By Jared Keene
NEFJ Correspondent
WRENTHAM – By now, it’s certainly no secret what King Philip wants to do on offense – pound the football and gas out opposing defenses in the process.
Warriors coach Brian Lee knows that teams are going to try and contain their ground game, yet to this point, nobody has been successful.
The latest example came Friday night, when top-seeded KP took on eighth-seeded and Hockomock League foe Mansfield. The Hornets simply had no answer for the Warriors rushing attack, as KP ran for 373 yards – 294 in the first half – on its way to a convincing 42-12 victory in a Division 3 round of eight contest.
Unbeaten KP (10-0) moves on to face 12-seeded Malden Catholic in the semifinals with a spot in the D3 title game on the line. Mansfield drops to 6-4.
“It’s great,” Lee said of taking down a team like Mansfield in such dominant fashion. “People know what we’re doing (on offense) and now you have to go in there and stop it, it’s an attitude kind of deal. This game was going to be about who could get a stop and get back-to-back (quality) possessions.
“Luckily, that was us.”
Four different players scored touchdowns for the Warriors led by the senior duo of Keigan Canto-Osorio and Tallan King.
KCO and King continued to gash the Hornets throughout the first half, combining for 16 carries for 280 yards and three touchdowns in the opening 24 minutes of play. Running behind an all-senior offensive line (Aidan Lyons, Lex Chatham, Luca Angelucci, and capts Nathan Crisci and Liam King), KCO finished with 19 carries for 196 yards and two scores, with King adding nine carries for 149 yards and two more scores.
Mansfield did a much better job against the run in the second half, especially after the opening possession of the third quarter, but by then the damage had essentially already been done.
“I think me and Tallan are the two best backs in the state, there’s no doubt about it,” Canto-Osorio said. “We feed off each other, we feed off the o-line, who we love and works really hard, and we really executed out there tonight.”
“We finally got our matchup against them,” added King. “All week, everyone’s been focused. We just compliment each other well. He’ll get a big run then I’ll get a big run the next play and we just keep going.”
Things didn’t actually start out great for the hosts.
The Hornets opened the game with a 14-play 78-yard drive that ate up well over 9 minutes. Quarterback Tommy Vallett capped it by finding paydirt from 3 yards out, but a missed PAT left the score 6-0.
But from there, it was all KP, as the Warriors went on to outscore Mansfield 42-6 the rest of the way. King immediately responded to the Hornets opening drive with a 46-yard score on his team’s second play, with KCO adding two more for an 8-6 lead.
Captain Ryan Greenwood (4 yards), KCO (3 yards), and King (13 yards – missed PAT) went on to add touchdowns before halftime, leaving the score 28-12 at the break.
KP got the ball to start the third and ripped off an 11-play 80-yard drive that KCO finished off with an 8-yard score to make it 35-12 and take the sails out of the visitors.
“We were able to get a bit of breathing room right before the half, “ Lee said. “And we said if we could get another one coming out of halftime, we were going to be alright.”
