Panthers handle Broncos for Injury Fund victory

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The Johnston football team overcame some early first quarter mistakes and eventually stepped it up on both sides of the ball as the game went on as it downed the Division III Burrillville Broncos, 22-7, on Friday night in the third game of an Injury Fund tripleheader played at Johnston’s Polisena Stadium.

On their first offensive possession of the 2016 season, the Panthers’ top runner Elijah Burgess looked as if he was going in for a touchdown after putting some nice moves on Bronco defenders. He would unfortunately fumble the ball at the Broncos’ 10-yard line.

On the ensuing possession, Burrillville would run its main running back Tyler Richards three straight times and he would score the first touchdown of the game at the 9:36 mark of the first quarter.

“It was rare to see Elijah fumble down there in the open field, but it was a good test for us with that little bit of adversity,” said Johnston head coach Joe Acciardo.

The Panthers would turn the ball over again at their own 25-yard line on their second offensive series, but Burgess would intercept a pass in the end zone to prevent another Burrillville score.

Late in the first quarter, Johnston got its offense into gear with quarterback Kyle Nelson completing three passes on the drive. First, he connected with Dante Stubbs on a fourth down play, before hitting Nassir Vasquez with a completion to set up a first-and-goal at the Broncos’ 6-yard line. Nelson then hit Ty Harriel to finish off the drive for a 6-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter. The senior Panthers’ signal caller would run for the 2-point conversion to give Johnston an 8-7 lead.

The Johnston defense came through with a 3-and-out thanks to a Harriel tackle for a loss and a Nelson shoestring tackle on Richards to prevent a first down.

Harriel would rip off a 40-yard run to set up a first-and-goal at the Burrillville 10-yard line. Vasquez would run it in from a yard out and Nelson would hook up with him for the 2-point conversion to up the lead to 16-7.

Johnston’s defense continued to pressure the Broncos’ quarterback, as Joe Najm and Harriel came up with big sacks, with Harriel’s causing a fumble which was recovered by the Panthers’ Emanuel Lourenco. Harriel, who rushed for nearly 100 yards in the game, would race 55 yards to get inside the visitors’ red zone, where Benjamin Budway would score on a 15-yard run with 58 seconds remaining in the two-quarter game.

Acciardo commented on Harriel’s performance: “Ty is a tough hitter. He goes hard all the time. He is really tough to deal with on defense, he can really go strong.” He went on to say, “The more weapons you have, the more you can spread the defense out. The offensive line looked good tonight and if that line comes together and realizes how important their job is and if we play like we did tonight and erase a few mistakes, I think we will be fine.”

New defensive coordinator Mike Soto also praised his defense. He said, “Harriel’s hit sparked us up on defense and offense as well, the energy changed after that hit. We have to tackle a little better, especially against a running back like Burrillville has, but we fought hard after we gave up that 7. Nelson has also stepped up this year on both sides of the ball, he makes good reads and is making better decisions with the football. He is in a tough position on the field on defense at safety. He is the last line of defense and has done an immense job.”

The Panthers will host a non-league game against Division I Woonsocket on Friday at 7 p.m. Woonsocket recently moved up from Division II, where it was 2-6 last season. The Panthers will play their first Division II game the following week at West Warwick.

“Woonsocket is always a tough and fast team and it will be a good test for us,” Acciardo said. “It is a young season and we just have to take it one game at a time, anything can happen.”

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