The Pilgrim football team pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year last Friday, when it held off first-place, undefeated Classical 31-23 during the school’s homecoming celebration.
The Pats held a 19-14 lead at halftime and came out hot in the third. Quarterback Carter Clifton rushed for a touchdown on the opening drive, then Pilgrim recovered its own onside kick. From there, Hunter Schobel would take a fake punt the distance to score a 46-yard touchdown to give Pilgrim a 31-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Purple made a late push, forcing a Pilgrim safety then rushing for a score the ensuing drive to make it 31-23. Classical then recovered its onside kick with 2:53 remaining, giving itself one last chance to tie the score.
Although the Purple offense reached the Pilgrim 9-yard line, the Pilgrim defense would come up with multiple stops to hold on for the win.
“When they got that onside kick, I was so nervous. I was speechless, didn’t know what to think,” said Clifton, who considered the wild upset to be one of his favorite wins ever between multiple sports. “This puts us in a really nice position the rest of the way. This is definitely a top-5 win, to have my friends here in the end zone, it was awesome.”
The first half was also back and forth. The Pilgrim defense was sharp in the first quarter, hauling in interceptions on both of Classical’s first two drives, with Adam El Rhazali returning one for a score. Clifton also hit Luka Ruscio on a 76-yard touchdown to make it 12-0 after one quarter.
Jordan Duke and the Classical offense got hot in the second quarter and briefly took a 14-12 lead with less than a minute left before half. Clifton guided the Pats down the field and capped off the drive with a touchdown strike to Dylan Rodrigues with just 2 seconds remaining to make it 19-14.
Pilgrim scored 31 points the previous week against East Greenwich which was its highest total of the season. The Pats matched that total against Classical, but got touchdowns in all three phases.
“We’re building off last week and we came out firing. It got a little scary at the end but we won with heart,” said Schobel, who had the play of the game with the fake punt touchdown, one in which he broke multiple tackles along the way. “I was rolling out the previous punt and saw a little bit of green grass, so when I went to punt again, I felt that it was a time in the game that we needed a big play. I just ran with it and found the end zone. We thrive on big plays. We have talented guys so we just need to get the ball in their hands.”
The Pats improved to 3-2 in DIII and will be hosting Johnston this week before wrapping up the season on the road against unbeaten Ponaganset.
Schobel and company hope to use this momentum the rest of the way and were thrilled to pull off such a big upset at the last homecoming at Morry Field.
“It was the most focused we’ve been all year. To celebrate homecoming on our turf and to take down the number one seed, it’s a blast,” Schobel said. “This is one of the best wins that I’ve been a part of.”