WINCHESTER — Patrick Gill was a talented athlete with a quick smile, known on and off the playing field for his energy and optimism. A senior at Winchester High School, he was a captain of the football team, dreamed of playing lacrosse in college, and was on the hockey team. Those who knew him agreed: He was going places.
“He [touched] just about every life in town,” said Winchester High School football coach Wally Dembowski. “Even when you wanted to get mad at him, you couldn’t. Because he’d smile and go, ‘OK, let’s get it right.’ ”
Gill, 17, was killed Saturday about 7 a.m. when the car he was driving crashed on Manomet Road near High Street, Winchester Police said in a statement. Police did not identify the driver, but School Superintendent William H. McAlduff Jr. put out a statement saying it was Gill.
“There are no words to express how sorry I am,” said McAlduff. “This is a great loss to the Gill family and the entire Winchester community.”
On Saturday night, shaken students and parents gathered at St. Mary’s Church for a 7 p.m. non-denominational prayer service. Long lines stretched outside the church as bells tolled with many teens among the mourners.
At its end, mourners exchanged hugs and many, including some athletes in high school letter jackets, were seen wiping tears from their eyes. After the closed-door service, some of Gill’s friends remembered the teammate some called “Gilly” as an outstanding mentor and leader.
“I started playing football sophomore year, and I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” Tenzin Dhakpa, a Winchester High School junior said last night. “First day of practice, Pat took me aside and explained what the coach was saying. … Throughout the season, he just gave me a lot of patience; he just really helped me.”
Dhakpa, 16, said Gill “was a leader to the entire team, even when we had a loss or weren’t performing well, he picked us up.”
Patrick Costello, 17, also began playing football last year, and he recalled Gill helping him to improve his stance during an early wide-receiver practice, and later helping him improve his play as a cornerback.
“He was always giving pointers,” Costello said. “He critiqued you, he made you better. … When you get somebody like Gilly, who is just so talented, so good at sports, people expect him to be a leader, and he lived up to that.”
For Owen Ulicny, the connection to Gill was far longer, having first been made when both were in elementary school. Ulicny, now 16, said that Gill helped him develop his skills as a lacrosse player.
Gill, he added, was a talented athlete from a young age and he recalled the time in third or fourth grade when Gill made a spectacular goal, shooting the ball from midfield right into the net.
“He was such a great athlete, such an all-around good person,” said Ulicny, a junior. “I’m still just shocked that this happened.”
Ken Kingdon, a longtime Winchester resident who said his wife is friends with Gill’s mother, was one of the adults who attended the service.
“It was packed in there. People were sitting in the aisles,” he said. “It was a nice show of support. … It’s the good thing about living in small town.”
Kingdon, 50, said Gill’s death was a major blow for his classmates, including Kingdon’s own son, also a senior at Winchester High School.
“This is the first time he’s ever experienced a loss,” he said. “It could have been him coming home early in the morning.”
Law enforcement officials said that Gill, who was alone in the car, was traveling east on Manomet Road when his vehicle left the street and struck a tree. It was not immediately known if he was wearing a seat belt.
On Saturday afternoon, mourners left flowers, a teddy bear, and lacrosse gear at the scratched base of a tree at the site. A section of fence behind the tree was shattered.
Officials are investigating the cause of the crash, police said.
“Winchester Police responded to a single-car accident this morning that resulted in the tragic death of a 17-year-old boy,” Police Chief Kenneth C. Albertelli said in the statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family on this difficult day. Right now, we are working with our partners in state law enforcement to determine what exactly happened.”
A steady procession of grief-stricken friends and community members stopped by the crash site on Saturday.
“Everyone’s just at a loss for words,” said Dan Durgin, who played hockey with Gill before graduating last year and who arrived with another teammate, Jeff Bellotti. “He was an unbelievable kid.”
Durgin said he stopped in at the high school for a visit last Thursday, and Gill was the first person he saw. “We just hugged,” he said, tears filling his eyes.
The two would carpool together for practice.
“We were always together,” Durgin said.” I just can’t believe he’s gone.”
Bellotti said Gill was a varsity member of all three teams since he was a freshman. He was a standup guy, Bellotti said.
“I’ve seen him take responsibility for things that were absolutely not his fault just to be a good friend,” said Bellotti, who was in a church service group with Gill.
Gill has a twin sister and a younger brother who is in his third year serving as the team’s water boy, said Dembowski. Gill came from a very close-knit family, he said, and had talked of going to college locally to stay close to them.
A man who answered the phone at a number for Gill’s family’s home declined comment.
Winchester High School had counselors available to students Saturday and planned to have them available noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, according to the superintendent’s statement.
Louis Covino, who graduated from Winchester High and knew Gill, said in a Facebook message that Gill had a huge heart and was always kind to him even when others were not.
“He would always say hi to me and ask me how I was in high school even when people were bullying me,” said Covino. “We haven’t talked a lot since I graduated, but I saw him a few times this summer and he still came up to me like his usual friendly self.”
Two Winchester High School students told a reporter that they had been asked by the high school not to speak with reporters. On Twitter, however, there was an outpouring of grief.
“To the kid who always took me under his wing since we were little. My thoughts and prayers go to the Gill family. RIP Pat,” wrote one young man. “Love you kid.”
The response to the news on Twitter:
Globe Correspondent Alyssa Creamer contributed to this report. Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @evanmallen. Melissa Hanson can be reached at melissa.hanson@globe.com or on Twitter @Melissa__Hanson.