The Johnston football team’s Homecoming celebration was spoiled by visiting Rogers, who ran away with a big 56-21 win in a Division III matchup.
The Vikings entered the game as the division’s hottest team and quickly went to work against Johnston, taking a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Johnston defense struggled to contain the Rogers rushing attack, which finished with five scores on the ground. Rogers has scored at least 40 points in all three of its games this season.
Johnston’s offense did, however, enjoy its most productive day of the fall through its first three games. Quarterback Matt Clements connected with Lyalo Harrison-Perez for a touchdown while Dean Paris rushed for another. Clements connected with Paris for one more score, which would give the Panthers their first 20-point performance of the year.
Although the offense made some big plays and had its moments, it also turned the ball over three times, all of which were converted into scores.
“We’ve been mixing a lot of guys in and out, we’ve had some injuries. We’ve been shuffling, it’s kind of like musical chairs. Our timing was off, we lost the ball three times and they scored three times. When you take three scoring opportunities away and put it on the other team’s (side) of the scoreboard, that’s a big swing,” said Johnston coach Joe Acciardo. “We moved the ball well at times, we have a skilled quarterback, Dean Paris is a bull.”
The Vikings boast the best rushing attack in the division, and although Johnston zeroed in on their backfield, it was not quite enough to ground the running backs.
“Defensively we struggled. They have some big backs and we concentrated on stopping the run on the inside. We needed some help from our defensive backs on the outside, they caught us off guard on a breakdown in the defensive backfield and scored. Then it got away from us. They’re a good team and they run the ball well on other teams too. They’re good,” Acciardo said.
Rogers improved to 3-0 with the win while Johnston fell to 0-3. The Panthers will be back at it on Friday when it travel to Chariho.
With a young roster that is dealing with injury and illness, Acciardo hopes to get the squad back to full health and make a run at a playoff spot in the back half of the regular season.
“We are just looking to get our team back on the field at full strength. We just want to heal,” said Acciardo. “We’ve been dealing with injuries, sickness has run through us with colds, allergies. If we can just get healthy and back together, then I think we will be able to turn things around on the back half of our schedule.”