The Great Escape

Wow.

It's a pretty good bet that no one saw this coming.

To this point in the Hawks' football season, we've seen some pretty exciting stuff, especially during the last two weeks. Last Friday, it was the game against Barrington, a shootout won by the Hawks, 41-32; last night, it was a Super Bowl re-match against the Cranston East Thunderbolts, right on the same Stadium turf when, last December, our guys set the record for most consecutive state titles in the RIIL super bowl era and a dynasty.

Coming into the game, however, it's doubtful that many people predicted the game they witnessed last night. While the 'Bolts may have lost some key players to graduation, they're certainly no pushovers, either, and they proved that last night, as they gave the Hawks all they could handle and then some before they fell literally one yard short of the upset win as time expired.

For the Hawks, their first road game of the year wasn't played in Cranston; it was apparently scheduled for Heart Attack City, but the guy who printed the schedule seemed to have onitted that little fact.

Of course, The Network was there with live coverage, and although we experienced some minor audio difficulties part of the way through the second quarter, we cleared them up and had a pretty clean broadcast. Stone and Cam (as usual) held down the play-by-play and analysis duties, Remy Morris diligently kept track of significant developments and trends throughout the contest, "DT" Barron manned the camera, and Nate Kirshenbaum controlled the social media angle.

From the outset it was clear that East was not merely going to roll over because the undefeated champs were in town. Not only are they a good team, but this was also a chance to return the favor for last December. The 'Bolts drew first blood and actually opened up that lead to 13-0 early in the second quarter. They were moving the ball very effectively with what seemed to be a combination of a running game that was punching through just the right holes in the Hawks' defensive line and an intermeddiate passing game over the middle that was very efficient. East was largely playing mistake-free football and were, for the most part, in control of the game.

Our guys managed to strike back, however, and somehow managed to walk off the field at halftime trailing by only six, 19-13. Senior QB John Toppa began the Hawks' turnaround with this huge pass towards the end of the first half:

As was pointed out during some halftime analysis, it was difficult to tell whether it was better to feel good about being in the Hawks' shoes - having been mostly outplayed yet down by only six - or worse to be in East's shoes, who'd clearly controlled the game and were up by only six.

Early in the third quarter, Toppa and Lee Moses then combined to bring the Hawks back even at 19 with this sequence of plays. After having been penalized once again (the Hawks have been absolutely plagued by penalties and mistakes during the last two weeks), our guys faced a 1st-and-20 while still in their own territory. Here, Toppa's pass to Moses was a game-changer:

Shortly thereafter, it was Toppa calling his own number, tying the game at 19:

The Hawks later took the lead with another touchdown, 26-19, but the 'Bolts struck back by crossing the goal line themselves.....however, they missed a crucial extra point, a play that later took on ominous significance with three seconds remaining in the game.

East took possession of the ball with just over three minutes left, trailing by one point, 26-25. Through a combination of their ability to move the football and penalties assessed against the Hawks, they were able to get the ball down to the three-yard line, at which point their coach, Tom Centore, allowed the clock to wind down to three seconds before calling a timeout, feeling that his guys could run one more play that would give them the game and simultaneously run out the clock.

Everyone in Cranston Stadium assumed the 'Bolts would go for the seemingly easy, 20-yard field goal for the three points that would give them the win. When the ball was snapped, however, the East holder took the ball and made a mad dash for the goal line, where he was stopped at the last second by linebacker John Arruda, one yard short of the upset.

The Hawks, oi course, started jumping up-and-down in celebration; in hindsight, though, it's difficult to figure if they were celebrating or just enthusiastically relieved.

So, the Hawks go to 5-0 on the season and continue in their pursuit of a fifth straight state title. Once again, it's a pretty good bet that Coach Croft and his staff will be drilling into their guys the neccessity of cutting down on the mistakes and the penalities, because we've all seen that stuff catch up with a lot of teams.

Next week, our guys travel up to Cumberland for Friday Night Lights, and The Network will be there with live coverage, beginning at about 6:55. Let's get a good crowd up there.