Lincoln routs Ponaganset
Lions score 27 unanswered points to secure win
NORTH SCITUATE – Ponaganset High officials sure did it right.
To honor veterans both past and present on Saturday, those in charge of running the Chieftains’ Homecoming contest against Lincoln – also known as “Salute to Service” – asked both teams, dressed in camouflage colors, to stroll out to midfield and hit a knee.
The public address announcer asked for each player whose parent is in the military to stand, then all veterans, then those family members who had served to do the same.
They topped all that off with a rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner that could be heard for miles.
It was enough to deliver to even the most hardened individual goosebumps. For that matter, so did the officiating crew. The refs whistled the Lions for a whopping 10 flags for 77 yards, but their running attack proved unstoppable as Lincoln pummeled the Chieftains, 55-20, in a lengthy Division III-A tilt.
Junior tailback Julien Karraz hustled for 145 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, while senior Justin Rutter contributed 86 more and a touchdown; and sophomore Isiah Oliveira managed 52 ground yards on six carries.
All told, the Lions racked up an insane 363 yards on 39 touches.
It gets better: Junior signal caller Randall Hien also completed six of 10 aerials for 182 yards and three scores.
Coach Sean Cavanaugh wouldn’t address the issue with the officials, but did say the 10 flags and resulting negative yardage were “probably” the most his squad had received in his tenure.
“We’ve got a lot of things we still need to work on, and this showed it,” he noted after his club improved to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in III-A. “We tried to play with poise and intensity, but those things got away from us a little bit. The penalties: Well, we’re still a rather young and inexperienced team, and it takes focus and intensity to do the job on each play.
“However, I’m very proud of the way the boys answered in the second half and took control of the game (referring to Ponaganset’s ability to slice the deficit to 28-20 late in the third quarter). I thought they regained their focus, played together as a team, ad took care of things they needed to.”
The Chieftains fell to 0-4 overall (0-3 league), as the offense could only collect 105 rushing yards on 33 carries. Likewise, sophomore quarterback Zach Salvaggio completed only three of eight for 30 yards.
Lincoln controlled from the outset, maneuvering 80 yards on nine snaps ending on Hien’s one-yard sneak. Freshman Erick Solorzano drilled home his first of six successful PATs for the 7-0 lead.
The Lions’ defense came up big shortly thereafter, as sophomore Noah Waite, senior Greg Salvatore and junior Tommy Almond sacked punter Jonathan Braddock on his own 29. Four plays later, Oliveira plowed 16 yards on a misdirection rush off left guard, breaking three tackles in the process, to make it 14-0.
Immediately after, Cavanaugh’s crew gave the hosts a gift after senior Marco Russo had returned the kickoff 20 yards to the Chieftains’ 45; refs whistled a late hit on a Lion, then pushed the ball to the LHS 40.
Ponaganset took it down to the 11 before the drive stalled, and it appeared senior Devin Atkinson would try a 29-yard field goal. The holder, Russo, though, picked it up and raced toward the right pylon; it went for an 11-yard TD, but Atkinson’s point-after attempt was blocked on the final play of the opening quarter.
Despite three straight infractions on the ensuing possession, which pulled the pigskin back to the LHS 29, Lincoln flourished, moving those 71 yards on six plays ending on senior tri-captain Kyle Moison’s 42-yard catchand-run. Solorzano tacked on the PAT for the 21-6 advantage with 9:54 left in the second stanza.
Following a quick “threeand-out,” the Lions needed only five plays to roam 85 yards, with Hien finding Rutter wide open in the right back section of the end zone. The play went for 21 yards, and the receiver made a spectacular, over-the-shoulder diving catch.
The Chieftains nevertheless responded with grit, as Silvaggio directed a 12-play, 60-yard possession, and junior Jeremy Stone closed it with an 11-yard dash around right end with 19.5 ticks remaining before intermission. Atkinson’s PAT try fell short, leaving the score at 28-12.
Ponaganset seemed prepared to knife that deficit again after junior Nolan Jolicoeur intercepted Hien’s pass to Rutter in the right flat, and it took over at the visitors’ 22. Incredibly, Braddock eventually punted from the 27.
The hosts made good on Lincoln’s second turnover, however, when Silvaggio returned Rutter’s fumble 16 yards to the house. Stone (who mustered 73 yards on 19 touches) plowed in for the two-pointer to cut it to 28-20 with 3:35 left in the third.
But it didn’t last long. A kickoff and two plays later, Karraz sprinted for 72 total yards, 35 on his last on a simple run off-left tackle and resulting shimmy, but Solorzano pushed his boot wide right.
That’s when Lincoln exploded. Just 51 seconds into the fourth, Rutter closed a double-reverse with a 39-yard run to make it 41-20; Hien delivered a perfect 61-yard scoring strike to a wide-open senior Robert McKanobb; and even Mike Marcaccio earned a seven-yard TD run.
“We were faced with some adversity, and the kids responded,” Cavanaugh said. “This is something we can work on and build on as a team moving forward. We have some tough kids who know how to play as a team to be successful, and we did that here. Of course, we need more of it, but we’re on course.”