The Independent – Dec. 7, 2017
CRANSTON — They watched online streams in London and Alaska, hoping to catch a glimpse of history that had eluded generations of their North Kingstown High School football family.
Skippers everywhere finally celebrated Sunday.
North Kingstown captured the first Super Bowl title in school history and finished off a perfect season with a 34-16 victory over Moses Brown at Cranston Stadium.
“It feels amazing to be a part of history,” junior Dylan Poirier said.
North Kingstown holds a prominent place in Rhode Island high school sports annals, with more than 100 championships to its name. Super Bowl titles were the notable exception. Back when there was no postseason in football, the Skippers shared the 1967 Class C title with Coventry. In the championship era, runner-up finishes in 1987 and 1993 were as close as North Kingstown came.
Head coach Joe Gilmartin was an assistant coach on both those runner-up teams. In the week leading up to the Super Bowl return, he heard from dozens of former players. Some were in the stands Sunday. Others watched from afar.
“They’re all a part of it. It’s a family,” Gilmartin said. “We do some ceremonial things when the seniors leave that make those family roots continue to grow and grow and grow. It’s been an incredible week – email’s been lighting up with former players reaching out from all over. I’ve got a group watching in London. I got a guy watching in Alaska. They all sent me notes to let me know they were tuning in. It’s pretty cool.”
And they surely liked what they saw.
In a rematch of a 50-49, double overtime thriller, the Skippers shook off a slow start to take control before halftime. They made it a 21-0 game in the third quarter before the Quakers moved back within striking distance. But the Skippers had the finish, scoring twice in the fourth quarter and continuing to excel defensively.
When the final seconds ticked away, they celebrated a long-awaited championship.
“It’s incredible,” senior Ryan Maloney said. “I’ll never forget this day. These guys, I love them so much. To be able to do it with these guys – I’ve grown up with them my whole life – it means so much.”
A repeat of the high-scoring shootout from the regular season didn’t materialize early on, with each team coming up empty on its first four possessions despite driving into opponent territory. The Quakers had the biggest missed opportunity as receiver Joseph McGahan dropped what looked like a sure touchdown on the team’s opening series.
North Kingstown started turning the tide early in the second quarter, with defense providing the spark. Poirier sacked Moses Brown quarterback Michael Walsh for a 7-yard loss and Maloney pushed Eric Dahlberg 4 yards back on a run. The Quakers were eventually forced to punt, and a bad snap sent Walsh scrambling and barely getting off the kick. It traveled just back to the line of scrimmage, giving the Skippers the ball at the Moses Brown 20-yard line.
Five plays later, Gabe Sloat barrelled over the right side for a 4-yard touchdown. Noah Iden’s extra point made it 7-0.
Zach Pezza intercepted Walsh on Moses Brown’s next possession, and the Skippers raced the other way on a 44-yard pass from quarterback Joe Gilmartin to Max Naya. Gilmartin then hit Sloat over the middle for a 27-yard touchdown.
The Quakers drove deep into North Kingstown territory in the final minute of the half. After a touchdown was wiped out by a block in the back penalty and a Skipper interception was erased by a pass interference call, Walsh took pressure on the final drop-back of the half and was forced to throw the ball away, keeping the Skippers in front 14-0.
Early in the second half, North Kingstown delivered the kind of one-two punch that was a trademark all season. Maloney stopped a good Moses Brown drive with an interception. On the next play, GIlmartin found Sloat over the middle again and the junior rambled 80 yards for his third touchdown of the day.
“We looked at a lot of film and that was one of the things we tried to work out, just getting open in the middle of the field and trying to get past the safety,” Sloat said. “It worked twice.”
The Skippers looked poised to deliver the knockout punch when they recovered a fumble two plays into Moses Brown’s next possession. Instead, they came up empty on their next two possessions, and the Quakers took advantage. Walsh broke loose for a 36-yard run that set up a touchdown pass to Miles Barrett.
A North Kingstown punt followed, and Moses Brown needed just four plays to strike again, with Walsh hitting on long passes to Dahlberg and Jaden Pena and plunging in from a yard out to make it 21-14 with 9:58 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“We never really forgot that we had a lead,” the younger Gilmartin said. “We knew we had a lead and we just wanted to keep going and never give up at all. We knew that if we could just get one more – whether it was a field goal or touchdown – it would put a little more pressure on them and we could bounce back.”
They did just that. Runs by Sloat and Tyler Khalfayan got the Skippers moving again. Then Gilmartin hit Pezza over the middle for a 40-yard touchdown with 7:03 remaining.
It was a well-timed first catch of the day for Pezza, who had starred all season.
“I just never gave up – kept running routes, kept fighting,” Pezza said.
Maloney snagged his second interception of the day on Moses Brown’s next possession. Four plays later, Pezza was in the end zone again, this time pulling a jump ball away from Dahlberg for the exclamation point touchdown.
“I ripped it away from him,” Pezza said. “I wanted the ball. I wanted the touchdown.”
“You’ve got to give them a chance to make plays,” coach Gilmartin said. “They’re super athletes. We’re blessed with some really good kids. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Maloney’s third interception of the day felt like the finishing touch. The Skippers opted to take a safety rather than punting from their own end zone in the final minutes for Moses Brown’s last points. Fittingly, the defense followed with one last stand as Trevor Lonergan sacked Walsh and Ephraim Graham recovered the fumble.
The Skippers finished with seven sacks, six by Poirier. The junior was in the backfield all day, often joined by linemates Graham, Michael Ciarniello and Isaiah Proffitt.
“We worked real hard on it. It wasn’t good in the first game. Michael got out and ran and kind of spearheaded their comeback,” Gilmartin said. “We really focused on making sure we didn’t give him seams. We ran a pass-rush drill every day to make sure we kept him in the pocket. He did get out once, but for the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job.”
It spoke to North Kingstown’s depth that any number of players could have earned the game MVP award, but it went to the quarterback Gilmartin, who completed 16 of 28 passes for 266 yards and four touchdowns while also playing on defense.
Sloat caught four passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns, while picking up 39 yards on the ground. Naya caught eight passes – including the team’s first seven – for 83 yards. Pezza’s touchdown catches went for 66 yards. Maloney had the three interceptions and Poirier led the push up front to pace the defensive effort as Moses Brown was held to its lowest point total of the year.
“It just feels amazing,” Gilmartin said. “It’s very special to me. I’m so glad for us a team – the senior class, everyone who’s been here four years. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
The ride had humble beginnings. The seniors won one game in freshman football and were part of a program that was in the early stages of a total rebuild after three straight winless seasons in Division I. Since Gilmartin took over, the Skippers have steadily grown back into a contender – and, finally, a champion.
“It was always the goal,” Poirier said. “We knew right from double sessions that we were working for a championship.”