PROVIDENCE — The last time La Salle appeared in a Super Bowl, Joe Charest says he was “barely a quarterback.” As a third- stringer for the Rams in 2005, he was a wide-eyed freshman watching from the sidelines as his team battled Barrington for the Division I title at Pierce Stadium.

He’s not on the sidelines anymore.

Now a senior captain and La Salle’s star playmaker, Charest will be right in the thick of things on Sunday afternoon when the Rams once again take on Barrington in the Division I Super Bowl at Cranston Stadium.

Charest helped La Salle earn the noon rematch with the Eagles — who upset La Salle in that 2005 championship game — by throwing two touchdown passes and running for another score in the Rams’ 41-20 semifinal victory over North Kingstown last night at Cimini Stadium.

“It’s amazing,” Charest said, “because I’ve never won a Super Bowl. I’ve never had a ring. I’ve never been in one of those big games like that. So it’s going to be exciting.”

And according to La Salle coach Geoff Marcone, Charest is, indeed, a big reason why the Rams earned their seventh trip to the Super Bowl in nine years.

“He’s been doing this all year,” Marcone said of Charest’s performance, which also included rushing for 100 yards on 9 carries. “I’m so proud of him as a player, and I’m more proud of him as a person. He never gets rattled. He always knows what we’re doing. He can check in and out of plays. And that’s why he’s a captain. He’s a leader out there, he loves to compete, and we’re lucky to have him.”

La Salle, which beat all except one of its opponents by at least two touchdowns en route to an 8-0 record this season, found itself trailing in the early going last night when North Kingstown’s own shining star, senior quarterback/running back/linebacker David D’Errico, scored on the Skippers’ first possession on a five-yard run.

But the Rams evened the score about 2 1/2 minutes later when Charest connected on the first of his two touchdown passes, this one a short toss to Patrick Smith.

Brandon Gomes grabbed a pass from Charest at midfield and brought it down to North Kingstown’s 30, and Charest carried the ball the rest of the way on the next play to give La Salle the lead 31 seconds into the second quarter.

It is a lead that the Rams would not relinquish, as Charest later connected on a 20-yard TD pass to Luke Francis, and James Bone scored on a 47-yard fumble return in that quarter.

With his team trailing, 26-13, D’Errico — who rushed for more than 100 yards and passed for nearly 100 yards — got the Skippers back to within six, scoring from six yards out with three minutes to go in the third quarter.

But an interception by Luke Francis at the Rams’ 17 midway through the fourth quarter led to another La Salle touchdown, which Francis capped with a one-yard plunge, helping shift the momentum permanently in the Rams’ favor. Gus Delfarno scored La Salle’s final TD on a 20-yard run.

“That was a big turnover there on the 17-yard line,” Marcone said of Francis’ pickoff. “And then we went right down the field and punched it in. So that was a big momentum-changer for us because our kids got all jazzed up. . . . . You’ve got to tip your hat to North Kingstown. The kids played their guts out. And David D’Errico is probably the best player in the state, one of the toughest I’ve ever seen. So just watching him play and watching our kids step up to the challenge to try to stop him was just fun to watch.”

North Kingstown

7 6 7 0 — 20

La Salle

7 19 0 15 — 41

 North Kingstown scoring: touchdowns — David D’Errico 2 (3 run, 6 run), Zach Wilmot (5 run); conversions — Dereck Harris 2 (kicks).

 La Salle scoring: touchdowns — Patrick Smith (1 pass from Joe Charest), Luke Francis 2 (20 pass from Charest, 1 run), Charest (30 run), James Bone (47 fumble return), Gus Delfarno (20 run); conversions – Colin Sullivan 3 (kicks), Francis (pass from Charest).

cthorn@projo.com