East Greenwich and Narragansett revisit their Thanksgiving Day rivalry next week, and the 2008 chapter could have major implications for the Division III playoff seedings. This action is from their 2007 game.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

In Westerly and Warwick, Coventry and Cranston it will be all about tradition and local bragging rights, but in Narragansett, they will be playing for the playoffs on Thanksgiving morning.

Of the 21 football games involving R.I. Interscholastic League teams on Thanksgiving eve and Thanksgiving morning, the only game that will have any bearing on a playoff berth will be the 10 a.m. contest matching East Greenwich at Narragansett.

The Avengers and Mariners will be playing for one of three available berths in the four-team Division III playoffs. Narragansett, currently 5-2 in league play, will clinch the second seed for the tourney with a victory.

East Greenwich, meanwhile, needs a victory to force a five-way tie for the final three spots in the tournament. An East Greenwich victory would give the Avengers, Narragansett, Moses Brown, Ponaganset and Johnston 5-3 league records and force Interscholastic League officials to employ an extensive tiebreaking process.

Gas spill clogs playoff tilt

You wouldn’t think a tanker truck accident at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning on Route 195 in Swansea could affect a football game between high school teams from Pawtucket and Cranston scheduled for 7:30 Sunday night in Cranston.

But the Cranston East and Tolman football teams were still playing after 10 o’clock Sunday night, all because of the tanker truck accident that spilled 10,000 gallons of gasoline early Sunday morning.

The problem started around noon on Sunday when the bus transporting the Portsmouth High freshman football team to Cranston Stadium for a 2 p.m. freshman state title game traveled to Cranston via 195. The bus became ensnarled in the massive traffic jam created by the closing of the highway and didn’t arrive at Cranston Stadium until after 3 p.m.

Consequently, the 2 p.m. game between the Portsmouth and Barrington freshmen didn’t start until 3:40 and the Mt. Hope-Westerly freshman game didn’t start until about 6 p.m.

That meant the opening kickoff in the quarterfinal round Division II playoff game between Cranston East and Tolman didn’t take place until 8:15.

A 78-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jordan Johnson, on Tolman’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, was the difference in Tolman’s 7-0 victory that gave the Tigers a berth in the Division II semifinals.

Volleyball rivals square off

It will be a rematch of last year’s state title match when East Providence and defending state champion La Salle meet in the opening game of a Division I girls volleyball playoff semifinal doubleheader tonight at URI’s Keaney Gym.

The Townies and Rams will open the program at 5 p.m., followed by Coventry-Classical at 7. The winners meet for the state title on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Keaney.

The Division I title game will be the finale of a volleyball championship tripleheader on Saturday with the Division III title game at 1 p.m. and the Division II game at 3:30.

Brothers go the distance

They are no relation to me, so I can objectively say that Ron Gillooly and his younger brother Pat were two of the premier Rhode Island high-school distance runners in the late 1970s and early ’80s. So it’s only fitting that the brothers be among the eight individuals to be inducted into the Cumberland High Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 28 at Wright’s Farm

Joining the Gillooly brothers will be Bruce Noelte, Sue Ratcliffe, Chris Arthurs, Allyn “Jigger” Jackson, Tom Grundy and the late Robert McGinnis.

For ticket information, contact Tom Kenwood, (401) 658-0831.

Bristol salutes all-stars

The following evening, Nov. 29, at Venus de Milo in Swansea, 10 individuals who graduated from the former Bristol High School will be inducted into the Bristol Athletic Hall of Fame.

The induction class includes Eric Francis, Chris Lannan, Jennifer Masse, Tawnia Pacheco, Kevin Pontes, Michelle Ramos, Sherry Russel, Paul Sousa, Nelson Teixeira and Marc Thibault. In addition, Ben McBride, Ed Beskid, Arthur Pellerin, Marilyn Pellertin, Amy Matos and Richard Carreiro will be receive special recognition for their competitive careers and service to Bristol sports.

Mount great hangs up skates

If you are one of the lucky people who know former Mount St. Charles hockey star Keith Carney, you were not surprised that there wasn’t any big news conference last month when Carney decided to end his 17-year NHL career.

Carney, who spent the past two years playing for the Minnesota Wild, simply sent a few e-mails to family and friends letting them know he had decided not to pursue any of the free-agent feelers he had received from some NHL clubs and was retiring from the game he first started playing 33 years ago at the Lynch Rink in Pawtucket.

That was Keith Carney throughout his career –– no fuss, no fanfare, just solid production.

He’s 38 now and unquestionably has enjoyed one of the most successful professional sports careers of any graduate of the RIIL ranks.

Last season, he played in his 1,000th NHL game, only the 29th U.S. player to reach that milestone. He played in 91 NHL playoff games, played in a Stanley Cup title series and the Olympics.

He was a defenseman who scored 228 points during his NHL career, but his greatest asset was that he was a defenseman who played defense. Year after year, he would have one of the best plus-minus numbers of any NHL defensemen. He always was where he was supposed to be on the ice.

Teenage athletes who think they need to see their names in headlines or be the big scorer to be considered a star should study Carney’s career.

Time to hit the ice

Speaking of hockey, Thanksgiving may be 10 days away, but as far as the Interscholastic League is concerned, winter has begun.

The League’s girls ice hockey teams started practice last Thursday and the boys’ hockey team can begin practice this Thursday. All other winter sports, with the exception of wrestling, which starts on Monday, begin practice on Monday, Dec. 1.

Augustine nets 400th win

Congratulations to Joe Augustine, the current URI men’s club hockey coach and former Shea hockey coach, on posting his 400th college coaching victory last week.

jgillool@projo.com