North Kingstown’s Billy Zile, left, and Stephen Siravo of South Kingstown battle for the ball in the first half of last night’s game. Click here to see a gallery of game photos.

The Journal / Ruben W. Perez

NORTH KINGSTOWN — What better way to kick off the boys soccer season than with a clash between last year’s state finalists?

After battling for the Division I state championship at Rhode Island College last fall, North Kingstown and South Kingstown were back at it last night, opening their 2008 campaigns against each other at the Anthony C. Perry Athletic Complex.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better than this. This is great,” said South Kingstown’s first-year head coach, Scott Rollins. “I told these guys when I first saw the schedule that you want to play a team like North in the first game. We wanted a chance back at them after that final last year. It’s always a great rivalry. I looked forward to it as a coach, and I said I couldn’t think of a better way to start my career than to play North, at North.”

But the night didn’t play out the way Rollins had probably envisioned. North Kingstown’s Joseph Montecalvo spoiled Rollins’ chances of putting up a “W” in his debut as the Rebels’ head coach as the junior forward netted the game-winner with just under eight minutes remaining to give the defending state-champion Skippers a 2-1 victory in the I-South matchup.

“I actually told my brother [assistant coach Steve Froberg] on the way over, ‘You watch, Joey’s going to come through today and score,’ ” said North Kingstown head coach Kyle Froberg. “He just has a knack to score goals. He’s the kind of kid that might go unnoticed sometimes, but he’s just got a nose for the goal.”

North Kingstown had taken the lead a little less than midway through the first half when senior midfielder and co-captain Russell Dauksis — one of three returning starters from last year, along with Andrew Hess and Billy Zile — headed in a corner kick by senior midfielder Andrew Bretti.

But South Kingstown tied it up before the end of the half when Matthew Floskis took a feed from Ryan Stone and put a shot past a diving Skippers goalkeeper Spencer Hagist.

That’s the way the score would stay until Bretti hit Hess with a pass at the right wing with 7:41 to play.

Hess then fired a cross to Montecalvo, who one-timed it into the net for what would prove to be the deciding goal.

Last night’s contest felt like a playoff atmosphere, says Froberg, which his team his team needs right now. Having graduated 13 players, the challenge, the Skippers coach says, is getting the new starters used to an intensity level that many of them have never experienced.

“It was the first game of the season and everybody’s going to come out a little nervous,” he said. “We’ve got some guys that hadn’t played in the back for us, and that I think is the most nerve-racking position because you make a mistake, it’s in the back of the net. Same with our goalkeeper. So it’s just that energy in the first 10 minutes because (South Kingstown’s) up for the game; we’re up for the game. So you’ve just got to simmer down after that, and it seemed like after that first 10 we started to establish ourselves. I thought the last 15 minutes of the first half, they took it to us. And then the whole 40 minutes (of the second half), I thought we did very well.”

Although South Kingstown returns seven starters from last year’s runner-up squad, the Rebels are going through an adjustment period following the retirement of longtime coach Bob Cavanagh. It’s been going well so far, though, says Rollins.

“I have the advantage of being the jayvee coach [for the last four years], so these kids kind of know what I expected from the start,” he said. “So that adjustment period wasn’t really as big as it could have been if I was somebody knew to the school completely.

“I thought the kids played great tonight,” he continued. “We’re playing a little bit of a different system, so I think it might take us a little while to get into the flow. But . . . I’m where I want to be for two weeks of practice. I think what we saw out there is the brand of soccer I want to play — quick touching, move the ball from side to side, a little bit more possession soccer. I thought we played a real good first half. When you look at it, we had two defensive lapses and there were two goals.”

cthorn@projo.com