Titans overpowered by first-place Avengers

Matt Metcalf
Posted 9/29/15

The East Greenwich football team continued to prove why it’s the favorite in Division III this season with a convincing, 55-20 win at Toll Gate on Saturday morning.

The Titans cut into their …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Titans overpowered by first-place Avengers

Posted

The East Greenwich football team continued to prove why it’s the favorite in Division III this season with a convincing, 55-20 win at Toll Gate on Saturday morning.

The Titans cut into their significant deficit late in the fourth quarter on a pair of rushing touchdowns from Alex Mowry, but the Avengers were simply too strong early, racing out to a 20-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 34-7 lead by halftime.

“They didn’t quit and put 20 points up,” Toll Gate head coach Jim Stringfellow said of his team’s effort. “East Greenwich is just fantastic. They’re big and strong, and [Egan] Reale and [Nick] Andreozzi played fantastic.”

East Greenwich received the opening kickoff, and it took just four plays and one minute, 25 seconds to find the end zone.

That drive was capped off with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Andreozzi to Brian Gemma in the right side of the end zone. Eamon Keenan’s extra point would give the Avengers a 7-0 lead.

After forcing the Titans to punt a couple of minutes later, East Greenwich would score on its second possession as well.

This time, Andreozzi rolled out to his right and hit Reale with a deep pass down the right sideline. Reale would shed a pair of defensive backs and coast in for a 41-yard touchdown.

Just like that, the Avengers held a 14-0 advantage, and they weren’t done in the first quarter.

With seven seconds remaining in that opening frame, senior running back Owen Haines followed his offensive line into the end zone from three yards out. The Titans would block the extra point try, but East Greenwich still led, 20-0, at the end of 12 minutes of play.

Toll Gate was bound to catch a break, and it did around four minutes into the second quarter.

The Titans’ defense forced the Avengers to punt, but the snap went by the punter, as he jumped on the ball at his team’s 1-yard line.

Toll Gate would score on the next play, with sophomore quarterback Anthony Vann falling forward for the touchdown from a yard out. Datyn Deasley added the extra point to trim East Greenwich’s lead to 20-7.

Any comeback bid was quickly put to rest by the Avengers, though.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mitchell Gemma followed blockers and cut through several Titans for an 81-yard return, pushing the road team’s lead out to 27-7.

The Avengers would find pay dirt once more before halftime came around.

It looked as if the Titans would easily force a punt from East Greenwich with under two minutes remaining in the second quarter, as the Avengers faced a third-and-29 situation.

But Andreozzi found Reale over the middle and he couldn’t be brought down, as the senior receiver gained just enough to move the chains.

That was costly because Kevin Lippe would score on a 1-yard run just 40 seconds later to give the Avengers a 34-7 lead at the break.

Not only was the score not going in Toll Gate’s favor, but it endured some significant injuries in that opening half.

Michael Negri had to exit, as did Vann, who injured his back. Junior backup quarterback Rory Dobbins compound fractured his finger as well, forcing Stringfellow to use freshman Teagan Stringfellow under center in the second half.

Toll Gate’s struggles continued in the third quarter.

On the Titans’ first possession, a mishandled exchange from Teagan Stringfellow to running back Sean Devlin was scooped up by defensive back Matthew Sylvia and returned for a 50-yard touchdown.

The Avengers would then get a rushing touchdown from Donovan Carcieri-Cassidy with 3:48 left in the third quarter to give them a 48-7 lead.

But the Titans’ offense would come alive in the fourth quarter thanks to Mowry.

The senior running back ripped off two long touchdown runs – one of 24 yards and another of 44 yards – to give the Titans something positive to come away with following the loss.

Mitchell Gemma would add another kick return for 98 yards between Mowry’s two scores to bring the final to 55-20.

Jim Stringfellow was pleased with his running game, particularly in the second half. For the game, Mowry rushed seven times for 71 yards and two touchdowns, while Devlin ran the ball 16 times for 61 yards. He also commended Devlin for playing with an injury.

“Devlin is a tough runner and earns every yard he gets,” Jim Stringfellow said. “He grinded it out with two broken fingers in a cast. That’s just the kind of kid that he is.”

The Titans will now have to regroup, as it will have a winnable game at Middletown on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Islanders won the Division III crown last fall, but are 1-3 and 0-1 in league play thus far after losing several key pieces from last year’s squad.

“We’ll have to see what some of our injuries are and see if we can get those guys to go next week,” Jim Stringfellow said. “We’ll just start all over again and hopefully get another win on Friday.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here