Well, after 11 years, we finally saw a Rhode Island public school football team deal Bishop Hendricken a loss when Portsmouth walked off with a 24-21 victory last week in the regular season finale.
Since 2013, when Barrington beat Hendricken, the only RI team to beat the Hawks was La Salle. Over the course of the past decade, the state and the Rhode Island Interscholastic League have seen their football fans and community demand revisions to address the unfair advantages the Hawks possess and have argued that they are unbeatable unless you are La Salle. Those changes included forcing the team to face out of state opponents, realigning the divisions, creating new championships, etc. Heck, many people have even called for the Hawks’ expulsion from the RIIL altogether.
I have received plenty of flack for this take since my arrival in 2018, but I have always rolled my eyes when hearing this debate and have urged fans to be patient, because one of these days a public school would get it done.
Now, I am a realist. It should not have to take 11 years for a public school to beat Hendricken. The Hawks absolutely enjoy advantages that public schools do not and to now act as though Hendricken is vulnerable would be an overreaction.
But, we now see that it is possible for a public school to get the job done.
Difficult? Yes.
Likely? No.
Possible? Absolutely.
Since 2018, I have seen Central nearly beat the Hawks multiple times, same with North Kingstown. Look back earlier this year as well, Cumberland, who the Hawks will be hosting in this week’s playoffs, led Hendricken deep in the first half and was in the game until the fourth quarter. There are plenty of games you can look back on and see that Hendricken is not invincible.
The reason why I have always pushed back against this is because I find it utterly ridiculous to let one team, one program dictate how a league manages itself. That’s not a reflection on the league, the RIIL operates based on the feedback of its member schools and fans. This is more geared toward fans and coaches that are bitter.
If you have a top-notch program that you feel is among the best in the state, one that has experience and a deep roster, you should have the mindset that you can beat anyone and relish the chance to knock off the “unbeatable” Hawks, rather than throw your arms up and demand the league to make sweeping changes. That goes against the spirit of competition more than Hendricken’s ability to attract large talent pools from throughout the region.
Again, before I wrap this topic up, let me be clear in saying that I totally sympathize with the frustration that some teams have. I can only imagine how demoralizing it is to see Hendricken and La Salle dominate the way they have and to see even excellent teams get steamrolled. I am not insinuating that teams have underachieved in the past 11 years.
What I am saying, though, is that this past week should serve as a reminder that no high school team is perfect and that other Division I teams should focus their energy on finding ways to expose Hendricken’s (few) blemishes, rather than hounding the league to “even out” the playing field.

Keeping with the RIIL, there was some big controversy in the inaugural middle school girls soccer state championships last week at Cranston Stadium.
The Lincoln girls were declared the winner by beating Chariho in penalty kicks. The problem, though, was that the officials incorrectly said that Chariho had taken all five of its shots, but in reality, it only took four.
After some understandable outrage, RIIL Executive Director Michael Lunney released a statement saying that the league was aware of what transpired, agreed that a mistake was made, and apologized for the error.
The apology was not enough and the fact that no further action was taken is terrible. Well, the fact that the mistake was made in the first place was egregious.
I guess we should start right there. I was not present for the contest, but it baffles me that the officials allowed the game to be wrapped up despite the mistake. Was there really no one in charge that could identify the error and prove to the officials that they were wrong? I wish I could come up with an answer to how this is even possible, but I can’t. It was a state championship game, these issues simply cannot happen.
So, let’s move on to the next event, which was the league’s response. An apology is inadequate, you need to fix this immediately.
There are two solutions to this. Either declare Lincoln and Chariho as co-champions, or have them meet for another shootout. I know logistically it would be tough to get both schools together at a neutral site to complete one kick, but something has to be done. Chariho was not the victim of a bad call, it was the victim of a totally unfair error. This is the same concept of forgetting a period of play. It’s the same idea as if the Lions were up a goal at halftime and the refs forgot to let them play the second half.
I do feel for the RIIL to a small extent. Middle school sports in the state have been a mess since the pandemic and it was exciting to see the RIIL take control this fall. For the most part, things have gone swimmingly and middle school sports took a big step forward these past few months. Their presence has largely recovered after taking a significant hit during Covid.
To see the league drop the ball so terribly on the biggest stage is disappointing on so many levels. You feel for the kids on both sides, you feel for the parents, and to a lesser degree, you feel for the league.
At the end of the day though, it is on the RIIL to address this situation beyond an apology. It doesn’t even begin to fix things.