Injury Fund games kick off 2018 high school football season

Four East Bay teams gear up for upcoming fall slate

By Mathew Galvao
Posted 9/1/18

PORTSMOUTH — The local high school football season was kicked off Thursday night, Aug. 30, with a number of injury fund games played ahead of week one of the regular season next week.

Portsmouth …

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Injury Fund games kick off 2018 high school football season

Four East Bay teams gear up for upcoming fall slate

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The local high school football season was kicked off Thursday night, Aug. 30, with a number of injury fund games played ahead of week one of the regular season next week.

Portsmouth High School hosted three contests that included four teams from the East Bay area. Barrington, Mt. Hope, Tiverton and hosts Portsmouth all competed in the preseason action supporting the Rhode Island Injury Fund.

Middletown 17, Barrington 0

The first game on the schedule saw Barrington drop the tune-up game to Middletown High School by a 17-0 score. The Islanders scored on their opening possession and then twice in the second half to come away with the win.

“Preseason is going really well. We’re just a young team. We showed that youth tonight,” explained Barrington head coach Sandy Gorham. “Missed tackles, threw an interception, obviously you can’t do that.”

Middletown got off to a hot start with an 11 yard run from quarterback Freddie Killian that set up the Islanders deep in Barrington territory. Middletown would open the scoring as Killian dropped back to pass and found wideout Devin Russ for the touchdown giving them the early 7-0 lead.

The Eagles would punt on their next possession and quarterback Tom Rocha threw an interception late in the first quarter.

The Islanders would pick up where they left off in the first quarter, marching down the field, but this time having to settle for a field goal as Mason Gilman put it through the uprights extending Middletown’s lead to 10-0 with 11:08 remaining in the game.

The Eagles punted on their next drive giving Middletown the ball back with just under six minutes to go. The Islanders next drive was lead by Devin Russ who ran the ball 19 yards setting up his team in the red zone. Andrew Skirzenski finished off the job by completing a 20-yard touchdown catch extending the Middletown lead to 17-0.

Barrington would get some life in the final two minutes as quarterback Tom Rocha would break a 35 yard run, but time would play a factor as the Eagles were shutout 17-0 in their preseason tune-up.

Tiverton 7, Mt. Hope 0

The second game on the docket featured two east bay squads in Mt. Hope and Tiverton. The Huskies turnovers would proved costly as Tiverton capitalized to take the 7-0 win.

“I saw some decent execution and some not-so-decent execution. I saw guys getting on the field for the first time in a game situation and performing okay. I think we took advantage of Mt. Hope’s mistakes,” explained Tiverton head coach Bob Murray. “It’s an example of how young the season is and how much more work we have to try and become a decent football team.”

On the Huskies second possession of the game, quarterback Anthony Bernardo dropped back to pass but was intercepted by Daniel Garde of Tiverton setting up the Tigers deep in Husky territory.

On the ensuing Tiverton drive quarterback Matthew Gacioch connected with receiver Daniel Garde on a 19-yard touchdown pass putting the Tigers up 7-0 with 6:21 remaining in the first quarter.

Tiverton’s defense remained solid throughout the remainder of the contest creating four turnovers which lead to their preseason victory.

“Tonight, in a game like this, a half game, there’s not a whole lot of time. I think the biggest issue it we were not mentally sharp,” explained head coach TJ Del Santo. “I don’t think physically we had trouble competing, I just think we made a lot of mistakes. I’m a little disappointed obviously everyone wants to win when you play.”

Portsmouth 19, Rogers 14

The Portsmouth High School football team hosted the third and final game of the night battling Rodgers High School. It took a comeback effort for the home team as they found themselves down 14-13 late in the second quarter only to score the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to go to seal the victory.

“Pretty good, so far. Obviously, a lot of things to work on still, but we came out and executed some plays. I was really pleased to see the run game take off the way it did,” said newly named Portsmouth head coach Matthew Kestler. “We knew that we were pretty proficient in the pass just from last year. We have a fairly young (offensive) line so to pop a couple runs in like that, it was really nice to see.”
It didn’t take long for Portsmouth to get on the board as sophmore running back Ingram Spears broke a 50-yard run to the house putting the Patriots up 6-0 just 1:14 into the games opening quarter.

Late in the first quarter with the Patriots starting their drive on their own 18-yard line, quarterback Kyle Bicho found his favorite target, Brian Hamilton, who took the ball 82-yards to the endzone putting the home team up 13-0.

On their first drive of the second quarter, Rogers found the back of the endzone on a 45-yard touchdown pass cutting the Portsmouth lead to 13-7 with 10:10 left in the second quarter.

The Vikings would force a fumble on Portsmouth’s next possession setting themselves up on the 11-yard line. Rogers would find the back of the endzone on a two yard run giving themselves the 14-13 lead with 5:03 remaining in the game.

With one last drive to take the lead, Portsmouth’s offense showed just how dangerous they can be as Bicho did it again throwing a 48-yard touchdown pass to Hamilton as the Patriots took the 19-14 lead and the win.

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