By ALEX SPONSELLER The second-seeded Pilgrim football team fell to visiting Chariho 36-8 in the Division III Semifinals last weekend.

Pilgrim earned a come from behind, 35-31 victory over the Chargers in the teams’ regular season matchup, but this time around, Chariho would not relinquish its lead as its rushing offense controlled the pace throughout. Chariho would take a 16-7 lead into halftime and run away with it in the second half.

“The field conditions weren’t great and they came out firing and put up two scores in the first half. We just couldn’t find our way into the end zone and it stayed like that the rest of the game,” said Pilgrim head coach Blake Simpson. “With the traction of the field up front, our guys just couldn’t really get any movement on offense and then couldn’t stop the run on defense. (Chariho was) able to just keep the ball on the ground for most of the night and get some chunk plays.”

Despite the tough playoff exit, the Pats enjoyed one of their best seasons in the past decade returning to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. Simpson will miss the senior class which includes players like Connor Widmer, Danny Halliwell, Marcus Pascual and Andrew O’Leary.

“They’ve been through so much in the past four years. They were freshmen my first year as head coach, so they’re my first four-year class. They’re really special to me, the way they perform not only on the field but in the classroom … in every way a student-athlete should. It’s going to be a tough senior day, but I look forward to seeing them continue to have success in college and in (the work force),” Simpson said.

After a down spring in which Pilgrim missed the postseason, Simpson and company were thrilled to get the program back on track and to be set up well for the future.

“It’s a huge relief and a lot of it has to do with our freshman class. It’s great to be able to have a junior varsity program and to have them learning our system. They had a successful year in junior varsity as well,” said Simpson. “We definitely are looking forward to the future of this program.”