The Cranston East football team continues to rebuild this season and came up just short in a 13-6 decision against Pilgrim last week in Warwick.

Pilgrim would take a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, but East responded when quarterback Jovany Gonzalez connected with freshman receiver Amias Reed for a 50-yard score.

East had its moments in the second half and would get in the red zone on four different occasions, however, a costly fumble along with a few passing miscues left the Bolts empty handed as the Pats held on for the victory.

“We’re still learning how to win. We’re playing a lot of young players, it was a close game, it was a game where we had plenty of opportunities to win. We were inside the 10 and fumbled the ball, missed a couple touchdown passes. The boys played extremely hard and we’re hoping to just get better each week and stay competitive,” said East head coach Jim Cook.

East is looking for its first win in its new division after moving down this season in the RIIL’s new alignment. The team impressed in its injury fund matchup against Moses Brown but was beat by Narragansett 30-8 in the opener before going toe to toe with Pilgrim, which was fresh off an upset win over Division II Woonsocket.

The East offense has flashed at times, especially in the budding connection between Gonzalez and Reed. Cook has been pleased with his new quarterback’s progress to this point and hopes the junior will continue to grow as the season wears on.

“We’re young up front with a first-year quarterback. He’s playing extremely well for us, but he’s still getting used to the reads. As the year goes on, he’ll just get better and better,” said Cook.

Despite the 0-2 start, the Bolts are confident that they will turn the corner sooner rather than later and have seen steady improvement on the practice field. Playing hard for four quarters and keeping an even keel will be important for the Bolts to find success, according to Cook.

“They see the improvements that they’re making and they’re pretty upbeat. We tell them, ‘the game is four quarters, let’s see what happens.’ There are going to be games that we win but don’t play well, but then there will be games that we lose but we play well for four quarters. The game against Pilgrim was one of those games,” said Cook. “You can’t get down and you need get back to practice and get ready again.”