Pires realizes the end is at hand

By Jim Fenton, Enterprise staff writer

EASTON - After four seasons at Taunton High School and four more at Stonehill College, Tony Pires will play his final football game Saturday afternoon.

"I might have to take the uniform home with me,'' joked the Skyhawks co-captain and defensive lineman. 'I'm a softie. It'll probably be emotional.''

When Pires walks off the field at American International College in Springfield following Stonehill's last game, it will mark the end of a solid college football career.

Undersized at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, Pires has been one of the program's top defenders as a four-year starter. He earned All-Northeast-10 Conference second team honors as a junior and has led the Skyhawks in sacks the past two seasons.

"From my junior year on, with the good coaching I've received here, I've played better than I would have expected,'' said the Taunton resident. "I was so undersized that I thought it would kick in at some point and be a weakness.

"But I'm happy where I'm at right now, having played Div. 2 football, being a captain, getting a good education. I've got no regrets at all.''

Pires, who spent his sophomore year at outside linebacker and the other three seasons as a lineman, has used his speed to overcome the size disadvantage.

Beginning with his freshman season, Pires showed the ability to get to the quarterback, becoming a top pass rusher in the NE-10, and he has 20 1/2 career sacks.

Pires was third in the conference with seven sacks in his first season, and 11 of his 67 tackles were for a loss of 70 yards.

After playing linebacker as a sophomore in 2004, Pires returned to the line as a junior and was third in the NE-10 with 7 1/2 sacks (finishing second on the team with 56 tackles, including 15 for a loss of 55 yards).

Bothered by a back ailment this season, Pires has made 35 tackles in eight games but has 4 1/2 sacks for 35 yards and 10 1/2 tackles for a loss of 51 yards.

"He's got an unbelievable first step,'' said Stonehill head coach Chris Woods. "He's really explosive off the ball. He's difficult to handle one-on-one. When he's healthy, he attracts a lot of attention. He's earned quite a bit of respect from other coaches.''

Pires was a defensive end at Taunton High, but he was switched to linebacker to fill a void in '04.

Though he tied for the team lead with 67 tackles and had six for a loss of 18 yards, Pires was more comfortable on the line, and returned there last fall.

"I gave it a whirl at linebacker,'' he said. "The pass coverage was different. I usually pin my ears back at defensive line and go after the quarterback. At linebacker, it was challenging to read routes, know blitz schemes.''

Once he returned to the line in 2005, Pires became one of the best in the NE-10, getting voted to the all-conference second team after helping Stonehill have one of its better seasons in recent years.

"As you get older, you know what you need to work on,'' said Pires. "By my junior year, I was able to pinpoint what problems I needed to work on.

"To make the all-conference team, that was something I never put any thought into. I just went out and played. Something like that is not all individual. When you get something like that, you thank everyone else in the scheme who got me freed up.

"I think a lot of it comes down to how you're coached, and we've had some good ones. You take a strength - mine is speed - and work a scheme around that.''

Pires, an accounting major who has a job lined up after graduation, has been bothered by the back ailment since training camp in August and had to miss last weekend's loss to Southern Connecticut State.

That has added to the frustration of a 1-8 season by the Skyhawks in a year where hopes were high for progress.

"It's more of a nagging injury,'' he said. "I get to the third quarter and I feel it.''

Despite the first injury of his career, Pires has been able to display leadership in the role of co-captain.

Woods noticed last week when Pires was unable to play, he was working with the younger players.

"He's been great helping young guys out,'' said Woods. "When gets get injured, sometimes you'll find out those guys are not seen or heard, but he's been the complete opposite.

"He was taking young guys from the offense under his wing, trying to help them and telling them what he sees from the perspective of a defensive end.''

After his football career ends this weekend, Pires will return to another athletic endeavor that he left behind in high school.

Pires became involved with karate at the age of six and did full-contact kick boxing for more than a year.

"I'm planning to go right back to it once football is done,'' said Pires. "I've got to get my flexibility back. It's one of my first loves, karate.

"I love the competitive nature of it. I like sports where you train your body and the competition goes to who trains the best. It's probably an acquired taste, but I love it. I want to get right back to where I was before.

"I fought for a belt in Providence my senior year of high school and I'd like to fight for a belt again.''