Juanita Sanchez football enters playoffs with momentum and belief

WEST GREENWICH – Zakhi Hightower knows he owes Josian Franco a touchdown.Franco did the dirty work – the defensive pressure, a swatted pass – so Hightower just had to walk in for the game-breaking score. Juanita Sanchez/Providence Country Day cruised the rest of the night.Hightower’s interception return for a touchdown highlighted a breakout second quarter for the Cavaliers. Their season will continue with a clean slate, and a playoff date next week awaits after a 34-22 victory over Exeter-West Greenwich on Thursday night, Oct. 29.Juanita Sanchez (3-4) currently has the fifth seed in Division IV after the victory on Oct. 29. The fourth spot, in this ever-changing RPI system, is within reach pending the weekend’s results. More defensive plays like Hightower’s 25-yard pick-six would make this co-op a dangerous team in the knockout stages.Watch RI games on NFHS Network all season!“I'm going to give my praise to [Franco],” Hightower said. “If it wasn't for him swatting the ball, I would have never caught the pick-six. But luckily, I caught it and took it back to the crib.“We got the momentum and stops and went from there. We just kept getting the ball back-to-back, and we were just putting up points.”The visitors sparked a 19-point second quarter with Maxwell Tuthill’s 1-yard touchdown on the opening possession of the frame. The Knights went ahead 16-0 in the closing seconds of the opening quarter but aided Juanita Sanchez with a pair of personal fouls on their first scoring drive. Two more penalties on the ensuing drive pushed the Knights back to their own end before Hightower made his opportunistic play.EWG started the following drive with two more penalties, in a game that lasted 2½ hours, and then fumbled away possession. Juanita Sanchez took advantage as Tuthill hit Jadiel Williams for a 61-yard touchdown up the right side.“It feels great. We fought through a lot of adversity this season,” Tuthill said. “So to be able to come up on top like this, that's huge. We got kids traveling to practice, dealing with the traffic of the bridge every single day. I'm one of them. It's just huge for these kids, and I'm so proud of them. We work so hard.”Khamari Smith recovered another fumble on EWG’s first drive of the second half, and Juanita Sanchez again turned it into points. Tuthill found Jon Richardson for a 20-yard touchdown that made it 27-16 with 4:18 left in the frame. Tuthill ended the night with a 4-yard touchdown rush with 10:32 left in regulation.“We had a couple of unwanted things that happened last week. We had a couple suspensions,” Tuthill said. “Being able to fight through that first quarter was huge. It was huge for us, for sure.”Juanita Sanchez will travel to North Smithfield next week, if the current standings hold through the weekend. That would put the Cavaliers on No. 1 Central Falls’ side of the bracket, a team that just slipped past them 13-6 two weeks ago. The rest of the division might be chasing Narragansett. The Mariners have been the league's thorn for the last few years, with only Davies, which is in D-III now, able to solve the South County program.“I think my job is just to continue to motivate my guys,” Tuthill said. “Show up to practice every day, work hard and ask questions, so we don't have to ask in the game.”This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Juanita Sanchez football enters playoffs with momentum and beliefOur editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.