Don't count out West Warwick football after season-opening comeback over Cranston West
WEST WARWICK — Thursday was finally the night.
The opening kickoff of this Interscholastic League football season coincided with validation for Shaun Shultz and DionDre Chase. West Warwick has officially come in from the cold.
The Wizards looked down and out in the third quarter against Cranston West, but that was far from the case. Their seniors have been through enough adversity on the field through their first three seasons — it was time to fight back. They did so in the form of 20 unanswered points.
Chase broke a kickoff return for a touchdown. Shultz intercepted a pass for another score. He pivoted to offense for the clincher, banging in from 3 yards out with 4:01 to play – that handed West Warwick a mild 30-27 upset.
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“We kind of told ourselves we’ve come through adversity before back at a younger age,” Shultz said. “We knew we could pull it out of ourselves. Play all four quarters all the way through.”
A pair of league wins last fall represented a real step forward. The Wizards were a breather on the schedule in previous years and have dropped three straight to Thanksgiving rival Coventry. They’d fallen a long way from the championship standard set by some of their predecessors.
Perhaps a bit of that returned on this perfect evening at Maznicki Field. The Falcons aren’t that long removed from battling the elite in Division I, and they looked safe after Kelan Cornell scored on a 1-yard keeper midway through the third quarter. That and a couple earlier rushing touchdowns from the fleet-footed Marcus Chung made it a 27-10 game, the second time Cranston West enjoyed a 17-point cushion.
“Our whole football career we’ve been down,” Chase said. “We’ve been blown out – 50 points, 30 points. So we’re just used to that, and we’ve got heart.
“We didn’t give up. We kept pushing. And we won the game.”
Chase provided the spark on the ensuing kickoff. He split the coverage team up the middle and cut toward the left sideline for a 75-yard score. Karl Swanson’s following interception stopped the Falcons from regaining their rhythm on offense – they managed just 14 total yards over the final 18 minutes.
“The past couple seasons we haven’t really played like that,” Shultz said. “We came and we played with true heart.”
The Wizards managed something even better on their next defensive series – a touchdown that made it a one-score game. Shultz stepped in front of a pass toward the right sideline and had nothing but green grass in front of him. He raced 70 yards toward the road end of the field, and it was suddenly a 27-24 game.
“There was nothing but clear skies all the way down,” Shultz said. “I was getting tired towards the end. I kept looking behind me.”
Cranston West couldn't manage a response on its next possession, and West Warwick turned to its veterans for another key play as the clock ticked under 6:00. The Wizards called Chase’s number on a fourth down near midfield, and he shook loose off left tackle after looking bottled up in the backfield. That 43-yard dash gave West Warwick first-and-goal at the 8, and Shultz was called upon two plays later.
“It’s very anxious being a running back,” Shultz said. “You want the ball and you want to run. It was like the gates of heaven opened up.”
Shultz rammed up the gut for the winning score and James Branch IV provided the exclamation point with a sack inside the final minute. The Wizards recovered a fumble inside the Falcon 5 and West Warwick quarterback Brady Miale took a knee in victory formation. The ensuing celebration felt long-awaited indeed.
“When I was in ninth grade I was 14 years old – half of our team was 14 years old,” Chase said. “We were getting banged up. Now that we’re older we’ve all gotten bigger. We’ve all gotten stronger. Better technique – everything.
“We just worked hard enough.”
Cranston West 7 13 7 0 – 27
West Warwick 3 7 7 13 – 30
CW – Marcus Chung 44 run (Jack Majcher kick)
WW – Kieton Nunes 25 field goal
CW – Chung 4 run (Majcher kick)
CW – Evan Medeiros 35 pass from Kelan Cornell (kick failed)
WW – DionDre Chase 2 run (Nunes kick)
CW – Cornell 1 run (Majcher kick)
WW – Chase 75 kickoff return (Nunes kick)
WW – Shaun Shultz 70 interception return (Nunes kick)
WW – Shultz 3 run (kick failed)
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: West Warwick football comes back to top Cranston West in season-opener
