The Patriots pummeled the Johnston Panthers 46-29 on Friday evening during a Division III-B battle and pink out, at Pilgrim High School.

The Pats jumped out to an early 6-0 lead when junior Dylan Roberts, who received Johnston’s opening squib kick, lateraled to speedster Alex Pinheiro, who raced 60 yards down the right sideline and into pay dirt.

“That was all coach,” Pinheiro said. “That was all coach Blake. He set it up and he knew it was going to be a touchdown. That’s all coach.”

Blake Simpson, the Pilgrim head coach, found something in the film and he exposed it.

“Studying their film, we knew that they squib kicked it to the corners,” Simpson said. “And they’ve kicked it to the same spot the last two games. So, we kind of were anticipating that to happen and we drew up a play where Dylan Roberts would flip it to Alex Pinheiro, and success happened. So, it was good to see it work.”

Josh Escamilla added the extra point after that and the Pats held a 7-0 advantage.

The Panthers cut the deficit to 7-6 when sophomore quarterback Matt Clements tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Neari Vasquez, a junior, in the left corner of the end zone.

Johnston failed its two-point conversion attempt after that.

Then, Pilgrim drove 64 yards on its ensuing possession before earning its second score.

The Pats picked up most of their yardage when quarterback Chace Roberts tossed a 47-yard dart to Dylan Roberts, who brought the ball to the Johnston 32.

Three plays later, senior running back Matt Santos rushed up the gut, one yard, and into the end zone for a touchdown and that put the Pats on top 14-6.

The Panthers responded with a 77-yard scoring drive, which was spearheaded by Johnston running back Steven Finegan, who had a 28-yard scamper.

With 34 seconds left in the first quarter, Vasquez ran a quarterback keeper in for a 1-yard touchdown and it pulled the Panthers within 14-12.

After that, Vasquez completed a pass to Finegan in the end zone for a successful two-point conversion and it evened the score at 14.

Pinheiro and the Pats answered and took a 20-14 edge, early in the second quarter, when the wide receiver rushed left, middle 11 yards, and into pay dirt.

Pilgrim failed its two-point conversion attempt.

Johnston evened the score at 20 when Clements heaved a 27-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Martins.

Mike Carlino added the extra point after that and gave the Panthers their only lead of the contest at 21-20, which was short lived.

On the first play of Pilgrim’s ensuing possession, Chace Roberts passed to wide receiver Justyn Murphy for a 28-yard gain.

Two plays later, Santos rushed 20 yards to the Johnston 6. Then, Chace Roberts rushed a quarterback sneak into pay dirt from six yards out and gave the Pats a 26-21 lead.

Santos rushed into the end zone for two points following that and extended the Pilgrim advantage to 28-21.

Johnston came up empty on its ensuing possession and when Pilgrim got the ball back they capitalized.

With under a minute remaining in the first half, Chace Roberts passed to Murphy for a 25-yard gain to the Johnston 5. Then, Roberts threw a swing pass to Murphy, who took it into the end zone and gave the Pats a 34-21 lead.

Midway through the third quarter, Dylan Roberts rushed down the left sideline 26 yards.

And five plays later, junior running back John Kelly rushed in for a 1-yard touchdown and padded the Pats cushion at 40-21.

“Usually in the second half, we let games get away from us,” Pinheiro said. “It’s been our problem all year. That’s the only reason why we have lost as many games as we did. So, this halftime we made it our emphasis to lock in, be a team, play together and I feel like it really helped us.”

Johnston picked up a 40-yard gain during its next possession when Clements connected on a pass to Martins, who took the ball to the Pats 34. Two plays later, Clements found Martins again, this time for a gain of 16 yards to the Pats 18.

Lastly, Clements passed to Jahaziel Rodriguez, a junior, who took it the 18 yards into the end zone and got the Panthers within 40-27. After that, Clements found Rodriguez again, this time for a successful two-point conversion, and it cut the Johnston deficit to 40-29.

The Panthers opted for an onside kick after that, but it was recovered by Pilgrim at midfield.

And three plays into the Pilgrim drive, Santos rushed up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown and extended the Pats margin to 46-29.

Six of the seven Pilgrim touchdowns in the game came on the ground, including Pinheiro’s opening kickoff return.

“Our run game was really good,” Simpson said. “Our run game has really been stepping it up the past few weeks. And our line is finally figuring it out a little bit. A little later in the season than we would have hoped, but it’s always great to come out with a win at home.”

“We made our mistakes,” Johnston coach Joe Acciardo said. “It was over a time we didn’t keep up.”

 “We had to come out in the second half and basically do things a little bit better than we did in the first half, and we did it worse,” Acciardo said. “And they did a good job, and they made good adjustments. I think they made better adjustments than we did and exposed a few things. Then, once we started making mistakes, instead of recovering from those mistakes, it seemed like we were doubling down on our mistakes. And we had a few injuries, and then the wheels started coming off the wagon.”

Pilgrim improved to 2-3 in the league with the victory. The Pats play next at Moses Brown (6-0) on Saturday at 1 pm.