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8.0 years ago by Robert Palazzo

Classical comes up short in its first ever Super Bowl Divsion III apperance

East Greenwich downs Classical, captures first DIII Super Bowl in nine years

 December 7, 2015

BY CAROLYN THORNTON

RIIL Director of Multimedia Content

     It was the third time in the last four years that East Greenwich had made it to the Division III Super Bowl. The last two trips, the Avengers came up short, both times falling to Middletown.

    Not this time.

      East Greenwich took the lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the first quarter and never looked back, posting a 31-6 victory over Classical for the R.I. Interscholastic League DIII Football Championship, presented by South County Orthopedics, Sunday evening at Cranston Stadium.

     It is the Avengers’ first Super Bowl title since their win over Moses Brown in 2006.

RIIL/CAROLYN THORNTON

Andrew Licciardi catches this 11-yard pass from Nick Andreozzi with 2:14 left in the first quarter to give East Greenwich a lead it would not relinquish.

     “I’ve said this before, they’re a great team because they play games, even big games or important games, they play them just like they’re in the backyard running around,” EG coach John George said of his Avengers, who went 8-0 during the regular season and advanced to the Super Bowl with a 32-27 semifinal victory over Lincoln. “They don’t get nervous. They don’t get tight. I never worry about if they’re going to show up. They always show up, and I think that’s because they just like to play and they like to compete. So pressure situations, that doesn’t really affect them too much. They’re a great bunch of kids. I couldn’t be happier for them.”

      DIII MVP Nick Andreozzi demonstrated why just a few days earlier he had been named Gatorade R.I. Football Player of the Year, passing for two touchdowns – an 11-yarder to Andrew Licciardi and a 56-yarder to Brian Gemma - and running 23 yards for another.

RIIL/CAROLYN THORNTON

Chris Branch, right, presents Andreozzi with the Frank Mowry Memorial Award as the DIII Most Valuable Player.

     “He epitomizes what I just said about just a kid running around there and having fun and making plays,” George said of the Frank Morey Memorial Award winner. “You saw that tonight. The first couple touchdowns in the first half was really just him improvising and finding the open receiver.”

RIIL/CAROLYN THORNTON

Nick Andreozzi celebrates in the endzone with Brian Gemma after scoring on a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter. 

    “They were hanging tough,” Andreozzi said of Classical, whose only regular-season loss was to East Greenwich. “They’re a tough group of kids. Athletic. They’re very athletic. Quick. They try to get on the edge. But we did our thing. When stuff isn’t going our way, we find a way to squeeze it out every time, and I think that’s the urgency we’ve had all year. We went game by game, play by play, and just tried to do what we could every time to get the good win. So we found a way tonight. Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest sight, but we found a way.”

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