The Pilgrim Patriots went to Smithfield early Saturday afternoon and crushed the Sentinels 57-6 during their homecoming game.

Pilgrim senior quarterback Mike Borges rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more, while Demitri Ayres, the Pats’ senior running back, rushed for three scores.

“Mike did a great job today controlling the game, controlling the clock, and he sprung a couple long TD runs,” Pilgrim head coach Blake Simpson said. “So, it was nice to see that. And Demitri, he’s a workhorse and we like to get him involved a lot with our offense. He has great vision running the ball, so we’re very proud with them in the backfield.”

On the first play of the game, Smithfield sophomore quarterback Corey Conlin faked a handoff to running back Max Holroyd before taking it himself 65 yards and to the house while giving the Sentinels an early 6-0 lead.

However, the Pilgrim defense was stout minus that play and that’s all Smithfield would muster.

“There was a miscommunication on the very first play from scrimmage,” Simpson explained. “So, clean that up a little bit, and maybe next week we’ll be able to pitch a shutout.”

“But we’re going up against a very tough Ponaganset team that’s strong up front,” added Simpson. “So, we’re looking for a nice competition right there.”

Three plays later, Borges, sprinted 62 yards, broke a tackle and brought it into the end zone and evened the score at 6.

Next, during the 2-point conversion, Borges connected on a pass to Connor Fallon, a senior tight end, and increased the Pats edge to 8-6.

After that, Smithfield’s Conlin fumbled a snap and the ball was recovered by Pilgrim’s Danny Halliwell, an outside linebacker, at the Smithfield 15.

Next, on first down, Borges passed 15 yards to Halliwell, who was now at running back, and he took it into pay dirt, and upped the Pilgrim advantage to 14-6.

Then, during Smithfield’s ensuing drive, Pilgrim free safety Ethan Laramee intercepted Conlin’s pass at the Pats 45.

Three plays into Pilgrim’s possession, Borges ran a keeper 37 yards, middle, left for a touchdown and gave the Pats a 20-6 lead with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter.

After that, Borges ran a keeper right and up the gut for the 2-point conversion, which extended the Pats advantage to 22-6. 

On the final play of the first quarter, Ayres rushed left, 16 yards and into pay dirt and gave the Pats a 28-6 buffer. That score was set up by a Borges 47-yard scamper two plays prior.

Austin Kilduff, Pilgrim’s sophomore kicker, buried the extra point after that and expanded the Pats margin to 29-6.

Pilgrim upped its cushion to 36-6 when Ayres rushed for 29 yards before taking it into the house with 9:48 remaining in the first half.

Then, the Pats brought a 43-6 point-differential into halftime after Ayres rushed 13 yards and into the end zone, six and a half minutes later, for his third straight touchdown.

Next, Pilgrim’s Dylan Gallagher, a senior wideout, returned the second half opening kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown and put the Pats on top 50-6.

Lastly, on first down of Smithfield’s ensuing possession, Conlin fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Pilgrim’s Gabe Haley, a junior, at the Sentinels 25.

Two plays later, Borges connected on a pass to Fallon for a touchdown, which ballooned the Pats advantage to 57-6.

This was the second straight blowout win for the Pats as they improve to 2-0 on the young season and seek a return back in the D-III Super Bowl for a second straight year.

“With a lot of returners and key players on our team, I think we have a good shot to make it back there,” Simpson said. “But it’s very early in the season and you never know with injuries and stuff like that. So, we’re just going to keep our fingers crossed and take it week by week.”

Borges didn’t want to look too far ahead and is just trying to take it week by week as well.

“We worked well as a team for the past two weeks,” Borges said. “Our running game was unstoppable for two weeks. Four rushing touchdowns last week by our running back (Ayres), and this week we had five rushing touchdowns between the running back and I, and we had two passing touchdowns. So, everything’s clicking in the first three quarters.”

“But I’m not feeling over confident,” Borges added. “One game at a time. I’m just focusing on Ponaganset now. One week at a time. Don’t think too much, because then we start losing.” 

Next, Pilgrim will try and spoil the Chieftains homecoming game when they travel to Ponaganset (2-0) on Friday at 4:30 p.m.