The No. 2 Pilgrim football team took down No. 7 Johnston 28-27 in the Division III quarterfinals last week in Warwick.
The two teams met up in October with the Pats hanging on for a 52-50, double-overtime victory. Although this matchup failed to reach 100 points and was decided in regulation, it was still two productive offenses trading shots from start to finish.
Johnston quarterback Matt Clements connected with receiver Lyalo-Harrison Perez for his second touchdown with 1:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. Johnston elected to go for the 2-point conversion, trailing 28-27, but failed on a roll out pass that was broken up by Pilgrim’s defense. The Pats recovered the ensuing onside kick to walk away with the win.
Johnston grabbed an early lead when Giovanni Celani rushed for a score on the opening drive. Pilgrim would recover a botched Johnston punt at the Panthers’ 2-yard line early in the second quarter and converted when Luka Ruscio rushed for the score. The Pats failed to convert on the extra point.
Clements hit Harrison-Perez for his first touchdown just over three minutes later to make it 14-6, but Pilgrim responded once again when Jacob Soulliere rushed for the score, then quarterback Carter Clifton connected with Dylan Rodrigues for the 2-point play just before the halftime break.
Celani gave Johnston the 21-14 lead in the third quarter on another rushing touchdown, but Pilgrim answered when Clifton hit Hunter Schobel for a score.
Pilgrim’s special teams would come up with another game-altering play, as it recovered the ensuing kick at the Johnston 30 yard line, and the Pats took advantage as Clifton rushed for a touchdown, followed by another 2-point conversion to Rodrigues, to give the Pats their first lead with 5:20 remaining in the fourth.
Pilgrim’s special teams have become one of the best units in the state, regularly coming up with plays in big moments. The recovered kick in the fourth quarter changed the atmosphere on both sidelines as Pilgrim used it to close in on the late comeback.
“A lot of people take special teams for granted. People think they can go on a big scoring drive on offense and then just slack on special teams. That’s not what we do. That gave us the momentum we needed to win. We never take special teams for granted,” said Ruscio.
“I put a big amount of time into preparing our special teams, but a little bit of it is luck. I told (kicker) Santiago (Holgado) to kick it as far as he could and it hung up in the air. We got a lucky bounce and freshman Connor Fitzgerald stayed in his lane and jumped on the football,” added Pilgrim head coach Blake Simpson.
Johnston’s offense suffered a significant loss as starting running back Dean Paris exited the game due to injury in the first quarter. That forced Pilgrim to adjust on defense, as its game plan revolved around stopping Paris.
“We were really focused on taking away the running game. We focused on (Paris), he’s a great running back and it was terrible to see him go down. But we made a whole game plan for him. A lot of it was him and once he went out it was all about stopping the pass which worked pretty good,” Ruscio said.
Simpson was proud of his seniors for keeping the team focused, despite playing from behind for most of the first three quarters.
“It had to do with our senior leadership. They let them know that we’re still in it and it’s not going to be our last game at the Morry,” said Simpson.
The Pats will host No. 3 Ponaganset in this week’s semifinals. The Chieftains dealt Pilgrim a 40-14 defeat in the regular season finale, and Pilgrim is looking to have a greater sense of urgency than the last meeting.
“(Tonight) was taken very lightly, we should have put up at least two more touchdowns than we did. We need to focus up, we played Ponaganset and lost to a substantial point difference. We need to focus at practice,” Ruscio said.