Pats come alive, take down Titans in rivalry battle

Matt Metcalf
Posted 11/4/14

The Pilgrim High School football team scored 38 unanswered points to run past intra-city rival Toll Gate High School, 38-14, on Saturday morning.

It was a big win for the now 3-3 Patriots, who …

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Pats come alive, take down Titans in rivalry battle

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The Pilgrim High School football team scored 38 unanswered points to run past intra-city rival Toll Gate High School, 38-14, on Saturday morning.

It was a big win for the now 3-3 Patriots, who very much remain in playoff contention, moving into fifth place in Division III behind 4-3 Lincoln with the win.

“The kids came together,” Pilgrim head coach Tom O’Connor said. “We didn’t panic, settled in and made a couple of small adjustments and the kids came through. They executed and stopped shooting themselves in their own foot. It was a good team win.”

Senior quarterback Robert Quaine totaled four touchdowns in the win for the Patriots, throwing for 141 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 66 yards and two more scores. Running back Owen Kelly also added two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving, on 174 total yards from scrimmage.

“Quaine got hurt early but came back and toughed-out an ankle injury,” O’Connor said. “Kelly is Kelly. He’s very tough to stop. We were giving him gaping holes today and the line did a great job. Kelly was the beneficiary this week of some great offensive line play.”

However, it was Toll Gate’s Alex Mowry who stole the show early. On the first play of the game, Mowry broke off a 64-yard run into the end zone to give the Titans a 6-0 lead. Just over five minutes later, Mowry found a hole on first down in Patriots’ territory, and scored on a 34-yard run. Nick Lemioe scampered into the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Titans up 14-0 with 6:16 remaining in the first quarter. Mowry was Toll Gate’s leading rusher in the game, compiling 113 yards to go along with his two first-quarter touchdowns.

“Mowry was fantastic,” Toll Gate coach Jim Stringfellow said. “He was impressive, hitting the hole hard, particularly in the first quarter.”

After Toll Gate contained Kelly on the ground for almost all of the first quarter, he was able to get the Patriots on the board on a 48-yard run with just 11 seconds to go in the opening quarter. A pass from Jim McKay to David McMullen on a fake extra point cut Pilgrim’s deficit to 14-8.

At the 5:24 mark of the second quarter, Kelly forced a fumble on defense and Pilgrim recovered at Toll Gate’s 15-yard line. On the next play, Quaine found Kelly for a 15-yard touchdown pass, tying the game 14-14.

Pilgrim forced a Toll Gate punt late in the second quarter, giving the Patriots the ball and an opportunity to take the lead going into halftime.

They did just that.

A 22-yard pass from Quaine to McMullen and a 15-yard run by Kelly helped the Patriots march down the field, taking it to the Titans’ one-yard line with just 30 seconds left. After a pair of goal line stands by the Titans’ defense, Quaine rolled out and found a wide-open Sean Cooney in the end zone, giving the Patriots a 20-14 lead at the half.

Pilgrim never looked back after taking the lead.

The Patriots received the ball to start the second half and didn’t take much time to increase its lead. Less than three minutes into the third quarter, Quaine took off and broke a number of tackles to cap off Pilgrim’s drive with a 21-yard score, giving the Patriots a two-possession lead at 26-14.

Quaine plunged into the end zone early in the fourth quarter for his fourth overall touchdown from 3 yards out, before sophomore running back Garrison Potter added some insurance on an 18-yard scamper with 2:29 left, giving the Patriots a 38-14 lead.

“Penalties on the first two drives really hurt us, after that we scored when we touched the ball,” O’Connor said. “I was very happy we stuck to the game plan. The players believed in what we were doing and they believed in the coaching staff.”

After surrendering two touchdowns on its first two drives, Pilgrim’s defense really elevated its level of play for the remainder of the game. The Patriots’ defense stifled Toll Gate offensively, allowing just 26 yards of total offense in the second half.

“Pilgrim played a hell of a game,” Stringfellow said. “They didn’t get down, came back and capitalized on our mistakes. We knew what we wanted to do and we knew what they were going to do offensively. They didn’t do anything different. It just came down to us shooting ourselves in the foot.”

With the loss, the Titans are now 1-5 and mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, a tough pill to swallow for a group of players who got the program its first win following three consecutive winless seasons.

“Absolutely, it’s tough for the seniors,” Stringfellow said. “But it’s football, it happens. Somebody’s going to be the winner and somebody has to lose. Obviously it’s a tough weekend, but we’re going to put it past us and Monday starts a new week. We have Lincoln next week, so hopefully we’ll put up a good fight against them.”

The Titans will look to get back on track when they travel to Lincoln on Friday for a 7 p. m. game. Pilgrim, on the other hand, will be in must-win mode again Friday when it hosts Hope High School for a 7 p.m. game.

“We’re going to enjoy this for today then get right back to work on Monday,” O’Connor said.

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