The Cranston West Falcons outdueled the East Providence Townies 41-28 on Friday night during their last game of the regular season.
West ends the season with an overall record of 6-2 in Division I. 

“It’s a great feeling,” West head coach Tom Milewski said. “I’m happy for the seniors. I’m happy for the program and the school. It was homecoming week. It was senior night, so it was exciting. It was a good game. The kids executed the game plan well. I couldn’t be happier for us right now.”

The Falcons were led by senior quarterback Cam Alves, who tossed three touchdown passes and ran in another, plus fellow senior wideout Matt Carvalho, who caught two touchdowns, and junior running back Brennan Stetson, who rushed in two scores.

“We seem to be clicking right now on offense,” Milewski said. “Gelling a little bit up front – the offensive line. Cam’s doing a nice job. We’ve got Andrew Dionizio, Matt Carvalho, Brennan Stetson, Myles Chung, and now Chris Degaitas is becoming a weapon. So, we’ve become multi-faceted. So, we’re not just one person. We’re becoming a good offense right now, which is what we want at this time of the season.”

Carvalho returned the game’s opening kickoff to the East Providence 29.

Then, on the first play of the drive, Alves faked a handoff to Stetson before running it himself, up the middle, 71 yards for a touchdown. The signal caller would eclipse 100 rushing yards midway through the first frame. Carvalho added the extra point after that and it extended the Falcons margin to 7-0.

Next, East Providence’s Manny Santiago fumbled the ensuing kickoff return which was recovered by West’s Kris Degaitas at the Townies 18.

On the very next play, Stetson ran right and in for the TD and upped the Falcons edge to 13-0 with 11:20 remaining in the first quarter.

With 2:40 left in the first frame, West expanded its buffer to 20-0 after Alves connected on a 9-yard TD pass to Carvalho in the left corner of the end zone.

Juan Diaz, a senior running back, pulled East Providence within 20-6 when he rushed right and in for a touchdown from 29 yards out, with 1:35 remaining in the second quarter.

At the start of the second half, the Townies again fumbled a kickoff return and this time it was recovered by Stetson at the East Providence 25.

From the Townies 17, Alves tossed the ball to Carvalho, who brought it to the 1. Next, Stetson rushed it up the gut and in for the score and that upped the West cushion to 27-6 with 8:23 left in the third quarter.

Next, East Providence fumbled its third kickoff return when Noah Robert, a senior, jarred the ball loose from Justin Pena and again it was recovered by Stetson, this time at the East Providence 16.

Four plays later, Alves scrambled right, broke a tackle, and then ran left, before connecting on a 4-yard TD pass to Carvalho which increased the Falcons lead to 34-6.

East Providence strolled into Falcons territory after that when Pena completed a 55-yard pass to tight end Kaleb Almeida, who brought it to the West 12.

Three plays later, Pena ran a keeper in for the score, from five yards out, and got the Townies within 34-12. Next, Pena rushed a sneak up the middle for the 2-point conversion and that inched East Providence within 34-14.

But with 10:04 left in the fourth quarter, Alves found Dionizio for a 22-yard TD completion and that ballooned the Falcons advantage to 41-14.
East Providence cut the deficit to 41-20 with 5:52 left after junior running back Elijah Owens rushed in a TD from 13 yards out. Then, Pena ran in a keeper for the 2-point conversion and that inched the Townies within 41-22.

Next, with 3:01 remaining, Pena completed a 72-yard TD pass up the middle to a wide-open, Alex Rodriguez, a senior wide receiver, who brought it all the way to the house.

West (2B) now moves on to the D-I playoffs on Friday night at 7 p.m. when it hosts (5A) East Providence in a rematch during the Quarterfinal round at Cranston Stadium.

And before the Falcons moved on to prepare for a postseason run, Milewski took a minute to appreciate what his squad had already achieved.

“Looking back on the season, I think the kids have worked hard,” Milewski said. “We’ve dealt with some adversity, some injuries. We were banged up and other guys had to step up and we found some other weapons on offense. And defensively, the kids are getting after it. They’ve been physical. We’ve had some letdowns, but that’s high school football. But I’ve been happy with them looking back on the season.”