Pilgrim senior quarterback Mike Borges passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third as the Patriots beat the Chariho Chargers 28-14 on Friday night in Division III. Demitri Ayres, the Pats senior running back, also added a score on the ground.

Pilgrim, who finished as the DIII runner up last season, has had plenty of success this season running the ball with both Borges and Ayres and it was no different against Chariho.

“The run game is still working well for us,” Pats head coach Blake Simpson said. “They take a lot of the load of offense on their shoulders and it was basically a dogfight out here with them following our line. We’re pretty pleased with the way that went on.” 

The Pats led by two touchdowns midway through the third frame, but Chariho would cut the deficit to six before Pilgrim eventually pulled away again.

“It was definitely a close game,” Simpson said. “Chariho was 3-1, so we weren’t sleeping on them at all. They came out early and they fought hard throughout the whole game. And we made some great plays that we were able to score on in the second half, some late in the game, and that definitely helped.”

Borges put the Pats up 6-0 with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter when he ran a keeper up the middle and into pay dirt from one yard out. After that, the quarterback ran a sneak right during the two-point attempt and extended the Pilgrim lead to 8-0.

Pilgrim extended its buffer to 14-0 with 7:28 left in the third frame when Borges connected on a 19-yard slant to Ethan Laramee, a senior slotback. The two-point attempt rush by Ayres following the score was unsuccessful.

Laramee was hurt on the scoring play and left the game and would not return.

The Chargers got within a score at 14-7 after Zach Boschwitz, Chariho’s sophomore quarterback, rushed in a three-yard score with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter. After that, Andrew Havens followed with the extra point.

Then, with 10:06 left in the fourth frame, Ayres ran in a touchdown from one yard out and that put the Pats on top 20-7. On the play prior to that, Borges connected on a 10-yard pass to Cesar Pascual, a senior.

Chariho got within 20-14 with 7:25 remaining, when Boschwitz hooked up with John Haxton on an eight-yard play-action passing touchdown.

But the Pats drew some breathing room when Borges heaved a 28-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Asadorian, a senior, with 1:02 remaining and that gave Pilgrim a 28-14 margin.

With the victory, Pilgrim stays perfect at 6-0 in the league and travels to unbeaten Narragansett (5-0) next on Friday night at 7 p.m. for another enticing duel. Both teams are 7-0 overall.

“Narragansett hasn’t played Chariho yet either, so we’re not really sure how that matchup would be,” Simpson said. “But we’re definitely looking forward to the matchup against Narragansett next week down at their field. We travel pretty well.”

Simpson and the Pats hope to have Laramee back for that contest.