A requiem for the Warwick Vets-Pilgrim rivalry

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 12/1/15

The tears flowed on the Warwick Vets side after its final Thanksgiving football game, a 46-12 loss to Pilgrim, but the score wasn’t much of a concern.

The emotion stemmed from the end of …

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A requiem for the Warwick Vets-Pilgrim rivalry

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The tears flowed on the Warwick Vets side after its final Thanksgiving football game, a 46-12 loss to Pilgrim, but the score wasn’t much of a concern.

The emotion stemmed from the end of Hurricane football, with each coach offering a speech to the group as they got down on one knee.

“Like I said to them, if you have losing seasons, coach and player alike drags to get out here every day, [but] I didn’t feel the emotion of having a losing season,” Vets head coach Rob Pacifico said. “We had a bunch of kids that didn’t have all the talent in the world, but they loved playing, they loved being with each other every day. Day in, day out, that helped overcome the fact that we weren’t winning games.”

The ’Canes may not have won the game, but they delivered the last blow in the rivalry.

With Pilgrim deep in its own territory, Anthony Russo took an end-around and was stripped. Owen Amirault picked up the loose ball and took it into the end zone to secure the final score of the decades-old series.

“It means that I finally left my mark in the history of Warwick Vets football,” Amirault said. “It’s something that really means a lot to me. It’s something that will stick out my senior year and for the rest of my life.”

I went to Pilgrim from 2008 to 2012 and can attest to how much this rivalry means for both sides. I attended at least a few games every season, and Thanksgiving was always one of them. I’ve even been to each one since I graduated.

I saw Pilgrim get crushed on a couple occasions, while I saw the ’Canes receive payback as well. By far the most painful was my senior year when a called-back defensive touchdown cost Pilgrim the game (which we still don’t talk about).

One thing I never remember seeing, though, was an atmosphere like the one created this past Thursday. The field was packed at opening kickoff, with alumni, family, friends, students and faculty members pouring in to see the last of the historic rivalry.

The overwhelming majority, unsurprisingly, was Vets fans, though Pilgrim had its own strong contingent on hand to cheer the Pats to one last victory over the ’Canes.

“It’s great,” Pilgrim running back Owen Kelly said, with a smile, about the fan support. “Everyone said that everyone was going to come to this game and everyone did. It was a good turnout.”

Kelly had a memorable day of his own, accomplishing a feat that no other Pilgrim running back has ever done, according to head coach Tom O’Connor. On a 53-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Kelly surpassed the 2,000-yard rushing mark on the year.

It was only fitting that the record was set in the final Thanksgiving game, as Pilgrim-Vets has always had a few extraordinary moments every year no matter the outcome.

“It’s a great team effort,” Kelly said of his rushing record. “Wouldn’t have happened without the guys up front.”

Pacifico described the rivalry a couple weeks ago as “two brothers fighting in the backyard,” with respect and love always triumphing at the end of a hard-fought battle on the field.

That once again proved to be the case as, after the sides shook hands, O’Connor spoke to the Vets players who will be competing for a spot on the Pilgrim roster next season.

It was a bittersweet conclusion to a contest that each school waited three months to see every season. There had not been a close result since that 21-14 loss during my senior year in 2011, with a couple Vets blowouts followed by two big Pilgrim wins.

It would have been a fitting end to a back-and-forth rivalry like this one to see a close game decided in the final moments, perhaps on a game-winning field goal or game-ending interception in the end zone.

However, even with Pilgrim up the entire game, the air was never taken out of the stands. Some fans left on both sides, but most stayed to absorb the final moments of one of the state’s best annual Turkey Day matchups.

“I know what it means to the kids, I know what it means to us, city pride,” O’Connor said. “It’s good to have the last one. It’s the one that everyone is gonna remember.”

It is still tough to believe Thursday’s game was the “last one.” Pilgrim will probably start a new yearly showdown, equipped with former Vets players, against Toll Gate next season, and that rivalry will have a feel of its own. It’s not Pilgrim-Vets, though.

This game brought out every emotion and there was never a dull moment regardless of what the scoreboard said. Happiness, despair, anger, frustration and pride, among several other feelings, were all brought out on Thanksgiving Day each year, and that cannot be said about too many other rivalries.

It is sad to see Pilgrim-Vets fade into history, but the memories will always be there.

“I haven’t come to grips with it yet,” Pacifico said with a pause. “I haven’t at all. That’ll sink in at a later date. It’s still going through the motions because my mind knows that it’s going but it hasn’t sunk to the emotions yet.”

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  • JohnStark

    I recall standing 3-deep in the zone because the bleachers at Pilgrim were already full on both sides, circa 1970. It was still a half hour before kickoff. For those who pay attention, it's the second best rivalry in RI, next to LSA-EP. Best of luck in the future to all the kids from Pilgrim and Vets who clearly get it.

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