Panthers get Homecoming win

NORTHEAST NICHE: Johnston High School’s undefeated football Panthers began Saturday on the back of this Northeast Auto Body tow truck then went on to extend their unblemished record to 4-0 with a win over Mount Hope High’s Huskies. (Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine)

Jahaziel Rodriguez (Photo by Leo van Dijk/rhodyphoto.zenfolio.com)

Leo van Dijk

Michael Carlino and Steven Finegan. (Photo by Leo van Dijk/rhodyphoto.zenfolio.com)

Leo van Dijk

FUTURE FORCE: Members of the Johnston Panthers Football Association’s Junior Pee Wee Division team took part in Saturday’s JHS Homecoming Parade.

GRIDIRON GROUP: The Johnston Youth Football Panthers Pee Wee Division team was well-represented in Saturday’s JHS Homecoming Parade.

SUPER STAFFERS: Jim McHale (left), who works for the Local 57 Operating Engineers, enjoys a lighter moment with Bob Deming, popular supervisor of Mayor Jospeh M. Polisena Stadium.

Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2023 4:15 pm

By PETE FONTAINE

If there is one football game a high school or collegiate team MUST WIN it is Homecoming!
“Don’t want to disappoint the ol’ grads and alums” is a statement often tied to all homecoming games and Saturday Head Coach Joe Acciardo’s Johnston High School’s Panthers upheld that theory with an impressive 28-0 whitewashing of Mount Hope’s Huskies from Warren and Bristol inside Mayor Jospeh M. Polisena Stadium.
Thus, the Panthers treated a good-size Homecoming Day crowd to an impressive performance to remain undefeated in as many Rhode Island Interscholastic League games.
Even before the kickoff, the air on Cheery Hill was filled with Panthers Pride as the entire 2024 JHS squad piled onto the back end of a Northeast Auto Body flatbed wrecker-tow truck and cheered their way along the near record crowd spectator gallery.
But the Blue and White didn’t leave its super spirt at the parade, instead Acciardo’s attack turned it up a notch and pummeled the visiting Huskies via a stingy defense and prolific offense.
The Panthers will next square off against undefeated West Warwick this weekend.