D-III Football: Mariners, Islanders Play for Super Bowl Berth

For the second year in a row, the Middletown Islanders and the Narragansett Mariners will compete for a berth in the Division III Super Bowl game, although this year, the roles are reversed for the two teams.

The Islanders host Narragansett at 7 p.m. at the stadium at Gaudet Middle School.

In 2011, the Mariners were the No. 2 seed and favorites against No. 3 seeded Middletown. However, a slew of personal fouls on Narragansett and six fumbles, three lost, led to 38-22 win for Middletown.

For our coverage and video from that game, click here. The Islanders then lost in the Super Bowl to Rogers. Middletown beat Moses Brown 21-0 in the 2010 Division III Super Bowl.

This year, the teams met up once in the regular season. On Oct. 26, Middletown beat Narragansett 48-20. Middletown finished the Division III schedule undefeated, a perfect 8-0, and went 9-2 overall. Narragansett went 4-4 to earn the No. 4 seed, earning the berth thanks to a tiebreaker over Ponaganset.

According to records at Rhode Island High School Sports, Narragansett last won a division title in 2003, when the Mariners went 10-0 to take the Division IV crown. The Mariners have never played for a Division III title, but did win Class B championships in 1986 and 1987.

We’ll be in Middletown, tweeting about the game – Follow our Twitter account to get score updates. We will also update the Narragansett Facebook and South Kingstown Facebook accounts at the end of quarters.

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