorded five of its eight sacks, and Hawes intercepted another pass.. Hope didn’t score in the third quarter, while the Knights put two more touchdowns on the board. Both touchdowns came on Hunter Mumford runs, who finished the game with 15 carries for 145 yards and three touchdowns.

In the fourth quarter, both teams scored a touchdown, and the Knights gave their backups some playing time.

The win meant the Knights finished 4-3 on the season, the first time they've ended the regular season with a winning record since 2014.

"We played some good football, today we played for each other," Fortin said. "This was more than just a win for WG. This was a step moving forward for this program. This was an amazing accomplishment, but we have a lot more work to do. We are happy we made the playoffs. We are happy we are in the playoffs, but we are not done."

Other key stats

• Christian Dimery: nine carries for 118 rushing yards
• Chris Cardolino: 3 for 8 for 100 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Exeter West Greenwich / Prout will play Smithfield in the first round of the playoffs Friday night. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.