These were The Providence Journal's top sports stories for the week ending Oct. 17

Here are the top Sports stories for the week ending Oct. 17 as determined by readers of providencejournal.com.

◘New England Lightning head coach Jeff Xavier established intense energy during a recent practice in an empty gym at the Pawtucket Boys and Girls Club and had his players diving on the floor. The former Providence College and St. Raphael basketball standout hopes that it will pay off during playoff time for his New England Lightning squad, wrote Journal sportswriter Jacob Rousseau.

Xavier took over Rhode Island’s latest American Basketball Association iteration, in its second season in the league, after a 13-year professional career that ended in 2022. The 40-year-old, like some of his players, is chasing a life in hoops. Xavier saw his playing career extend throughout Europe after graduating from Providence in 2009, and now he’s on a different journey.

Xavier left his job at Providence City Hall for this new endeavor — that’s what it takes to forge a career in coaching. He also leads Mount St. Charles’ Varsity 2 Boys team. The Mounties, playing in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council, host some of the top players in the region. Xavier sees various levels of the basketball world with his Lightning and Mounties teams.“For me, basketball is my life,” Xavier said. “That’s all I wanted to do in my life. … I’m going all in on coaching because it’s something that I love to do. I know the game and I had great coaches growing up. I played overseas and I took all of that in, and now I’m just giving back.”

◘The football team that beat the brakes off of East Providence before the first quarter was over early this season wasn’t the real Westerly team. The group that was absolutely pummeled by Portsmouth one week later? Those weren’t the real Bulldogs either. But the Westerly team that took the field on Oct. 10 was, wrote Journal sportswriter Eric Rueb.

The Bulldogs weren’t just good against Central; they were fantastic. Landon Husereau showed why he’s the best quarterback in the state by a wide margin, the defense showed up in a way it hadn’t this fall and the 30-14 win over the Knights not only sends a message to the rest of Division II, it puts Westerly in the driver’s seat to earn the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. “The whole team came together,” Husereau said. “This is obviously a Division I team and I know we lost to Portsmouth two weeks ago, but this is where we could really prove ourselves and that’s what we did.”

◘Providence is on the board to start its next men’s basketball recruiting class, according to The Journal's Bill Koch.  The Friars have picked up a commitment from Aiden Derkack, a four-star prospect in the Class of 2026. He announced the decision via social media on Oct. 15. Derkack is a 6-foot-6-inch perimeter player who should develop as a shooting guard or wing. He took recent campus visits to USC and Dayton and also claimed offers from several other top programs, including Providence's Big East rivals Creighton, Villanova, Butler and Xavier. He is a consensus top-70 prospect, according to online recruiting services Rivals, ESPN and 247Sports. “Friar Town, I’m home,” Derkack wrote on his personal Instagram page. 

◘Burrillville head coach Gennaro Ferraro had a perfect record in Homecoming games and on Oct. 11, he had a perfect weapon to keep that streak intact, according to The Journal's Eric Rueb. Healthy and ready to go for the first time since the first play of the 2025 season, Jack Belluzzi gave the Broncos exactly what they’d been missing in their HoCo matchup with Woonsocket. The afternoon started with the annual parade and finished with offensive fireworks as the junior receiver caught three touchdown passes — including a 96-yarder — and ran for another in Burrillville’s 49-34 win over Woonsocket on Saturday.“I love the sport of football,” Belluzzi said. “It’s just so exciting for me to come back and have a game like this.”

◘URI head football coach Jim Fleming would like to make it easier on himself and the fans at Meade Stadium. He knows trailing by 10 points entering the fourth quarter against New Hampshire on Oct. 11 isn’t what anybody wanted to see. The end result, however, was an increasingly common one for the reigning Coastal Athletic Association champions, according to the Journal's Bill Koch. No. 17 URI used its playmakers on offense and a defense that generated some clutch stops to post a 38-27 victory over the Wildcats. It was the 12th straight triumph in Kingston for the Rams, matching a program record set from 1929-31 and equaled during the last golden age from 1984-85. Devin Farrell’s 16-yard scramble with 2:12 left put URI in front for good and Rohan Davy’s 45-yard fumble return for a score just 67 seconds later finally allowed the Rams to breathe easy. “I think our talent level has grown over the years,” Fleming said. “I think our expectation level to win has grown over the years. The whole program has taken phenomenal steps forward.  “I couldn’t be prouder of being able to win close games.”

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence Journal's top sports stories for the week ending Oct. 17