EAST PROVIDENCE — The Woonsocket football team has one more opportunity to prove it belongs among the elite teams in Division II.
The Villa Novans have faced the top four teams in the division and each time they've walked away on the losing end. They will get one more shot in the quarterfinals next week against No. 3 Burrillville at Gledhill Field.
Woonsocket warmed up for that game by facing undefeated top-seed East Providence. At times, the Novans showed they could hang with the talented Townies, but Woonsocket made far too many mistakes in all three phases of the game to leave East Providence with a victory. EP seniors Trey Abdullah and Jordan Heistand each scored a pair of touchdowns in a 34-13 victory Friday night.
“We can't seem to get the offense and defense playing well at the same time,” Woonsocket coach Brett Coderre said. “We won the turnover battle for the second week in a row and it didn't lead to points. We've seen all the top teams in the division – minus Pawtucket – and we left every game thinking we could beat those teams.
“Against Burrillville and Westerly, we didn't think the score was representative of the game. We have to stop making excuses for ourselves and b...