EAST PROVIDENCE — The LaSalle Academy football squad secured a home game in next week’s Division One state playoffs and upped its Thanksgiving Day winning streak over rival East Providence to three in a row after the Rams defeated the Townies in a shoot-out, 48-34, Thursday morning, Nov. 25, at Pierce Stadium.

The Rams completed their D-One regular season with a 7-1 record, good for a share of first place with Barrington. The Eagles, however, own the tiebreaker over LaSalle by virtue of their victory in the teams’ regular season outing and will be the top seed in the postseason. Barrington hosts East Providence, which fell to the fourth seed with a 5-3 D-One record after the loss. LaSalle welcomes third-seeded Bishop Hendricken (6-2) to Providence for its playoff opener. The state semifinals take place Tuesday night, Dec. 1.

"I'm disappointed, but the kids competed really well," said EPHS head coach Sandy Gorham. "Our offense made some things happen. The defense didn't do as well as we had hoped. But you've got to give credit where credit is due. Their quarterback made a couple of great throws, a couple of great plays."

The Rams never trailed after scoring on their first play from scrimmage, a 69-yard bomb from quarterback Corey Fossa to wide receive Kadeem Kashimo just over two minutes into the game. LaSalle’s defense had held E.P. to a three-and-out to start the contest.

The Rams went up 14-0 a little less than three minutes later. A high snap over the head of E.P. QB Robbie Delgado was recovered by LaSalle’s Vito Capuano at the Townie 35. Fossa set up the Rams’ score with a 29-yard completion to city resident Brandon Gomes. Three plays later, Gomes recovered a muffed option pitch in the endzone for a three-yard TD. Peter Picerelli’s second point-after kick upped the LaSalle ad to two touchdowns.

East Providence squared the score quickly before the end of the first period. Delgado connected with Emerson Perez on an underneath route, which went for a 54-yard touchdown. Defensive end Dana Andrade then stripped Fossa of the ball on LaSalle's first play of its ensuing series. Aaron Chartier recovered for the locals at the Rams’ 36. Four plays later, on a fourth-and-3 from the LaSalle 29, Perez took a late pitch from Delgado on the option all the way to paydirt. Aaron Spivey’s second PAT leveled the score at 14 with 28 seconds showing.

Things settled down for a bit as the sides exchanged punts. The Rams went on top for keeps midway through the second, using an eight-play drive to account for the go-ahead score. Fossa went a perfect 4-for-4 on the march, including a 22-yard strike to Gomes. He ended it with a two-yard toss to tight end Pat Smith. Picerelli’s point made it 21-14 Rams with 5:26 to go before the break.

Fossa finished the first half 8-for-15 with 169 yards and the two touchdown throws.

"We wanted to throw it, but I didn't think we would throw it that much," LaSalle head coach Geoff Marcone said of the Rams' game-plan. "Our plan was to throw the ball, run the ball, but Corey came off the bat with a great ball and we knew right there maybe we could throw the ball more."

A fumble on the ensuing kickoff by the Townies, recovered by another of LaSalle’s locals, Luke Francis, put the Rams immediately back into the Red Zone. Starting at the E.P. 15, two runs and an incomplete pass led to a 24-yard field goal attempt by Picerelli. The sophomore split the uprights, giving LaSalle a 24-14 edge it would take to intermission.

The Townies kept things close for most of the third quarter. Alex Therrien’s 52-yard return of a Francis fumble and Spivey’s PAT made the score 24-21 Rams 2:15 into the period. LaSalle, however, responded shortly there after. Francis atoned for his miscue, making a circus over-the-shoulder catch of a Fossa fade pass for 32 yards and a first-and-goal at the E.P. 2. Fossa then snuck in for the TD and Rams’ lead returned to 10 (31-21).

"Corey played an awesome game, his best of the year," said Marcone.

After forcing a three-and-out by the Townies, LaSalle went on its most prolonged drive of the day, an 11-play possession that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Picerelli 55 seconds into the fourth quarter.

The teams would each turn the ball over on downs before the Rams tacked on what was the deciding score, a 61-yard heave by Fossa to end Leo Solitro on a go-route. The PAT made it 41-21 LaSalle with 5:39 remaining in the game.

The Townies sandwiched a 34-yard TD run by Delgado and a 17-yard scoring pass from the QB to Perez around a 14-yard touchdown run by Rodin before the final whistle.

"We played hard. I'm a little disappointed in our pass defense. We gave up some big plays, allowed them to keep drives going," said Gorham. "But that's just the way it is. They made great passes. We had good coverage except for one."

BARRINGTON 43, MT. HOPE 6

(Reported by Richard W. Dionne Jr.)

BARRINGTON — At Victory Field, the host Barrington High squad continued its recent mastery over rival Mt. Hope as the Division One Eagles handed the D-Two Huskies a 43-6 setback.

The win was Barrington’s third in a row in the series and ninth win the last 10 Thanksgiving outings between the neighbors. The Huskies, like the Eagles, also have a playoff game scheduled for Tuesday night as Mt. Hope heads to South Kingstown for a D-Two semifinal contest.

Thursday, a muff of a punt by the Huskies led to David Silvia’s touchdown run for the Eagles. Marc DeSisto later ran for a score and caught a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Steve Crawford to make the score 14-0 Eagles. A Brandon Lewis field goal later gave Barrington a 17-0 cushion.

Mt. Hope’s lone highlight came next as Aaron Booth hit end Robert Pompey on a half back-option touchdown pass for a 77-yard score. Crawford then hit Jake Portugal on a TD strike to give the Eagles a 24-6 edge they would take to the break.

Mike Read returned the opening kickoff of the second half all the back to touch for Barrington. Mo Diaz later brought back a fumble recovery for a TD and Drew Brown ran for a score to account for the last points of the contest.

D-R 20, SEEKONK 6

SEEKONK — Dighton-Rehoboth completed a perfect South Coast Conference season and snapped a two-game losing streak to rival Seekon Thanksgiving Day as the Falcons defeated the host Warriors, 20-6, at Connelly Field.

D-R, which represents the SCC in Tuesday’s Division Three semifinals against Bishop Feehan, finished its league slate with an unblemished 8-0 record. Seekonk finished with a 5-3 mark in the SCC and under .500 for the first time in four years at 5-6 overall. Senior Joe Teixeira accounted for the lone Warrior touchdown with a rush late in the contest.