Sports
Eagles Drop First Football Game to Portsmouth
Undefeated at 3-0 going into the game, Barrington fell to the 2-1 Portsmouth Patriots in a Homecoming battle on a misty Friday night.
The Barrington High School Eagles took on the Portsmouth Patriots last Friday night in what was considered to be one of the games of the week in Rhode Island high school football. It was also Homecoming.
Barrington held a slim one-game lead over Portsmouth and East Providence in the Division I standings heading into what ended up being a defensive standoff for the most part. The outcome ended the Eagles' unbeaten streak, 17-7.
The first half was a battle of punts and squandered fourth-down attempts. No team was able to get past the opposing team's 40-yard line in the opening half and both offenses looked very lethargic.
Find out what's happening in Barringtonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As the second half began, it looked like Barrington was going to grab the momentum when the opening kick-off landed at the Portsmouth one-yard line and the Patriot kick returner was only able to advance the ball to the 10-yard line.
Barrington aided the resulting 90-yard Portsmouth drive with two penalties, including a 15-yard facemask penalty on the second play. But Portsmouth running back Austin Szczepaniak was the key to the drive by constantly picking up positive yards and punishing the Barrington defense.
Find out what's happening in Barringtonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Szczepaniak capped off the drive with a 34-yard touchdown gallop that gave Portsmouth a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing drive, Barrington continued to shoot itself in the foot with a costly holding penalty, which brought up a second and 17. Quarterback Jackson Ryan then was intercepted by Ben Willett of Portsmouth. The interception led to an 8-yard touchdown pass from Bobby Chavous to Dylan Medeiros.
Trailing now by 14 points with under a minute to play in the third quarter, Barrington faced a fourth and four. Ryan executed a perfect play-action pass to a wide-open Alexander Spiess for a touchdown to cut the Portsmouth lead in half after a successful kick.
But Portsmouth took control of the game on the next possession, marching down the field with a bevy of Szczepaniak runs. The Eagles did manage to force a field goal, but they still trailed by 10.
And on that drive, Spiess and Medeiros were ejected for committing personal fouls. The loss of Spiess seemed to stall the Barrington offense. It couldn't move the ball from that point on.