CRANSTON -- Cold, wind and the Middletown defense did not come close to stopping Exeter/West Greenwich running back Adam Sweeney on Sunday night in the Division IV Super Bowl.

Sweeney, a 5-foot-7, 170-pound junior, rushed for 199 yards (unofficial), two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in leading the Scarlet Knights to a 26-6 rout of the Islanders before several hundred chilled spectators at Cranston Stadium.

The temperature was 29 degrees for the 7:30 kickoff, and 26 degrees two hours later. A stiff northwesterly blew throughout the game.

Sweeney ended a 67-yard, 11-play drive with an eight-yard run with 2:09 left in the first quarter. He added an exclamation point to his MVP performance with a 31-yard touchdown run with 1:22 left in the fourth quarter. In between, he capitalized on the superb blocking of linemen Zach McGraw, Kyle Johansen, Robert Prashaw, Fred Seymour, Joshua Ritter and James Read. And when there weren't huge holes, he still managed to find a seam and burst through for positive yardage.

Quarterback Zach Hornoff, a senior and starter since his freshman year, also had a memorable finale. He scored on runs of four yards and six yards, and challenged the Islanders' defense with his quarterback keepers to the outside.

The EWG defense checked Middletown running back Rico McCray all night. The sophomore, who rushed for 1,300 yards this season, never got untracked Sunday night. He ran 12 times for 26 yards. He did score a 57-yard touchdown on a catch and run on a pass from Andrew Ponte with 30 seconds left in the first half. His 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after EWG's first score was nullified by a holding penalty.

The rest of the Middletown offense had no success either. Except for the touchdown, the Islanders did not make a first down until only one minute and 30 seconds were left in the third quarter, and managed just two first downs for the game.

Exeter/West Greenwich took charge on the second play from scrimmage when defensive end Joel Lake recovered a bad center snap that skidded past Ponte and bounced to the Middletown 10. Three plays later, Hornoff scored on a four-yard run, and Sweeney ran for the two-point conversion.

Sweeney's first touchdown made it 14-0, and Hornoff capped a 57-yard, eight-play drive with his second touchdown, putting EWG ahead, 20-0, with 9:31 remaining in the half. Although the Scarlet Knights didn't score again until Sweeney's fourth-quarter burst, they were always in control.

Exeter West Greenwich defeated Middletown, 22-7, in September, and its victory last night proved that was no accident. It also avenged a 34-22 loss to Classical in the 2007 Super Bowl.

Exeter/West Greenwich 14 6 0 6 - 26

Middletown 0 6 0 0 - 6

Exeter/West Greenwich scoring: Zach Hornoff (4 run, 6 run); Adam Sweeney (8 run, 31 run). Middletown scoring: Rico McCray (57 pass from Andrew Ponte). Conversions -- Sweeney run.

mszostak@projo.com