"We think they’re a great team, but we thought we helped them out," Ponaganset head coach Tom Marcello said. "The score doesn’t indicate how the game was played."
The Chieftains will have a chance to settle the score against Moses Brown on Saturday at Bryant University in the D-III Super Bowl at 12:30 p.m. The top-seeded Quakers advanced to the title game by crushing Johnston, 21-0, in the semifinals. Ponaganset punched its ticket with a 28-9 victory over defending champion East Greenwich – its first win over the Avengers in six years.
The Chieftains have a reason to be confident based on their accomplishments this season. Two weeks ago, they beat Division II rival Burrillville on Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years. On Tuesday, they snapped a four-game skid against East Greenwich, which was also their first playoff win since Marcello took over the program three years ago. And now the Chieftains are on the cusp of their first state championship since winning the D-IV Super Bowl in 1997.
"The confidence we’ve gained over the last two games cannot be underscored," Marcello said. "To beat Burrillville and East Greenwich in the same season gives us an awful lot of confidence going forward."
To beat the Quakers on Saturday, Ponaganset needs to clean up its mistakes from its first game in October. Nursing a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, Chieftains running back Nick Keeling left the game with an injury, delivering a major blow to the team’s offense. Keeling is also the punter, so the Chieftains were victimized on special teams when the Quakers blocked two punts to set up a pair of touchdowns.
"Looking back on it, we know we have to improve on special teams," Marcello said. "When Nick went down, a series of unfortunate events followed. Those blocked punts led to two 20-yard fields for them and they scored both times. They also got an interception, which led to a 40-yard field and another touchdown."
Giving Moses Brown’s offense a short field is a recipe for disaster. Anchored by senior quarterback Billy Cosmopulos, the Quakers led the league in scoring with 221 points and are making their fifth trip to the championship game in six years (they also advanced to three D-IV Super Bowls before making the jump to D-III in 2006).
Moses Brown buried Johnston early on Tuesday night behind a pair of touchdown passes from Cosmopulos to Sushil Trivedi (30 and 47 yards) and put the game away in the third quarter on Mark Petros’ 5-yard touchdown run.
"Cosmopulos is a great runner," Marcello said. "They run the spread offense and take advantage of your weaknesses. If you take away the pass, they’ll run it. If you bunch up against the run, they’ll throw it.
"Everyone who thinks of Moses Brown thinks of a high-powered offense, but they do a good job of clock management and getting first downs, too. They do the things that really help you win football games and keep you off the field. They’re a team that’s playing great football at this point."
So are the Chieftains, who have not lost since the Avengers beat them earlier this month and have a chance to win 10 games this season with a victory on Saturday, which would equal Marcello’s win total in his first two years at the helm combined.
Quarterback Caleb Gelsomino, wide receivers Josh Morgan and Russell Morin and Keeling will help lead an offense that finished third in the league in scoring in 2007.
"I think we’re playing the best football we’ve played in my three years here," said Marcello, who led the Chieftains to a 3-7 finish in 2005 and a 7-3 record last season. "The coaches are in sync, the kids are on the same page and everyone is working toward a common goal. We’re finding ways to get it done."
The Chieftains’ rise to the top comes just three years after a winless season in D-III. Marcello has steadily built the program back to respectability and now the team is one win away from its first Super Bowl title in a decade.
The Chieftains walked away from their first game against Moses Brown feeling like they’d made one too many mistakes. On Saturday, they’ll have a chance to avenge that loss and end any dispute about who’s the best team in the state.
"One of my assistant coaches, Troy Lambert, coached our seniors when they were freshmen and he told them way back then they’d go to a Super Bowl," Marcello said. "The minute I stepped onto the field when they were sophomores, it was evident the team had a lot of talent.
"We’ve just taken it one game at a time without getting too far ahead of ourselves. They remember where they were three years ago at 0-11 before I came on board. We still remember. These kids still remember what it’s like to lose every game, so they know not to take anything for granted."
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