The Johnston football team had already clinched a playoff spot going into its homecoming game with Mt. Pleasant High School last Saturday afternoon, but what was at stake was the No. 3 seed the Division II playoffs and a game with second-seeded Shea.
The Kilties, 4-3, earned the No. 3 seed with a 35-21 victory that knocked the Panthers, 3-4, down to the fourth spot, setting up a date with the No. 1 team in Division-II-A, the undefeated St. Raphael Saints, tomorrow night at Pariseau Field in Pawtucket at 7 p.m. in the D-II quarterfinals.
This is the first season that Johnston has not finished above .500 in league play since 2006, but it still managed to qualify for the postseason despite an 0-2 start.
“The fact that we started off 0-2 and were competing for a third-place spot showed that our kids are fighters,” said Johnston head coach Joe Acciardo.
Johnston has made the playoffs in seven out of the last eight seasons and is seeking its first playoff win in five years. This year’s postseason appearance was aided by the 5-2 Tolman Tigers ban from the RIIL playoffs due to an incident last season with Hope High School.
Last week’s Homecoming game marked the final home game the Johnston senior players and senior cheerleaders would participate in and they were recognized at mid-field in a pre-game ceremony, accompanied by family members.
The senior football players are Asher Bergeron, Michael Delsanto, Larry Durealt, Isaiah Fravien, Dan Goldberger, Dylan Keenan, Kenny Kue, Curtis Mathieu, Ed Nicoll, Aaron Perfetto, Domenic Sullivan, Derric Vigeant, Mike Caparco , Marc Conte, Konstantinos Kirois, Devin Soares and Paul Robitaille. The senior cheerleaders are Adriana DiNoble, Allare Maiello, Lauren Petrozzi, Hailey Barboza and Taylor Russo. The lone senior majorette is Kaleigh McGuirl.
Coming off of a bye, the Panthers fell behind early in the game. The Kilties’ Kilmo Kotoe’s 4-yard touchdown run and a Emmanuel Leake 65-yard touchdown pass to Trevane Clarke put the visitors up 14-0. The Panthers answered those two scores with two touchdowns of their own on their next two possessions. Curtis Mathieu ripped off a 56-yard run that set up Johnston’s first touchdown, a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Mike Caparco. Using a no-huddle offense and starting from its own 19-yard line, JHS put together its best offensive drive of the game.
Conte’s legs and Caparco’s arm brought the Panthers down to the Kiltie 5-yard line, where Mathieu punched it in to knot the score at 14 with 3:14 remaining in the first half.
Mathieu ran 15 times and was the Panthers’ leading rusher with 89 yards. After Clarke’s 95 yard kick-off return for a touchdown was called back because of an illegal block, the JHS defense made sure the game stayed tied as Domenic Sullivan sacked Leake on a fourth-and-5 play.
In the second half, Mt. Pleasant pulled away by two scores, 28-14, on Kotoe’s 68 and 15-yard touchdown runs, his second and third tallies of the game. The Panthers refused to give up, as their special teams came up with a big play. Devin Soares blocked a Kiltie punt as the ball bounced into the hands of Mathieu who ran it all the way for a touchdown. Larry Durealt was perfect on his third extra point, which made it a seven point game, 28-21, with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers’ defense forced a Kiltie punt thanks to a big tackle by Konstantinos Kirios with 1:27 left in the game. Down by seven with 1:18 on the clock, Johnston would have to travel 78 yards in order to tie the game. Caparco ran for two first downs, but was intercepted by Albert Zieh, who ran it back for a touchdown that sealed the win for the Kilties.
“Mt. Pleasant had a lot of talent and some big guys, they were very physical,” Acciardo said. “They were hitting hard and had a lot of guys with speed. I’m surprised their record is what it is and I think with that much talent they can beat anybody on any given day. We had a tough time blocking the interior line and at the end we were scrambling around. We could not move the ball. That was the story of the game and the end result. They had guys out there that looked like college players and their middle linebacker (Francy Mata) was unbelievable. Hat’s off to them, they beat us and were better than us today.”
“We came out slow today and it killed us. It’s a tough loss,” said Panther assistant coach Matt Mancuso. “Shea would have been a better match-up for us, but anything can happen. In 2012 we were undefeated and were knocked off by fourth-seeded Central, which proves that anything can happen.”
The last time Johnston played St. Raphael was in the 2010 D-II quarterfinals. The Saints came away with a 56-50 overtime win in what was one of the highest scoring high school football games in recent memory.
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