Titans rally in opener

Posted 9/16/14

The offense wasn’t overly crisp, and there were too many mental mistakes for the Toll Gate football team to be thrilled with how it played in Saturday’s non-league season opener against …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Titans rally in opener

Posted

The offense wasn’t overly crisp, and there were too many mental mistakes for the Toll Gate football team to be thrilled with how it played in Saturday’s non-league season opener against Providence Country Day/Juanita Sanchez/Wheeler.

But the Titans were certainly not complaining either. Thanks to its best defensive effort in years and a pair of touchdowns from senior Jacob Moran, Toll Gate rallied from a four-point halftime deficit to win 22-10.

It was the first victory for the Titans in a full game – excluding Injury Fund contests – since a 28-20 non-league victory over Pilgrim at the end of the 2012 season. Despite not hitting on all cylinders, Toll Gate is officially 1-0 for the first time since 2011

“I don’t know what happened in the first half,” said first-year head coach Jim Stringfellow. “We practice it all week and we came out soft. Luckily, they turned it around in the second half. In the second half, they were a totally different team.”

Toll Gate’s victory was keyed by the defense, which, outside of one breakdown, held PCD to one total yard and no first downs other than two that came on Titan penalties.

PCD led by as much as 10-0 in the first half, as it scored on its first offensive play of the game, an 83-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline from quarterback Rashad Glenn to a wide-open Stefan Lopez, and tacked on two more on a safety when Toll Gate snapped a punt attempt through its own end zone from the 10-yard line.

It was a self-inflicted struggle for the Titans, who lost fumbles on both of their first two possessions – including a drive in which they went as far as PCD’s 28-yard line – and then gave up the safety on their third possession.

“Fumbles and penalties,” Stringfellow said. “That killed us in the first half.”

But the game swung immediately afterwards. On the kickoff following the safety, PCD’s Daniel Bershad couldn’t handle a hard, low kick to the front row and Toll Gate’s Cameron Vickers pounced on it, giving the Titans the ball at their own 41-yard line.

Nine plays and nearly eight minutes later, Toll Gate was on the board, courtesy of a 29-yard Jacob Moran touchdown run on an end around on fourth-and-10. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Titans were within 10-6.

“The onside kick that wasn’t supposed to be an onside kick, I think that turned us around just going into halftime,” Stringfellow said. “Then (Moran) played fantastic. He kept us in the game.”

The game went into the half with that score, and even though Toll Gate was trailing, there were positives it could point to. PCD had mustered just five total yards outside of its first-play touchdown, and Toll Gate had just less than 100 yards rushing of its own.

“We just realized that we were down and knew that we had to wake up or else we were going to lose,” Moran said.

The second half was all Toll Gate.

PCD gained zero yards on the first two plays of the half, and on the third play Toll Gate’s Qyon Pichardo intercepted Glenn. The Titans capitalized, as they went 29 yards in eight plays, capped off by a 1-yard Anthony Vann quarterback sneak for the touchdown. The two-point conversion again failed, and Toll Gate led 12-10. Moran was also a big factor on the drive, picking up 14 yards on another end-around on a crucial fourth-and-10 play.

Lightning struck twice for Toll Gate on the next kickoff, as it again recovered the ball when PCD couldn’t corral it. It wasn’t intended to be an onside kick, but once again the Titans were back in business.

Toll Gate didn’t score, but it took more than five minutes off the clock and sent the game into the fourth quarter. PCD ended up taking over on downs and going three-and-out, and this time the Titans did add to their lead.

Starting at PCD’s 41, Toll Gate needed five plays – none of which went for less than 6 yards – before Moran finished the drive with an 11-yard run again on an end-around. Alex Mowry ran in the two-point conversion to make it 20-10.

Moran finished the game with 68 yards on the ground on just four carries.

“They were biting in the opposite direction and then I would just come around and beat them to the outside,” he said. “The O-line was opening up the holes. They did a really good job in the second half.”

PCD went three-and-out again, losing 20 yards in the process, and Toll Gate made another push down to the 3-yard line, where it eventually turned the ball over on downs. That drained the clock inside of two minutes, though, and when PCD took over Moran promptly took down running back Leonardo Perez in the end zone for a safety to make the lead 22-10 and effectively put the game on ice.

PCD finished the game with 84 yards, just one more than the 83 it gained on the first play. It had minus-four yards in the second half and no first downs.

Toll Gate, meanwhile, finished with 245 yards on the day, 240 of which came on the ground. Mowry had 77 to lead all rushers, with Moran’s 68 next in line. Nick Lemoie had 61 and Sean Vann had 39. Dan Smith, who relieved Anthony Vann at quarterback late in the third quarter, added 10 yards on the ground.

Smith, a senior who was nursing an injury in the preseason, will likely start the team’s league opener this weekend.

Toll Gate had 17 first downs.

“We thought we were a better team than them and we went out there underestimating them and they punched us in the mouth,” Moran said. “In the second half, we woke up and started playing better.”

The Titans will turn their attention to their Division III slate now, as they travel to Narragansett on Saturday for a game against the Mariners at 12:30 p.m.

Narragansett went 5-4 last year in D-III and won its opener last week 28-6 over Tiverton.

Toll Gate is in search of its first league win since 2010.

“Narragansett has always been a good program,” Stringfellow said. “They have solid kids down there, they always have. It’s probably going to be another dogfight. Hopefully we come out on top.”

Comments

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