By ALEX SPONSELLER The Pilgrim football team will be competing in the Division III Super Bowl for the second year in a row, and has established itself as one of the top programs throughout the state over the course of the past two seasons.

After multiple down seasons, the Pats returned to the playoffs last year and shocked the state by advancing to the Super Bowl against Central Falls, where they would come within arms reach of winning the title but ultimately fell short.

Pilgrim came back hungry to avenge that loss this year, and has rolled to a perfect record heading into this Saturday’s championship game.

“It feels more natural now since we’ve been there, we have more confidence since we have the experience of being in the playoffs and making the Super Bowl. Especially those guys that were big factors for us, guys like Mike (Borges), Demitri (Ayres), (Ethan) Laramee, (Connor) Fallon. Three of our lineman played in the Super Bowl last year. These guys know what to expect,” said head coach Blake Simpson.

The Pats will be squaring off against Tolman, who forced the Pats to dig deeper than any other opponent this season.

When the two clubs met earlier this year, Pilgrim walked away with a narrow 16-14 victory. The Tigers are the only team to hold the Pats under 20 points and to lose to Pilgrim by single digits, and even had chances in the fourth quarter to take the lead.

Pilgrim is expecting another tough battle this time around.

“They’re definitely a good team. They have a big man in the middle who causes a lot of problems for us. We worked really hard and barely won, so we’re going to have to work even harder this time around,” said Ayres. “We’re pretty confident. We’ve got a good group of players, we’ve got good skill players, good linemen. We can get it done as long as we work hard and stay focused, that’s our No. 1 priority right now ... staying focused.”

Laramee echoed those sentiments and expected to see the Tigers again at some point down the stretch.

“It was a really close game that went down to the wire. We got a lucky play in the end, to be honest, they should have won that game. But, we were able to dig deep and get the win. I don’t think they’ve seen the best of us and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of them. It should be a really good clash. In the (handshake) line we told them, ‘we’ll see you guys again.’ We knew they were our toughest competitors,” said Laramee.

Although the Pats have been among the state’s hottest teams this season, Laramee and company hope to bring their best game yet come Saturday.

“We had a really good mindset going into (last year’s Super Bowl) but things just didn’t go our way. We have a lot of the same guys, so now we’re just trying to get hyped up for this game and to bring those vibes. We’re undefeated, but we’re going to try to have our best game ever,” said Laramee.

As Pilgrim looks to secure its first football championship in 44 years, the veterans have been excited to help bring the program back to prominence and to finish their high school careers strong.

“A couple years ago, Pilgrim was just a team. We got a new coach last year in (Simpson) who really changed the culture and taught us not to worry about the past and to just focus on what we can do. He established that all-in mentality each week and we’ve bought in,” said Ayres.

Simpson is also thankful to inherit the group that he did two years back and has confidence in his players as they get set for the biggest game of their lives.

“The 20 seniors are all leaders, they’re great on the field, they’re great to each other, they’re great to our underclassmen. What they’ve done these past two years has been tremendous and I couldn’t be happier for them,” said Simpson. “Our coaching staff too, we put in a lot of work and these kids go out there and execute. I can’t thank them enough.”