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November 27, 2007

Division III: Moses Brown vs. Johnston

EAST PROVIDENCE - He is a veteran, a captain and the starting quarterback, and last night Billy Cosmopulos lived up to each of those titles right when his team needed him most.

Completing 13 of 17 passes for 180 yards, including two of them for touchdown passes, as well as rushing for another 70 yards, the senior led Moses Brown to a 21-0 victory over Johnston in semifinal action of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division III playoffs, last night Pierce Stadium.

With the win, Quakers earned a return trip to the Citizens Bank Division III Super Bowl, where it will face Ponaganset at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Bryant University.

``He played about as good as we could have hoped for,’’ Moses Brown coach LaJhon Jones said of Cosmopulos. ``He’s been consistent all year, but I would say he saved his best game for the playoffs. He was a great leader out there.’’

Cosmopulos put the Quakers on the board in the first quarter when he hit Sushil Trivedi with a 30-yard touchdown pass, which Jordan Anderson followed with a successful kick for the extra point.

Mark Petros, who finished the game with about 80 yards on 10 carries, scored on a 5-yard run to send Moses Brown into halftime leading 13-0.

The Quakers – the top seed after finishing on top of Division III during the regular season with a 7-1 record - took a commanding lead in the third quarter when Trivedi hauled in a 47-yarder from Cosmopulos, then rushed for the 2-point conversion.

``Honestly, they were the better team tonight,’’ said Johnston coach Joe Acciardo, whose team made tremendous strides this season after going 2-6 and failing to make the playoffs last fall.

``We were inviting the run because we thought we would match up with them better that way. And they did run, but we didn’t tackle well and I thought we missed a lot of opportunities to stop that running game. When they beat us there, you have to say, `Okay, it’s not our time.’ ’’

Although Moses Brown had prevailed in the teams’ regular-season meeting, 42-34, the top-seeded Quakers say they knew they had their work cut out for them.

``All 11 guys played really well,’’ said Jones. ``It takes 11 guys to stop a team like that. We limited our missed tackles. We kept our game plan and our game plan worked this week.

``Defensively, I think we only allowed them four first downs in the whole game,’’ he added. ``We held (Matt Russo) to under 100 yards, and we bottled up Brandon Parillo. And we were really worried about those two guys.’’

This marks Moses Brown’s fifth trip to a Super Bowl Championship in seven years, its second in a row in Division III.

``We started the season 0-2, but these kids got better every week,’’ Jones said. ``They stumbled against Mt. Pleasant, but maybe that was a wake-up call because they’ve continued to get better since then. Hopefully we’ve saved our best game for Dec. 3 at Bryant.’’

--CAROLYN THORNTON

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 8:28 PM to High School | Permalink

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