The Johnston football team clinched the second seed in the upcoming Division III playoffs last week when it topped visiting Pilgrim 29-14.

The Pats led 14-13 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Johnston special teams unit would come up with big plays to propel the Panthers to the win.

Michael Carlino would boot a field goal from 34 yards out to give Johnston the 16-14 advantage with 9:23 remaining, then the Panthers recovered a Patriot fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up shop at the Pilgrim 11-yard line. Quarterback Matt Clements rushed for a score just over a minute later to extend the lead to 23-14.

NeAri Vasquez put the finishing touches on the win when he later rushed for a score to make it 29-14 with 6:33 left.

“We know that we’ve got one of the best special teams (units) in the state. We knew we’d get some good (field position), too. Tonight we proved it,” said Johnston captain Steven Finegan.

Finegan was a factor on both special teams and offense. Finegan would give the Panthers a 13-8 lead at halftime when he returned a kick all the way to the Pilgrim 13-yard line and then scored moments later.

Dean Paris scored Johnston’s first touchdown in the first quarter, but Pilgrim responded when quarterback Chace Roberts tossed a touchdown to Dylan Roberts. Justyn Murphy hauled in the 2-point play for Pilgrim. Roberts later connected with Cole Bigelli to give Pilgrim the 14-13 lead in the third quarter.

Although Pilgrim had multiple chances in the fourth quarter on offense, the Johnston line consistently pressured Chace Roberts up front.

“We were not picking up blitzes, not giving enough time in the pocket to see the field and complete the passes to give us a chance. The fumbled kickoff hurt us, too,” said Pilgrim coach Blake Simpson on the team’s fourth quarter struggles.

As for Pilgrim, the Pats will host Moses Brown on Friday night. The winner will claim the final seed in the playoffs while the loser will be headed home. Zeroing in on Moses Brown’s electric running back Myles Craddock will be key, according to Simpson.

“They’ve got Myles Craddock, he’s the best running back in the state. So hopefully we can stop him and control the clock to give us a chance to win a playoff berth,” Simpson said.

After dropping a tough loss to West Warwick the previous week, Finegan and the Panthers were hoping to get back into the win column fast.

“It helps a lot. Last week was a tough loss, we went in there thinking we were going to roll through them but they played great football. Today, Pilgrim played a great game, but we got hyped up. We started a little slow and knew we had to play a great second half and we did that,” Finegan said.

The Panthers have also developed one of the top offenses in the state to this point, boasting a lineup with playmakers in both the running game and passing attack.

“Matt Clements stepped up, we’ve got a couple of new receivers, NeAri moved to wide receiver, Cam Walker is another big target, Mike Carlino in the slot. Everyone is helping and it’s all coming together. We’ve got great chemistry this year,” Finegan said. “We’re just going to keep it rolling. We plan on doing big things.”