Exeter-West Greenwich/Prout Struggles In Loss After Opening Drive

WEST GREENWICH, RI — The Exeter -West Greenwich/Prout football team came out with a strong opening job on senior night, but ultimately weren't able to carry that momentum throughout the rest of the game in a 16-7 loss against Providence Country Day School.

The Knights came out for senior night wearing pink socks to show support for breast cancer awareness.

"This is something we do every year, and we are proud to do our part in supporting cancer awareness," Head Coach Cliff Fortin said.

Exeter received the ball first, and on their first drive, they chewed seven minutes of clock and scored on a touchdown run from senior quarterback Chris Cardolino.

The rest of the first quarter was a hard hitting defensive fest, Providence Country Day couldn’t get much going, and after that first drive, Exeter West Greenwich hurt themselves with penalties.

The second quarter started off fast with an interception by senior captain Logan Hawes giving the Knights good field possession. But more penalties halted impressive drives. With the time of possession favoring the Knights at halftime, they were only up 7-0

"Besides the first drive, we made a lot of mistakes, one penalty after another," Fortin said. "We would drive the ball down the field and then a penalty, we can't make these mistakes."

The third quarter was all about the defense, John LaFond came up with a big interception putting the Knights in good field position, but once again, mistakes continued to hurt the team and stop drives.

In the fourth quarter, the mistakes continued. A fumble ended a promising drive for the Knights. The defense continued to keep the game close. Tyler Stanton came up with a big interception, but the Knights once again couldn't capitalize.

Providence Country Dave started to move the ball and found the end zone twice in the fourth quarter. One of the touchdown runs came with controversy. On a screen play, it appeared the receivers knee was down, but then the player jumped up and started to run, and on their fourth down play scored a touchdown.

"We have to play four quarters, and you have to be focused, you can’t make mistakes when you’re struggling," Fortin said. "Our defense gave us extra possessions, and we couldn’t capitalize on their mistakes. Our defense came to play today, they stepped up, but that will only last for so long. We need to get our offense back on track."

When asked about the PCD player's knee being down:

"I turned around and saw the player jump up and run," Fortin said. "My players and coaches said the player's knee was down. I was told by two players who were right there about to make a tackle but told me they held up because the runner was down. I’ll have to go back and watch the film and see what happened. My coaches and players were very adamant the player was down."

"We are a young raw team, we lost 12 seniors who all started for us last year, and we have new players who never played before," Fortin added. "I love the fact we are competing, there’s no giving up on this team. We are getting better every week, and we will continue to improve."

The Knights next game is Friday at Ponagansett. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.