Friday's high school results

Football
La Salle 14, Rogers 6
Middletown 32, Central Falls 0
Portsmouth 25, Mount Hope 6

Boys soccer
Rogers 1, North Smithfield 1
Tiverton 1, Exeter-West Greenwich 0
Middletown 1, Pilgrim 1

Girls soccer
Rogers 1, Hope 0
Barrington 2, Portsmouth 1

RI high school preseason poll

It's finally here ... opening night for high school football. And here is the preseason poll, voted on by the state's media outlets. All four of our local teams are receiving votes. Now preseason polls, like one college coach said, are like beauty pageants. There's no telling where these teams will end up in November, but there's only one way to find out.

Team Points Last year
1 La Salle (3) 161 4
2t. East Providence (1) 156 7
2t. Hendricken (3) 156 2
4. Cranston West 139 20
5. Mount Hope 118 5
6. Cranston East 117 12
7. Woonsocket 116 3
8. Portsmouth 111 17
9. Barrington (2) 104 1
10. South Kingstown 71 8
11. Johnston 68 11
12. Coventry 65 9
13. Moses Brown 63 16
14. Middletown 58 15
15. Westerly 53 13
16. Ponaganset 46 5
17. Exeter-West Greenwich 43 10
18. Lincoln 37 NR
19. St. Raphael 34 NR
20. Burrillville 24 NR

Also receiving votes: North Kingstown 21, Tolman 20, Rogers 18, Narragansett 16, Cumberland 14, Classical 11, Tiverton 11, Hope 10, Mount Pleasant 7, Toll Gate 7, West Warwick 7, Central 4, Chariho 2, East Greenwich 1.

NFL prognostications

The NFL season begins tonight, and Super Bowl predictions abound from everywhere this time of year. Sure, most of them will prove to be wrong come December (if not earlier), but we can't help it. The excitement of a new season is too great, so Daily News sports editor Scott Barrett and I, once again, offer up our predictions for the year.

(Disclaimer: The math with the wins and losses probably doesn't add up, but anybody who would do the calculations to prove that clearly has too much free time.)

I tried really hard not to be a homer, but I'm drinking the Green Bay Packers' Kool-Aid. In the hopes that I will not completely jinx my team, though, I picked them to lose in the Super Bowl.

JOSH
AFC
East
Patriots 10-6
Jets 10-6 (wild card)
Dolphins 8-8
Bills 4-12
North
Ravens 12-4
Bengals 10-6
Steelers 9-7
Browns 3-13
South
Colts 11-5
Texans 10-6 (wild card)
Titans 9-7
Jaguars 7-9
West
Chargers 10-6
Raiders 8-8
Broncos 8-8
Chiefs 5-11

Wild card playoffs
Jets over Chargers
Patriots over Texans
Divisional playoffs
Colts over Jets
Ravens over Patriots
Conference championship
Ravens over Colts

NFC
East
Cowboys 11-5
Eagles 9-7
Giants 8-8
Redskins 7-9
North
Packers 12-4
Vikings 10-6 (wild card)
Lions 8-8
Bears 6-10
South
Saints 11-5
Falcons 10-6 (wild card)
Panthers 8-8
Buccaneers 6-10
West
49ers 9-7
Seahawks 8-8
Cardinals 7-9
Rams 4-12

Wild card playoffs
Saints over Falcons
Vikings over 49ers
Divisional playoffs
Packers over Vikings
Cowboys over Saints
Conference championships
Packers over Cowboys

Super Bowl
Ravens 38, Packers 31

MVP: Aaron Rodgers
Defensive POY: Darrelle Revis
Offensive rookie of the year: Ryan Matthews
Defensive rookie of the year: Ndamukong Suh
Coach of the year: Jon Harbaugh
Comeback player of the year: Al Harris
First coach fired: Jack Del Rio

SCOTT: Looking back to last year’s predictions, Josh and I didn’t so do well. That doesn’t mean that we won’t try it again for the 2010 season.

AFC
East
Jets 11-5
Patriots 10-6 *
Dolphins 9-7
Bills 4-12
North
Ravens 12-4
Steelers 10-6
Bengals 9-7
Browns 5-11
South
Colts 13-3
Titans 10-6 *
Texans 9-7
Jaguars 7-9
West
Chargers 10-6
Chiefs 8-8
Broncos 8-8
Raiders 5-11
Wild card playoff: Jets 16, Titans 14; Patriots 30, Chargers 23
Divisional playoff: Colts 34, Patriots 20; Ravens 23, Jets 10
Conference championship: Ravens 19, Colts 14

NFL
East
Cowboys 12-4
Giants 10-6 *
Eagles 9-7
Redskins 6-10
North
Packers 13-3
Vikings 11-5 *
Lions 6-10
Bears 5-11
South
Saints 11-5
Falcons 9-7
Panthers 7-9
Buccaneers 4-12
West
49ers 11-5
Cardinals 8-8
Seahawks 8-8
Rams 4-12
Wild card playoff: Saints 38, Giants 17; Vikings 20, 49ers 16
Divisional playoff: Packers 26, Vikings 23 (OT); Cowboys 31, Saints 24
Conference championship: Cowboys 22, Packers 20

