Only in Rhode Island? Sunday morning gas spill delays high school football playoff, 13 hours later

By John Gillooly
Journal Sports Writer

You wouldn't think a gasoline spill on Route 195 in Swansea at 6 o'clock Sunday morning would have had any effect on a football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Cranston Stadium, between Pawtucket's Tolman High School and Cranston East, but it did.

Tolman captured the final berth in the semifinal round of the Division II football playoffs with a 7-0 victory over Cranston East in a quarterfinal that didn't finish until about 10:30 Sunday night.

The game didn't start until 8:15 because of delays in the start of state freshman games played earlier in the day at the same stadium.

Apparently the problem started around noontime, when the bus transporting the Portsmouth High freshman team to Cranston for a scheduled 2 p.m. game attempted to travel via Route 195. The bus became ensnarled in the massive traffic and didn't arrive until after 3 p.m. Consequently, the game between the Portsmouth and Barrington freshmen didn't begin until 3:40. The scheduled 4 p.m. game between the Westerly and Mt. Hope freshman didn't get under way until close to 6 p.m., and didn't finish until 7:50.

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