New-look Pats preparing for D-II

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 8/30/16

The merger wasn't going to be easy, but Pilgrim head football coach Rob Pacifico and his staff have tried to make it as smooth as possible. Combining players from the Warwick Vets and Pilgrim football teams never

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New-look Pats preparing for D-II

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The merger wasn’t going to be easy, but Pilgrim head football coach Rob Pacifico and his staff have tried to make it as smooth as possible.

Combining players from the Warwick Vets and Pilgrim football teams never was an issue of chemistry. Pacifico said that early in the summer the former ’Canes were already searching out Pats gear, and the two sides have worked together seamlessly so far.

The playbook, though, could have posed an issue. In order to make the workload equal, Pacifico, the ’Canes’ head coach last year, imported the Vets defensive scheme. The Pilgrim offense stayed in place, allowing the players to adapt to just one new set.

“We’re comfortable with it so far,” Pacifico said. “It’s still a work in progress, especially defense, having a lot more previous Pilgrim kids, but that way each kid is only learning one side of the ball brand new. It’s really helped with the adjustments.”

The Pats, who will return to Division II for the first time since 2013, scrimmaged Division-I Cranston East at Warwick Vets on Saturday. It was the final tuneup before Injury Fund this Thursday against Toll Gate, and it couldn’t have found a much tougher opponent.

The ’Bolts immediately took it to Pilgrim, showing no mercy on defense early. Quarterback Justin Neary tossed a bullet to the back of the end zone to kick off scoring, and running back Malik Gavek scored virtually untouched on a sweep.

“This was a good test,” Pacifico said. “We probably had a few kids who didn’t think they could compete at this level, but they saw a taste of it today and they know they can compete with these kind of kids. For most of the kids who played Division III last year, getting ready to play in Division II, to know that they can handle Division I kids is going to be extremely helpful going forward.”

While the East charge was at times unrelenting, there were standouts on the defensive side of the ball for Pilgrim. Captain Ty Weldon-Martin, who also stars at wide receiver, was all over the field as a defensive back. Whether he helped crowd the line or break up a pass, the senior was omnipresent.

Weldon-Martin, as he was last year, will represent Pilgrim’s best threat to stretch the field on offense as well. The Pats will need every bit of offense he can provide, too, after losing 2,000-yard rusher Owen Kelly in the offseason. Former ’Cane Nate Ferri and Sean Cooney will help control the ground game, but through the air Weldon-Martin could be a crutch in 2016.

He even recovered a fumble on special teams. Weldon-Martin dashed down the field and crowded the returner, setting himself up in prime position as the ball popped out of his hands and into Weldon-Martin’s.

“He’s an unbelievable athlete,” Pacifico said of Weldon-Martin. “Smart kid, and very, very disciplined. In a day where there’s not too many of them, he’s a ‘Yes sir, no sir,’ kind of kid. He’s going to play an extremely pivotal role for us.”

Defensive end Jamal Martey is one of Pilgrim’s most versatile edge rushers, and it showed against the ’Bolts. The swarming senior put the most pressure on East’s quarterbacks all morning, tearing through the line at will on a couple of occasions.

“That son of a gun brings an energy that other kids just can’t match,” Pacifico said of Martey. “He’s always up. He always has a bounce to him.”

It was just a scrimmage, so game action should lend more insight into Pilgrim’s potential this season. However, every snap counts in the quarterback battle between captain James McKay and Vets newcomer James Baldwin.

Pacifico said there has been little headway in making a decision between the two, and Saturday did little to help. McKay threw the only touchdown pass for Pilgrim, but Baldwin looked to have better accuracy on his attempts.

Each will get to play one quarter in Thursday’s game against Toll Gate. Pacifico said he will make his choice after Injury Fund.

“It’s been 50/50,” Pacifico said of his quarterbacks. “We’re hoping to make a decision coming out of the Injury Fund, but it’s still, neither one of them’s taken a backseat yet. It’s been a healthy competition. We like where we’re at.”

Pilgrim’s early schedule should help ease the transition from Division III back into D-II. The Pats open with Mount Pleasant (2-5) before a meeting with familiar foe East Greenwich, which went undefeated en route to a Division III title last year.

After tangling with the Avengers, Pilgrim faces another pair of 2-5 squads, Westerly and Johnston.

The Pats will have to take advantage of the favorable early slate, because the back end gets tougher. Pilgrim hosts Moses Brown, the unblemished D-II champs from last season, on Oct. 21, before heading to West Warwick (5-2) the week after.

Pilgrim can foster some momentum with its last league contest of the year against Middletown, which went 3-5 in D-III in 2015.

The most significant factor for the Pats so far is that the team chemistry is strong right now. Mixing rivals sometimes may not end well, but that’s not the case at Pilgrim. Weldon-Martin, McKay, Garet Sylvestre and Mitchell Fielding have all been named captains, providing leadership for the incumbent Pilgrim players and helping unite them with the Vets incomers.

Pacifico said the two sides have become one, which is crucial for a team that will need all hands on deck to make a run in D-II.

“There’s healthy competition for [starting] jobs, but that Vets-Pilgrim thing was gone the first week of July with passing league stuff,” Pacifico said. “That transition has been very healthy. These kids knew it was coming, and the kids are a lot more resilient than us adults. The kids were ready for it.”

“We’re all coming together as a team,” Martey said. “We had football camp, we’ll be good this year. We’re one heartbeat this year.”

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