Super Bowl XLV: Ravens 27, Cowboys 20

Offensive MVP: Chris Johnson, Titans
Defensive MVP: DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys
Offensive Rookie of the Year: C.J. Spiller, Bills
Defensive Rooie of the Year: Ndamukong Suh, Lions
Coach of the Year: Mike Singletary, 49ers
Comeback Player of the Year: Wes Welker, Patriots
First coach fired: Jack Del Rio

Fall Sports Preview out today

In today's edition of The Daily News is our annual guide to all things fall sports in this area. From football to soccer to volleyball and so on, we've tracked down every coach for every team for every school.

Inside are rosters, schedules and tons of pictures from preseason practices. The cover story focuses on the Rhode Island Interscholastic League's football relaignment, which placed county teams Rogers, Middletown and Tiverton in Division III, making local rivalries that much more exicting.

There is also a profile on new Salve Regina head coach Bob Chesney, who won his debut last weekend. Check it out.

Salve Regina opens football season with 6-3 win

MIDDLETOWN – Sophomore Brendan Deasy kicked a pair of field goals and junior defensive end Shane Lange recorded nine tackles and two sacks as the Salve Regina University football team defeated Worcester Polytechnic Institute 6-3 in a non-conference game on Saturday afternoon at the Gaudet School field in the season opener for both schools.
Deasy tied the game late in the first quarter on a 31-yarder and booted the winner from 22 yards out late in the third quarter.
The Seahawks sacked WPI junior quarterback Pat McAuley five times and held him to 8-of-20 passing for 39 yards and limited the Engineers’ option attack on the ground to 129 yards on 33 carries.
“Our defense did a great job,” first-year Salve coach Bob Chesney said. “They stepped up and listened to what we talked about all week.
‘That option offense is tricky. They’re running all these different things, but we felt we had a pretty good scheme in place, and I thought our kids executed excellently.”
The win snapped the visitors’ 19-game win streak against New England opponents, dating back to a loss to Coast Guard on November 8, 2003.
Salve avenged a 34-20 loss to WPI last year in holding the Engineers to just five first downs and 168 total yards in spoiling the return of former Seahawks head coach Chris Robertson, who took over the helm at the Worcester, Mass., school last spring after four seasons in Newport.

Random thoughts

The Celtics just reacquired guard Delonte West, which makes you wonder if they're trying to build a team that can win another NBA title, or one that can rob a liquor store. West is suspended for the first 10 games of the 2010-11 season because he pleaded guilty to gun charges (he was stopped in Maryland last year while carrying two loaded handguns, a shotgun and a Rambo knife). But when West comes back, he might prove to be a good pickup for the C's. Never hurts to have another shooter on the team.

- Does any sport have more idiotic unwritten rules than baseball? Case in point: the brawl that broke out during Wednesday night's game between the Marlins and Nationals. Over the weekend, Nats outfielder Nyjer Morgan took a cheap shot at the Marlins catcher when he scored, but there was no play at the plate. The Marlins got their vengeance Wednesday, hitting Morgan with a pitch in the fourth inning. Conflict resolved, right? Apparently not.

Morgan had the audacity to steal second and third when his team was down 14-3. How dare he! For some reason, this was cause for the Marlins to throw behind him when Morgan came to the plate in the sixth. Morgan wasted no time charging the mound (and then got knocked on his rear end by Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez).



Since when is it against the rules to steal bases? Is Morgan supposed to just stand at first base like a goon? In the video above, you can hear the Marlins broadcast team say that the Marlins threw at Morgan "in a professional manner." What the hell does that mean? What if the next batter hit a ground ball? Would it be inappropriate for Morgan to try and break up the double play? This old-school baseball stuff is nonsense. Morgan brought this on himself, but I give him a lot of credit for his actions after he got hit.

- Andy Roddick lost last night in the second round of the US Open. This guy was supposed to be the next big thing in American tennis when Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi stepped aside, but other than the 2003 US Open, Roddick hasn't come close to living up to that billing. He's not the first to fall short of the hype, but every time I watch him play, I'm astounded that a guy who can serve the ball harder than anyone on the planet can be so disappointing. My guess is that Roddick, who regularly serves more than 140 mph, struggles with the mental side of the game.

Titans cut Portsmouth's Bobby Sewall

Undrafted out of Brown University, rookie wide receiver Bobby Sewall, who starred at Portsmouth High School, was cut on Tuesday by the Tennessee Titans, who trimmed their preseason roster from 80 to 75 players.

Sewall saw a little time in the team's first three preseason games, mostly on special teams. He also played with the third-team offense, but made no catches.