The Johnston Panthers 11U football team defeated the Upper Cape Spartans, 26-0, this week behind the play of quarterback Dante Iafrate.
Despite some great efforts, the offense got off to a slow start and was forced to punt.
The Panther defense led by Phillip Costantini, Dylan Silva, Antonio Gemma, Tyler Lariviere and Joe Bastinelli took the field and controlled the line of scrimmage, forcing the Spartans to punt after just three plays. The Panthers’ Peter Bibby took the punt and returned it to the Spartans’ 15-yard line, giving the offense great field position.
On the second play, the Panthers called on their fullback, Isaiah DeBritto, who pounded the ball into the end zone with a 5-yard touchdown.
The next series saw the Panthers’ defense once again stop the Spartans, forcing them to punt.
The Panthers’ offense took control with runs by Dante Ricci and great blocking by Andrew Picard, Carlos Alfaia and Dario Branch. It continued moving the ball when Iafrate ran 40 yards for the Panthers’ second touchdown. Bibby followed with the extra point run to put the Panthers up 13-0.
Again, the Panthers’ defense came up strong and forced another punt by the Spartans.
The Panthers’ offense continued its running game with keys blocks from Ryan Schino and Gian Souza. There were strong runs from CJ Ragosta, as well as a 35-yard touchdown run from Iafrate. Debritto scored the extra point, giving the Panthers a big 20-0 lead going into halftime.
The second half saw the Panthers’ defense riding the momentum from the offense, as cornerback Jonathon D’Angelo came up with a huge interception.
The Panthers’ defense also saw great tackles from Dante Fiorio, Todd DiLullo, Alex Rhodes, Ronald Gajdowski, Joseph Thomas, Joesph Castellone, Connor Kennedy, Matthias Barros, Nicholas Perron, Troy Nicotra and Gianni Palumbo.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers’ offense was backed up on its own 20-yard line. But on fourth down with the Spartans expecting the Panthers to punt, center Schino snapped to Iafrate, who found a wide open Jake Lincourt at the 50-yard line. Lincourt caught the pass in stride and never looked back, running 70 yards to the end zone to make it 26-0.
The Panthers are now 4-1 and will travel next week to take on the Providence Packers.
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