Warwick Injury Fund opens football season

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Football season was kickstarted in Warwick on Thursday as the annual Injury Fund round robin was held at Warwick Vets, showing various strengths and weaknesses of Pilgrim, Vets and Toll Gate.

While there could be a disclaimer to say this was just Injury Fund and that the action starts this coming weekend, the teams were able to get in some real situations during the mini-games.

Pilgrim opened up the three-game set with an inner-division matchup against Toll Gate before they meet again on Nov. 6.

Titans’ senior running back Alex Mowry had a night to forget during the scrimmage after fumbling twice. His first turnover came on the opening drive and shifted momentum Pilgrim’s way early.

“We’ll work on [the ball-handling] in practice,” Toll Gate head coach Jim Stringfellow said. “Alex really didn’t fumble that much last year, but it’s just preseason jitters. It’s amped up, playing inner-city, so we’ll chalk it up to that.”

The Pats opened up with a 40-yard rush into the Toll Gate red zone on a keeper from quarterback David McMullen. After a few more plays to push the ball to the goal line, senior running back Owen Kelly blasted through the Titan line for a one-yard touchdown. He also punched in the two-point conversion.

“We didn’t start some guys that are usually gonna start,” Stringfellow said. “So with the miscommunication it’s only Injury Fund, we’re only playing a quarter. We don’t wanna show a lot of stuff either, because we play Pilgrim in our division.”

Toll Gate responded quickly on special teams when the kickoff was returned for a touchdown, but that would be its only score on the night. Starting sophomore quarterback Anthony Vann had trouble finding rhythm through the air, though he was also the victim of some dropped passes.

McMullen and Kelly kept Pilgrim’s offense in synch. On the second play of their next drive, McMullen threw a screen pass to Kelly on his left, and he exploded past the entire Toll Gate defense for a 60-yard touchdown.

“That combination of the two of them is gonna be really scary for other teams,” Pilgrim head coach Tom O’Connor said. “They ran the read option really well and Owen, they hit him for a loss and he still broke away. He’s just Owen. Great vision, good speed, can run people over and he can run around people as well.”

The Pats scored once more when they got the ball with less than 20 seconds to go, breezing past Toll Gate 22-6.

Toll Gate stayed on the field for a meeting with Division II Vets, which ended in a 0-0 tie.

The Toll Gate defense stepped up as Vets marched towards the end zone with time expiring. Senior quarterback Nick Beaufort kept the ball and rushed 19 yards to the Toll Gate 21-yard line with 7.8 seconds to go. Vets attempted to score on the final play, but Beaufort’s toss to junior receiver Richard Bateman was batted down and short of pay dirt.

Despite the scoreless result, both teams had players that stood out.

For the ‘Canes, senior wide receiver Jacob Isaac was Beaufort’s favorite weapon on the night. Isaac’s height and versatility allowed him to make some impressive catches over and around Toll Gate’s secondary. Last week, head coach Rob Pacifico highlighted his receiving core as potentially the strongest part of his team.

“He can play, that kid,” Pacifico said of Isaac. “He has these mental lapses that we need to get through, but the talent’s there. We just need to get over the hump when he has those hiccups. But the sky’s the limit with the talent that kid has.”

Junior running back Michael Isles also had a few solid rushes and was able to find some gaps in the middle with the help of Vets’ young offensive line.

“They’re coming together,” Pacifico said of the offensive line.

As for the Titans, freshman edge rusher Michael Negri shined as Stringfellow pulled players in and out of the game. Negri picked up a couple sacks and was able to stuff Isles in the backfield on a few occasions.

“Negri is a freshman so we’re not gonna rush into anything,” Stringfellow said. “We’ve got four years with Michael and we’re gonna ease him into situations and that’s one of the switches [we made] that I was talking about, we moved him out there to see what he could do tonight and obviously he stepped up to the plate.”

Pilgrim took the field again to face off with rival Vets for the final event of the night. The Pats would win the game 8-0, but their defense again faced numerous tests along the way.

“The defense did a great job [overall],” O’Connor said. “They gave up one big play against Toll Gate, and the score came on special teams and that’s something that we’re gonna take a look at. Get some of the other kids out there and they were running two different plays, so we’re gonna straighten that out. We’re gonna continue to work to improve in all phases of the game.”

On the first play of the game, McMullen kept the ball and dashed 60 yards to his left past the entire Vets defense for the first and only score of the game.

Vets opened its first drive with solid field position at its own 40-yard line, but Pilgrim forced a three-and-out. The ‘Canes were unable to advance into Pilgrim territory on their following series, too.

Vets’ defense came up big on Pilgrim’s final drive of the game as it looked to score again. McMullen eluded several sacks and threw a pass to the left corner of the goal line, but it was intercepted going to the ground with 1.3 seconds left. The ‘Canes took a knee to end the game, but the red zone stop was key nonetheless.

“As we talked, every play, one play at a time, just trying to get better,” Pacifico said of Vets’ stout defense on the night. “We’ve been talking to the kids about [how] every day you either get better or you get worse. You need to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you got better or worse today, it’s that simple.”

Toll Gate, Vets and Pilgrim all open their schedules this weekend with non-league contests. Pilgrim travels to Smithfield for a bout with the Sentinels at 7 p.m. on Friday. Vets will host Chariho at 6 p.m. on Friday. The Titans will begin their regular season slate on Saturday morning with a matchup against Juanita Sanchez/PCD/Wheeler at 10 a.m. on their home field.

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