Panthers roll Bulldogs in must-win game

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By JOE RUSSO

For The Sun Rise

The Johnston High School football season is alive and well after a 48-27 road victory at Westerly High School last Friday night. The Panthers scored a season high 48 points to up their Division II-B record to 2-3, while sending the Bulldogs’ record to 1-3.

Panther head coach Joe Acciardo stated last week that his team had to win out in its last three league games in order to keep its playoff hopes alive and this was a step in the right direction.

Johnston scored its points in several different ways against the Bulldogs. On offense, they scored via the air and ground. They also had a kickoff return for a touchdown and, on defense, they intercepted a pass for a touchdown. Marc Conte had a breakout game, tallying three touchdowns. He had touchdown runs of 43 and 36 yards and also intercepted a Bulldog pass and ran it back 81 yards for a touchdown.

Curtis Mathieu also had an outstanding game for the Panthers, scoring three touchdowns of his own. Mathieu returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score and had touchdown runs of 18 and 2 yards. Johnston quarterback Mike Caparco connected with Larry Dureault on a 17-yard touchdown pass and Dureault converted on 6-of-7 extra point attempts.

“I'm proud of the guys tonight," Acciardo said. "Conte and Mathieu are both great athletes. They run hard and are like beasts in there. When you have a tag team like that, you can win games. "

The Panther offense accumulated 400 total yards in the game, a season-high for them, with 253 of those yards coming in the first half .

Johnston must still win its remaining two league games, starting with Chariho tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Chariho is 0-4 in Division II-B and lost to Cranston West last week 49-16 in a non-league contest. The Panthers will also need to beat defending Division III Super Bowl champion Mt. Pleasant on November 8 if they want to have a chance at qualifying for the postseason. Both of those games will be played on the new Johnston field, with the latter being the annual homecoming game.

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