Tigers hang on to defeat Mariners
PAWTUCKET — Nothing came easy for Tolman Friday night, not even the last eight seconds of a game in which they held a two-possession lead.
Comfortably ahead of Narragansett, the Tigers were simply looking to hold on and move to 4-1 in Division III. It seemed that they had done just that, leading by nine points when the referees blew the final whistle, the public-address announcer announced the final score and a city employee began collecting the pylons and yard markers.
Not so fast. The ancient scoreboard at Pariseau Field was displaying three zeroes, but only because one of the bulbs no
longer works. All eights on the scoreboard look like zeroes as a result.
The officials realized the error, and got both teams back on the sidelines for another play. The Mariners scored a touchdown to draw within a field goal. Now with one second left, the Mariners took a knee rather than kickoff. The referees ruled this the end of the game – for real this time – and the Tigers escaped with a much-needed win, 26-23.
“It’s always good to win, and now I have a teachable moment,” Tiger head coach Jason DeLawrence said. “We didn’t have a good week of practice. I yelled at them from Monday through Thursday. I said, “Listen, our practice is sucking this week and this is the outcome when you have a bad week.’”
The Tigers dug themselves a 10-0 hole in the first quarter. The Mariners rode the hot hand of Ricky Mathew on the first drive of the evening. Seven of the eight plays from scrimmage on the drive were simple hand-offs to Mathew.
The running back did enough to get the Mariners into field goal position, where Eddie Blessing gave them a 3-0 lead. Mathew then increased that lead out to 10-0 on a 70-yard interception return, off a misthrow by Tiger quarterback Justin Klemanchuck.
Klemanchuck took the game over following that costly mistake. He played a part in all four touchdowns his team would score, and broke off a key second-half 70-yard keeper that completed a 20-0 scoring run.
“That’s who I live and die with,” DeLawrence said of his QB. “He makes bad plays, he forgets about it, then he makes a great play with a 70yard scamper down the sideline. “The offense is designed around him. He can throw, he can run, he’s smart. He makes checks at the line, he puts people where they’re supposed to go. He really orchestrates the offense. He’s me on the field.”
Klemanchuck used his feet in the passing game as well, extending plays in a Russell Wilson-like manner. He found Devin Marabello in the corner of the end zone for his first touchdown pass of the game, and connected with Nathaniel Pona for a pair of scores after that.
The Tiger defense also found its footing as the game wore on. Mathew had a 300-yard game against Tiverton in Week 1 of the season, but has largely been unable to recapture that magic since.
The spotty first drive aside, the Tigers contained Mathew and forced him down for losses in the backfield. The defense allowed the post-conb fusion touchdown with a second to play in the fourth, but the other scores came on Mathew’s interception and a kick-off returned for a touchdown by Atticus Duncan.
“We just lined up in the correct position, that always help,” DeLawrence said of the defensive adjustments. “First drive, we were lined up all wrong. We weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing - really all game. When we were in the right place, we were able to force losses against [Mathew].”
Now 4-1 against D-III opponents, DeLawrence and his Tigers are confident that they are safely in the playoffs. They have larger goals than just qualifying for the postseason, however, and Friday night’s performance wasn’t in line with those.
“I think this puts us in it,” DeLawrence said of the playoffs. “I think we could lose every game from this point on. We have two league games left, Smithfield and North Providence after that. Yeah, we definitely have the talent [to make the Super Bowl]. I just don’t know how they’re going to get used to it. We were in Division I for two years, so we had a lot of negative years. To get them to believe that they can do it, that they deserve to do it, has been our fight all year. We’re gonna keep plugging in and fighting.”