EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence Townies and Portsmouth Patriots faced off in a thriller Friday night at Pierce Memorial Stadium, a Division I football game that wasn’t decided in the visiting Pats’ favor, 20-14, until the last second.
The Townies made well-timed plays in the first half which kept the game close. However, Portsmouth went into the break with a 14-7 lead. The Townies found themselves needing another timely play in the waning moments of the contest on fourth down-and-five trailing by a touchdown, but weren’t able to convert with less than a minute to play. The Townies couldn’t find a way to make one more opportune play that had kept them in the game all along.
“Give East Providence a lot of credit,” Portsmouth coach Ryan Moniz said after the game. “They made the plays they needed to make, to make it a really tight game.”
It was a roller coaster of emotions from the very beginning with Portsmouth quieting the sizeable crowd just five minutes in with a 55-yard touchdown by running back Ryan MacDonald.
It looked like Portsmouth might be running away with the game when they had the ball on East Providence’s 15 yard line after a Townie fumble. Then, a leaping interception was made by E.P.’s Paulo Pereira at the goal line to prevent the Pats’ advance.
Portsmouth made another costly mistake as the Patriots muffed a punt that was recovered by East Providence. The Townies proceeded to put together a 57-yard drive by using the running game capitalized by Trystan Casey, running it in for a 2-yard touchdown that tied the game at seven. Casey’s TD was preceded by a sprawling catch from tight end Tyler Lockard of a Ryan Ellinwood pass inside the Patriots’ five.
Portsmouth then made a big play of their own with a 25-yard touchdown pass, a slant route down the middle, from Colin Tullson to Andrew Ake that put them up 14-7 going into the half.
The Townies continued to make key plays in the second half highlighted by a 35-yard touchdown pass from Ellinwood to Jayden Chase that tied the game at 14 with two minutes to play.
It now looked like the game was heading to overtime until Portsmouth put together a game-winning 80-yard drive lead by the running of Tullson, the Pats’ senior quarterback, to put the visitors up 20-14.
On “Townie Pride Night,” the annual celebration of East Providence schools, the crowd was loud and energetic until the very end, chanting “Let’s go Townies” and “I believe that we will win” as the seconds winded down.
The Townies were then given the ball with just over a minute to play in the game. They proceeded to drive the ball down the field to Portsmouth’s 45-yard line. Then, on fourth-and-five, E.P. wasn’t able to convert and gave the ball back to Portsmouth as time expired.
“I thought our kids played really hard and they never gave up,” East Providence’s head coach Jay Monteiro said. “I am proud of my kids and hopefully we are going to bounce back next week.”
The Townies are now 0-3 in Division I play and 1-4 on the season. Meanwhile, Portsmouth is now 2-1 in Divisional play and 3-1 overall. East Providence will now prepare for another home game against LaSalle next Friday night, Oct. 10, while the Patriots travel to Cumberland the same evening.
— Story by Nick Friend
— Photos by Richard W. Dionne Jr.
