Football: Villa Novans Fall To Pilgrim

Pilgrim turned the page on their previous two losing seasons and took down the defending Division II-B champion , 18-7 in a complete role reversal during Saturday's game at Woonsocket.

The first quarter was mostly a game of field position. Neither team was advancing deep into the opposition's territory. Both teams tried to establish the running game early. Vinny DeVito busted a 25-yard gain in the first quarter for the Patriots, and Kyle Mulvey broke a 14-yarder for the Villa Novans. But neither team was able to do much after the big gains and the first quarter was mostly played in the middle of the field.

The Villa Novans took over on downs around midfield to start the second quarter and got another big play from Mulvey, running off-tackle, and picking up 28 yards on the play. Mulvey would finish it off on the next play and the Villa Novans took a 6-0 lead in the second quarter. The extra point was good and Woonsocket got its fans into the game early.

Pilgrim was forced to punt on it's next possession but the Patriots were able to recover the punt after it was dropped by a Villa Novan. Pilgrim took over at the Woonsocket 30 yard line, with hopes of tying the score or taking the lead. Pilgrim Quarterback Lee Verrier found Jon Devito over the middle on a nice crossing route to bring the Patriots to the Woonsocket 8 yard line. 

Unfortunately for the Patriots, this was where their drive would end. Four straight running plays were stopped by the Villa Novans and they took over on downs.

But the Villa Novans had issues of their own on the 8 yard line. After minimal gains on first and second down, Anthony Souza picked off Bouchard on 3rd and 8 and the Patriots would once again take over in Villa Novan territory. 

Vinny Devito picked up a first down for the Patriots which brought them into the redzone. Lee Verrier was then able find Michael Mallozzi, streaking from left to right, on the far side of the endzone for the touchdown. Mallozzi made a one-handed catch while keeping his feet in bounds to get Pilgrim on the board with 2:38 remaining in the first half. Mallozzi's catch was easily the highlight of the first half. The Patriots went for the two point conversion and were unsuccessful, leaving the score at 7-6, Villa Novans.

Woonsocket got another big run of 20 yards from Mulvey but their drive stalled and they were forced to punt, looking to go into halftime with a one-point lead. But the snap went high on the punt attempt and the punter had to retreat and was tackled for a huge loss, giving the Patriots a chance to take the lead before intermission. 

Pilgrim gained possession on the Woonsocket 25-yard line. They ran the ball on consecutive plays with Alex Leddy and got a first down, which setup a QB sneak from Lee Verrier down to the 2-yard line. The Patriots scrambled and spiked the ball with one second on the clock. Leddy got the call on the final play and punched it in for a touchdown, swinging the momentum of the game and giving Pilgrim a 12-7 lead at halftime.

Both defenses seemed to figure out that the opposing team was relying much more on the running game, and their adjustments in the second half seemed to be tailored toward stopping the run. 

The teams were still able to run the ball in their own territory and in the middle of the field, but the defenses tightened up in their own territory and no more points were scored until late in the fourth quarter.

Pilgrim had a couple opportunities early in the fourth, one off a fumble recovery, but didn't score until there only four minutes remained in the contest, solidifying their road victory.

The drive started with a big return from DeVito of 20 yards. Devito would finish what he started, with an 8-yard run to cap off the scoring drive, giving the Patriots an 18-7 victory.

Woonsocket got a big game from first-year running back Mulvey who had 100 plus yards on the ground. But the loss of over a dozen seniors from last year's superbowl winning squad ultimately hurt the Villa Novans. The defense had a decent game but the offense was stagnant at times due to the lack of a strong Woonsocket passing game.

"We have to do some things better in the passing game, just to make them play honest. Our pass game wasn't a threat. and if you're passing game isn't a threat then they are going to crowd the line on you. And once they did that they started to shut the run down," Woonsocket Head Coach Carnell Henderson said after the game.

"Our quaterback, it's his first year playing quarterback. Our running back, Mulvey, it's his first year playing running back, and my line is new. So we've just go to try to make some corrections fast," Henderson added.

Due to the youth of the Villa Novan team, it will be a difficult task for them to reach the superbowl again this season. All of the new players will have to learn on the fly and will have to improve at an alarming rate if the Villa Novans want to defend their title. Their journey will continue this coming Saturday when they will face off against the Tolman Tigers, a rematch from last year's superbowl.

Pilgrim was able to beat Woonsocket due to their balanced offense and 'bend but not break' defense. Verrier had a nice game throwing a touchdown and only one interception, the only Patriot turnover of the game. Vinny DeVito had a great all-around game returning kicks and running the ball. But the big star of the game for Pilgrim was Leddy.

A converted linemen, Leddy was able to have a big impact.

"It might be our new thing. We take a linemen and throw him into the backfield. He went back there and he got better as the game went on. He was seeing the holes better and started running harder," Pilgrim Head Coach Tom O'connor commented.

Pilgrim has a lot of upperclassmen on this year's roster and will look to continue its newfound winning ways against St. Rays on Friday.