By ALEX SPONSELLER The Johnston football team cruised past visiting Toll Gate 32-8 last week to win its second game in a row after coming back to beat Lincoln the previous contest.

The Johnston offense rolled in the win, scoring five touchdowns from five different players. Quarterback Hunter Remington went 15-for-21 and threw touchdowns to Dylan Martins, Joey Acciardo, Joe Forte and Aiden Lariviere. Remington also rushed for a score in the win and finished with 312 yards in the air. Acciardo finished with 199 yards receiving.

Ryan Schino led the way defensively for Johnston, racking up 12 tackles.

Toll Gate’s lone score came from DJ Meade on an eight-yard rush.« Return to the homepage

After dropping the Injury Fund exhibition to Burrillville, the Panthers have cruised to two straight victories. Head coach Joe Acciardo was pleased with the team’s resilience and felt that the early loss paid dividends to this point.

“Any time that you can recover and get a win after a loss, you’re headed in the right direction. That’s big. The first game against Burrillville, there was a lot of discovery, seeing what we could and couldn’t do. We learned a lot from it,” said Coach Acciardo.

Heading into the season, the Panther offense was looking to replace the production lost in the graduation of All-State receiver Thomas Zednik, who is now playing for UMass Dartmouth.

The Panthers have put up 54 points in the past two games and look poised to continue trending upward with the new playmakers.

“It happens to everybody every year. You graduate guys and other guys need to step up. We have guys that can step in. Obviously you can’t fill the shoes of a 6-foot-4 receiver, so you have to do other things. Guys like Steve Finegan have been stepping up well, we’re still throwing the ball to guys like Joey. Every year, a team has a new makeup and needs to gel. These guys are playing like a team, five different guys scored which was huge, that’s a rarity. When you have games like that, you can’t ask for much more,” said Coach Acciardo.

The Panthers will next host North Smithfield/Mount St. Charles this week and Coach Acciardo expects a tough battle.

“(North Smithfield/MSC) do things well. They throw the ball well and they don’t make many mistakes. They’re efficient, and if you make mistakes then they’ll make you pay,” Coach Acciardo said. “They execute real well and know what they want to do. We’re going to have to bring our A-game and pay attention to our game plan.”

Toll Gate dropped to 0-1 in the loss and will take on crosstown rival Pilgrim this Friday at Vets.