The No. 1 seeded Pilgrim Patriots edged the No. 2 Tolman Tigers 22-14 on Saturday night to win the Division III Super Bowl at Cranston Stadium. The victory marks Pilgrim’s first football championship in 44 years.

Following last year’s Super Bowl loss, where the Pats came up just a yard shy, Pilgrim returned this season with a vengeance and ran the table.

“It’s crazy, you know,” senior running back Demitri Ayres said. “After last year’s tough loss, I mean, the score shows a different story, but realistically it was a yard. We had the chance, we couldn’t get it done. And this year, all we wanted to do was get back and get it done and we did.”

With 2:10 remaining in the contest and the score deadlocked at 14, the Pats offense faced a third-and-5 from the Tolman 32 before it was whistled for back-to-back false start penalties, which fined the team 10 yards and set it up with a third-and-15 from the Tigers 42.

Those two mistakes made the Pats coaching staff very upset for a mere minute or two, but seconds later, they were all smiles because senior quarterback Mike Borges would toss a tall pass towards the right sideline into the outstretched arms of Ethan Laramee, and the senior wide receiver brought the ball to the Tolman 15 for a 27-yard gain plus a first down.

Three plays later, Borges fired a swing pass to Ayres and the running back took it to the 1. Then, Borges bulldozed his way up the gut and in for the touchdown with 36.8 seconds on the clock and gave Pilgrim what would be the game-winner and a 20-14 edge. Next, Borges ran right for the two points after and increased the Pats advantage to 22-14.

“Mike Borges, he’s been our quarterback for the last two years and leaving it on the goal line last year has really been stuck in his mind throughout this season and the offseason,” Pilgrim head coach Blake Simpson said. “So, putting the ball in his hands on the 1-yard line, there’s no better way for him to go out than to give him that opportunity again and for him to execute the play.”

Borges received the Frank Morey MVP Award for his clutch Super Bowl performance as the quarterback finished with 108 rushing yards and a touchdown and a 114 passing yards with a TD.

And after the game, the quarterback was in a bit of a daze. 

“I have no emotions,” Borges said. “I don’t know what to feel. Happy, sad, I’m just so excited. I’m so happy for my boys. We’re very close.”

“We’re the two best teams, so that’s why we deserved to be in the Super Bowl,” Borges added. “I give Tolman credit, they did great, but we just outplayed and out-disciplined them. That’s what I believe. And I feel proud and thank everyone on my team.”

With 7:07 remaining in the second quarter, Pilgrim drew a 6-0 lead when Ayres rushed in a score from seven yards out. After that, Borges ran through the middle for a successful two-point conversion and that upped the Pats lead to 8-0. 

Thirty-four seconds later, Tolman cut the deficit 8-6 when Jordan Cooper, a junior quarterback, heaved a 58-yard TD pass to wide receiver Leandro Depina, another junior, down the right sideline. Next, Cooper completed a pass to Aaron Carrion, a halfback, who took it in for the 2-point conversion and that knotted the game at 8.

Then, with 37. 4 seconds left in the half, Tolman took a 14-8 advantage when Cooper slung a 35-yard TD pass to LJ Benton Jr. But the Tigers would fail the 2-point conversion attempt following that.

Pilgrim trailed by six as the teams headed for halftime, but there the Pats made an adjustment and Ayres played at cornerback in the second half and showed up big, knocking down a couple of key passes.

“Tolman has got a lot of athletes and they were burning us over the top in the first half,” Simpson explained. “So, we just made a couple of adjustments and got our speed out there to be able to cover those matchups and he came up huge defensively for us.”

“I’m just willing to do whatever the team needs me to do,” Ayres said. “They needed me out on the field for defense, so I did what I had to do to go help the team win.”

Pilgrim evened the score at 14 when during a fourth-and-3, Borges tossed an 18-yard dart to a wide-open Connor Fallon, a senior tight end, who brought it into pay dirt.

“It’s crazy,” Fallon said. “This is what we’ve been grinding for since freshmen year. This whole senior class, our very first game was against Tolman and they absolutely smacked us around. So, it’s good to be able to see how much we’ve grown, see how we can hold our own against them. They gave us a great game, we just came out on top. We finished our goal.”

Tolman squandered a chance to go ahead after that when during a third-and-1 with 6:32 left to play, running back Cute Today fumbled the ball before the Tigers recovered it, but not before a loss of seven. Tolman went for it on a fourth-and-long and Cooper had a deep pass intercepted by Pilgrim free safety Ethan Laramee, who returned it down the right sideline to the Pats 30.

Pilgrim would then drive down the field during that series and score the TD that would get them the trophy.

Next, the Pats will travel to Warwick Vets to take on the Toll Gate Titans on Thanksgiving Day in the Beacon Bowl. Pilgrim trails that series 2-1, but the Pats would like to even it and stay unbeaten this year.

“We’re trying to keep the undefeated streak going,” Fallon said. “The season’s not over yet. We’ve got one more.”

Coach Simpson on the other hand, downplayed the exhibition.

“I love a good rivalry, but winning that game will never eclipse the feeling of winning this game,” Simpson said.

But of course the coach would still like to end the season on a high note.

“We’ve never beaten Toll Gate at Vets for the Beacon Bowl, so that’s something that we’re trying to check off the bucket list,” Simpson concluded.