Tigers drop Panthers in league opener

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After losses in the Injury Fund and non-league season opener, the Johnston football team was looking to get off on the right foot in a fresh start Friday night, as league play began with a visit to Tolman. But the Panthers simply couldn’t stop Tigers quarterback Tyreal Whitaker, who ran for two touchdowns, passed for a touchdown and caught a touchdown in leading his team to a 35-12 win at chilly Max Read Field.

Johnston trailed by just three points at halftime but fell off the pace in the second half.

“Tolman's athletes used a lot of misdirection and they just wore us down,” said Johnston head coach Joe Acciardo. “We got a little undisciplined and Tolman took advantage of it – hats off to them. They beat us.”

Johnston had a great opportunity early in the game when Paul Robitaille recovered a Tolman fumble at the home team's 44-yard line on the second play from scrimmage. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they could not capitalize and were forced to punt.

The Tigers scored first when Whitaker hit Jacob Vargulish with a 45-yard touchdown pass at the 2:17 mark of the first quarter. It took the Panthers only 12 seconds to respond as Kenny Kue returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards for a score, making it a one-point game.

Tolman answered with some creativity. Running back Prince Johnson found an open Whitaker on an option play for a 20-yard touchdown. Johnson's two-point conversion made it 15-6.

Johnston would once again answer the Tolman score with Marc Conte's 11-yard touchdown run. That cut the lead to three at halftime.

Whitaker's 5-yard touchdown run on Tolman’s first possession of the third quarter gave the Tigers a 21-12 lead. Edward Dufresne would recover a Conte fumble at the Johnston 43-yard line and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Whitaker ran 12 yards for another score and a 29-12 advantage. Johnson, who rushed for 98 yards, later put the game out of reach with a 30-yard touchdown run.

“They have a lot of athletes over there that are tough and have a lot of talent,” Acciardo said. “Their coach Dave Caito does a great job and he always has his guys ready to go and well-prepared.”

Acciardo gave his team a lot of credit for fighting all four quarters of the game. Mistakes at key moments just hurt too much.

“We had some penalties and we shot ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We made some critical errors at key moments in the game – we took one step forward and two steps back. If you give a team with those athletes a little more time with the ball, they will make you pay big time and that's exactly what happened.”

Whitaker cashed in more than anybody, rushing for over 200 yards.

“I thought our quarterback Tyreal did an outstanding job of managing the game,” Caito said. “He has great instincts and athletic ability. Our two running backs, Prince Johnson and Mohamed Keita, took over the tempo of the game in the second half with the yardage they gained, getting to the outside and setting up Ty for our zone read keeper plays.”

Caito is a Johnston High School alum. The teams haven’t been in the same division in several years, so the match-up was a strange one for him.

“It's tough because I root for them when we are not playing them because it is my alma mater,” Caito said. “I think Joe Acciardo and his staff do a great job year in and out preparing their team. I am friendly with most of their staff and it's always tough coaching against friends but once that whistle blows for that 48 minutes, we put our friendship aside and go for the win. Then after the game we hug and shake hands and hope each team leaves the field healthy and wish each other luck the rest of the season.”

The Panthers will look to get into the win column tomorrow night as they visit North Kingstown High School at 7 p.m. The Skippers won their league opener 35-10 over Moses Brown last week.

The Panthers will play their first home game on Oct. 3 against West Warwick on their newly renovated field.

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