Coaching carousel sets stage for Pats-Titans

Posted 10/30/14

Being only a few miles apart makes Toll Gate and Pilgrim High School intimately familiar with one another in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to sports.

This Saturday at 10 a.m. on the …

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Coaching carousel sets stage for Pats-Titans

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Being only a few miles apart makes Toll Gate and Pilgrim High School intimately familiar with one another in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to sports.

This Saturday at 10 a.m. on the Titans’ football field, the familiarity will rise to a new level.

The two teams will square off for the first time in a league game since 2011. That alone makes it an important game, but the coaching connection adds a new layer to an already thriving rivalry.

Toll Gate head coach Jim Stringfellow spent the last half-decade as an assistant coach at Pilgrim, and he coached there prior to that as well. He also attended Pilgrim and played four years of football for the Pats.

When the position with the Titans opened up this off-season and Stringfellow made the decision to leave and take his first head-coaching job. It’ll be a little bit different coaching against his old team this weekend, but it’ll be exciting nonetheless.

“I coached there for a while, leaving last year and coming over here, we’re cross-town rivals,” Stringfellow said. “This is a big week. There’s a lot of stuff that we’d like to accomplish.”

The connection between the two schools doesn’t stop there. Toll Gate offensive coordinator Jack Paliotte had the same role over at Pilgrim previously, and he also served as the head coach for a brief period. Matt Rasso, Toll Gate’s offensive line coach, played at Pilgrim, while assistant coach Erik Stachurski is a lacrosse coach at Pilgrim.

The ties between the teams run deep.

“This is a very big week for us and the team,” Stringfellow said. “We want to go and we feel that we can win. They’re coming to us, which is great. I think that this could be another win for us.”

Since Stringfellow’s move across the city, Pilgrim has made plenty of changes. The offense is entirely different from the way it was a year ago – although some of the personnel the same – and there isn’t much to look back on defensively either.

“(His familiarity) gives him a little bit of an advantage,” said Pilgrim head coach Tom O’Connor. “But we changed our offense up. Our defense, we really didn’t play a Wing-T team last year. So he won’t have an idea of what we’re going to do, other than the film from Middletown.”

Still, if Stringfellow does know one thing from his time with Pilgrim, it’s how dangerous some of the Pats’ weapons can be.

“[Quarterback Rob] Quaine is a very good leader on the field,” Stringfellow said. “Owen Kelly is a fantastic runner. David McMullen is having a fantastic season as a receiver. I could go on. Roger Anyango, he stepped up in the Narragansett game. He had a great game that game. Darren Grant is playing phenomenal.”

While O’Connor doesn’t have the same situation on his coaching staff in terms of ex-Toll Gate coaches, it’s not as if he’ll be going up against an unfamiliar opponent either. The Pats and Titans play almost every year, with O’Connor’s Pilgrim team winning a non-league showdown 20-16 last season.

The year before, Toll Gate won 28-20, while the Pats won 30-20 in 2011.

O’Connor has also spent time teaching at Toll Gate.

“Their power game, they run downhill,” O’Connor said. “Their running backs finish off their runs. No. 44, [Jacob] Moran, I taught over there last year and he’s a hard worker. He’s a skilled tight end. We’re going to have to account for him.”

The game is also a potential elimination game for both teams. Toll Gate is 1-4, and has to win out to have any chance at making the playoffs. Pilgrim is 2-3, and likely has to win out to make the playoffs, although 4-4 could conceivably get it in.

The Titans and Pats are both coming off tough defeats a week ago. Pilgrim lost 50-8 to unbeaten Middletown, while Toll Gate lost 33-14 to one-loss Classical.

It all adds up to one of the biggest weeks of the season. It’s a rivalry game, with a lot of familiar faces, and it’s a must-win on both sides.

On Saturday, neither team will be shying away from what it’s setting out to accomplish.

“I’m happy to see that they’re having a successful season this year,” Stringfellow said. “But we’re going in and we want to win.”

“I root or Toll Gate except for the one time of year when we play them,” O’Connor said. “I’m not rooting against them. I’m rooting for us to win.”

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