The Cranston East football team fell to Division II powerhouse Barrington 24-0 last week at home.

The high-flying Eagles’ offense has been dominant so far this fall season, but the Bolts defensive front, led by Saqari Monroe and DionAndre Brown, would hold it in check as Barrington led just 3-0 deep in the second quarter.

“They help a lot up front, they’re very strong and run to the ball. Their size, their speed, they’re key to what we want to do on defense,” said East head coach Isaiah McDaniel of Monroe and Brown.

However, the Eagles would catch fire and rush for two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the half to make it 17-0 at the break. Barrington would score on the opening drive of the second half to extend the advantage, but the Bolts would put the clamps back on the rest of the way to hold the Eagles to their lowest point total of the season.

“I thought we played a great first quarter but got a little tired in the second quarter. We had a lot of guys playing both ways, not coming off the field. We weren’t lining up correctly, made a few mental errors and they took advantage of it,” said McDaniel. “My guys played their hearts out tonight, I’m proud of them. We have some stuff to fix on offense but defensively, it was a great effort tonight.”

Monroe and Brown had a big night for the Bolts, not only contributing on defense but also splitting rushing duties on offense with senior A’Driahn Foreman. As the East offense looks for answers, McDaniel has been encouraged by the trio of backs and feels that they have a chance to blossom moving forward.

“Saqari is a great back and can play on the defensive line, so with injuries, he’s going to be on the field a lot and I think our backfield with him, A’Driahn and DionAndre can be special if we can block for them. If we can block for those guys, they can control games for us,” said McDaniel.

The Bolts fell to 0-3 in league play and will next host Woonsocket this Friday night. McDaniel hopes his team realizes its potential despite the final outcome as the club searches for its first win.

“I don’t think they recognized how well they played, so now we need to have them do that for four quarters. If we do that then we’ll be on the other side of this,” said McDaniel.