Taunton football falls just short of King Philip in Hockomock Kelley-Rex showdown
WRENTHAM— They came close, but in the end, Taunton football fell just short Friday night.
The Division 1 No. 2 Tigers (3-1) fell 26-24 to Division 2 No. 2 King Philip (4-0) at Mactaz Field for their first overall loss and first Hockomock Kelley-Rex loss of the season.
“I’m proud of our kids, we battled hard,” Taunton coach Brad Sidwell said. “They never gave up even down there on the last drive and we had a chance to tie it up.”
With the clock running against them, and after being assessed a 10-yard penalty to make it 1st and 20 at the Warrior 40 yard line, quarterback Jacob Leonard found a wide open Jose Touron, who ran it in for a touchdown to make it 26-24 with 1:21 left to play. Taunton went for two to try and tie things up, but a strong show of force by the KP defensive line shut running back Malachi Johnson out of the end zone and all but secured the win for the Warriors.
The failure to convert on the point after was a common costly theme for the Tigers, who went 0-for-3 on two point conversions while kicker Johnny Escobalez missed his only point after try of the evening, all points which could have given Taunton a marquee victory to start their Kelley-Rex campaign.
“We were really bad on special teams,” Sidwell said. “We can’t kick and we had a kickoff return against us (nearly for a touchdown) so we’ve got to get that shored up.”
Despite the loss, it was an otherwise solid performance for the Tigers all around, with Leonard going 17-for-23 for 263 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception while Touron and fellow wide receiver Dmitrius Shearrion having nine catches for 134 yards with two touchdowns and three catches for 93 yards and a touchdown, respectively.
“(Leonard) was hot early on and they did a couple good things to get him off his spot in the second half but he still made a couple of great throws,” Sidwell said. “We had a lot of good throws there and I thought our receivers played great.”
The backfield also performed well, with Johnson having 13 carries for 69 yards and Bryan Batista having nine carries for 35 yards, a touchdown and a fumble.
“We actually ran the ball today pretty well against these guys, these guys don’t give up four touchdowns too often so I’m proud of the way our guys played,” Sidwell said.
On the defensive side of things, Ryan McDougall led the way with six tackles while Ethan Harris had four and a half tackles, Elijah Prophete had three tackles and Nathan LaPlant had two and a half tackles.
”We knew that they’d be tough, they line up and run it on everybody, but I’m proud of our defensive effort,” Sidwell said.
As for KP, running back Kyle Abbott led the way with 24 carries for 110 yards, a pair of touchdowns, a fumble and a sack on defense. Quarterback Tom McLeish was four-for-eight with 83 passing yards and a touchdown, which was received by wide receiver Will LaPlante on his only catch of the evening for 42 yards, while fullback Will Astorino had eight carries for 99 yards and a touchdown and David Constantine had six tackles and a fumble recovery.
Both teams came out of the gates red hot, with Taunton driving down field on the opening drive, culminating in a 24 yard pass to Touron for the touchdown to make it 6-0 with 8:48 left in the first quarter, and it would stay that way as Escobalez missed the extra point.
Not to be outdone, after the Warriors returned the ball to their own 36 yard line, Astorino broke through on the first of the drive and dashed downfield for the 64-yard touchdown to bring the score level and the resulting point after by kicker Matt Kelley gave KP the 7-6 lead with 8:32 left.
Seeing the hosts raise the stakes, the Tigers responded right back as on the first play of their next drive, Leonard found Shearrion, who ran it from 70 yards out to put Taunton back on top 12-7 with 8:15 remaining in the opening quarter for the third overall touchdown in 33 seconds.
Looking to make up for lost points, Taunton went for two but Leonard’s pass to Matt Small fell incomplete, leaving the visitors with just a five point cushion as they kicked the ball back to the Warriors.
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KP capitalized again on their next drive, though this time not on the first play of it but rather the fifth as McLeish found LaPlante who brought it in from 42 yards out to put the Warriors back on top 13-12 with 5:26 left in the opening quarter. The hosts then elected to go for two, with McLeish attempting to bring it in himself but he was stopped short of the goal line by the Tiger defense to keep the game within a point.
From there, Taunton embarked on a longer drive, largely carried on the backs of Johnson and Batista, with the latter punching it in from two yards out to make it 18-13 with 9:55 left in the second quarter. Again the Tigers tried for two and again they fell short as Leonard’s intended pass for Shearrion came up incomplete.
On the resulting kickoff, Andrew LaPlante nearly ran the ball back from roughly 60 yards out but was finally forced out at the three yard line, though Abbott finished the job on the very next play as he carried it in from three out to put the Warriors back on top 19-18, and with Abbott being stopped short on the resulting two point try, the score would stay that way with 9:36 left in the half and continued to stay that way as both sides headed into halftime.
KP received the ball to start the second half and took advantage of the opportunity as Abbott capped off the drive with a 10 yard touchdown run for his second score of the night to make it 25-18, then 26-18 with 7:12 left in the third quarter as Kelley hit his second of two point after attempts.
From there, the game became a true battle of attrition, with neither side giving way as the Warriors hoped to keep the Tigers at arm’s reach while Taunton looked for their opportunity to strike back, one which they found later in the fourth quarter as Abbott fumbled a would-be touchdown in the end zone that was recovered by Taunton and brought out to their 20 with the touch back.
With the clock working against them, the Tigers drove down field as Leonard got back-to-back first downs off of catches by Touron and Shearrion respectively while Batista and Johnson added additional yards on the ground. A 10 yard penalty at the KP 30 pushed Taunton back to the 40 but it did little to stop their offense as Touron was left uncovered on his rout and Leonard connected with him for the touchdown to bring the Tigers back within two, 26-24, with 1:21 left to play and set up the most crucial two point attempt of the game.
“That was a great throw but an even better rout (by Touron) just getting there and catching it and running hard but we kind of knew that would be the way we’d have to do it and we did,” Sidwell said.
As the Warriors stopped Johnson short of the goal line, their sideline and the home crowd erupted in celebration as they took back to the field and were able to run out the clock for the win and break the hearts of all Taunton players and fans in attendance.
For Sidwell, he says the loss will serve as an important lesson for the Tigers on how they can’t take chances for granted, especially in one of the toughest football leagues in the state.
“This will be a learning experience that in the Hockomock League it’ll take two or three plays (to win) and unfortunately for us we were one short this time,” Sidwell said.
The Tigers will now look to get their first league win of the season next Friday as they return to Aleixo “Tiger” Stadium for the first time in 11 months to host Franklin (3-1), who beat North Attleboro 21-20 Friday, for their first game on the new turf field.
Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Extra point errors prove costly for Taunton football against KP
