Cranston East was one of the best rushing teams in the state this fall, featuring a two-headed monster out of the backfield with seniors Malik Gavek and Jay Bast.

But, on Thursday, the ’Bolts displayed that they’re an equal threat in the passing game.

East quarterback Justin Neary torched West’s secondary through the air, compiling six passing touchdowns on 247 yards as the ’Bolts routed rival West, 49-10, in the annual Thanksgiving game at Cranston Stadium.

“Our receiving game has been getting better,” Neary said. “We switched a few things around and everything just seemed to work today.”

East received the opening kickoff and, less than two and a half minutes later, it found the end zone.

Senior wideout Jake Palazzo, who suited up for the Falcons last fall, put his former team in a hole out of the gate, reeling in a 37-yard touchdown pass in the middle of the field.

Neary knew that Palazzo was going to be ready to play West, so he was looking for him early.

“Jake is a West transfer, so I knew he was going to have a big game,” Neary said.

West was looking to keep pace on the ensuing drive, but pressure from East’s defensive line helped the boys in green up their lead.

Falcons’ quarterback Cam Harris rolled out to the right under pressure and flipped a short pass to the middle of the field that was picked off by Hector Duran, who scampered into the end zone for his first high school touchdown.

After the defensive score made it 14-0, the East offense went back to work.

At the 9:30 mark of the second quarter, the ’Bolts posted up inside the red zone before Neary delivered a perfect pass to the left corner of the end zone for Robenson Antoine, who controlled the ball to the ground to increase the advantage to three scores.

West was able to get on the board just 18 seconds later on East’s only major defensive breakdown of the game, as Josh Pereira took a handoff and emerged through the left side of the defense for a 65-yard touchdown to cut the Falcons’ deficit to 21-7.

However, West’s defense had no answer for Neary.

Gavek lined up in the slot on the following drive and ran a rout down the middle of the field unmarked, and Neary made West pay, laying a pass in the hands of the speedy Gavek for a 53-yard touchdown.

“He really played well and made some changes at the line of scrimmage to throw those passes,” East head coach Tom Centore said of his junior signal caller. “You could just see the difference on the field today with him. Big difference from last year.”

West marched down the field in the final minutes looking to gain some momentum going into halftime, and it seemingly did when it put three points on the board on a 30-yard field goal from Gianmarco Coppola De Almarza. The boot through the uprights made it 28-10 while leaving little time, just 31 seconds, for East’s offense to do any more damage.

But, a 15-yard pass to Antoine and a 12-yard completion to Gavek pushed East to West’s 32-yard line with a couple of seconds left on the clock.

Neary snapped the ball and bought some time before heaving a pass into the end zone that was intended for Antoine. Good coverage helped to knock the ball away from Antoine, but the ball fell into the arms of a wide open Gavek for a touchdown, giving the ’Bolts a 35-10 lead at the half.

And that margin would prove to be insurmountable for the young Falcons in the second half.

Near the midway point of the third quarter, Antoine made a leaping catch near the goal line and spun off a defender for a 17-yard touchdown.

A few minutes later, Palazzo got into the end zone for a second time as well when Neary completed his sixth touchdown pass of the day on a 21-yard strike.

West head coach Steve Stoehr acknowledged that his team’s pass coverage wasn’t up to par in the loss.

“They’re a good team, but they’re not a 49-10 team,” Stoehr said. “We were just weak in the pass, and we knew that. Against Hendricken, they had four passes and four touchdowns.”

Centore was proud of his team for the way it bounced back after its quarterfinal loss to Portsmouth. The ’Bolts could’ve chosen to pack it in after the defeat, but they rallied and put forth one last impressive performance.

“This was a tremendous effort today,” Centore said. “We lost to a Portsmouth team that I consider to be the second-best team in the state. Some people forgot about them after they lost to Portsmouth. I’m proud of what they did today. I’m happy for them.”