PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth High School defeated Barrington, 17-7, in a non-league injury fund matchup at Toppa Field in Newport last Thursday. 

Quarterback Sean Coyne dove into the end zone for the Patriots’ first touchdown. Earlier, he put his team’s first points on the board when he hit a 51-yard field goal attempt, a rarity in a high school game

The lone Eagles touchdown came on a quarterback keeper by Liam McManus, after Barrington running back Phinney Cole had previously made a big gain down the sideline.

The Patriots’s regular season begins when it hosts Rogers High School at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, on the turf field. 

The game also marks the 50th anniversary of the high school’s first graduating class, and members from the Class of 1966 are expected to be on hand. A golf ball drop by helicopter, to raise money for the PHS Athletic Boosters, will precede the game at 5:30 p.m.

Division realignment

Things will be somewhat different this year in terms of high school football divisions.

In order to address the recent dominance by the private schools Bishop Hendricken and La Salle in Division I, the R.I. Interscholastic League has broken the category into two subdivisions: Division 1A and 1B.

Each subdivision will have seven teams, with Hendricken and La Salle in opposite groups. That means Division 1 will have 14 teams in total, up from nine last year.

It also means that Portsmouth will have a better chance of winning a Super Bowl this year. The winners of the Division 1 semifinals will play each other in the finals, but a second championship game will take place between the losers as well. 

So even if Hendricken and La Salle end up meeting in one championship, Portsmouth could still find itself playing for a Division 1 title in the other game.

Here’s how the Division 1 teams are sorted under the realignment:

Division 1A: Bishop Hendricken, Cranston High School West, East Providence High School, Portsmouth High School, South Kingstown High School, St. Raphael Academy and Woonsocket High School

Division 1B: Barrington High School, Central High School, Cranston High School East, Cumberland High School, La Salle Academy, Rogers High School and Tolman High School