What a a year for King Philip and coach Brian Lee.

The Warriors had a 13-0 season, and rolled to a D2 state title with a win over Marshfield.

This marked the third state championship in the last seven tournaments for KP, although some might say this was their best team.

It was a special year for the Warriors, so we talked to Lee about his team, and how he was able to build his program into one like this.

Here is an edited version of that conversation.

Adam Kurkjian: I guess the first thing I wanted to ask you is to go back, maybe 20 years, when you started at KP, and back then, KP wasn’t considered a contender like they are now. What did you know then that you had to do to get to this point? And if you could, back then, fast forward to see what you guys accomplished since then, what would you say?

BL: I never would have believed it possible for us to be where we are. It was really bad. I was really bad. I can remember asking my superintendent to fire me.

AK: Really?

BL: Oh, yeah. I said, ‘I can’t do it. The boys deserve something better. You’ve got to bring somebody in here who . . .’ I thought I knew how to do it because I was at a place like Walpole, and around my dad (legendary Walpole coach John Lee), and I thought I knew something, but I don’t know what it is. He just said, ‘No, I like what you’re doing.’ You know, blah, blah, blah, ‘Hang in there. We see positives.’ Basically, told me to hang on. And then, the next year, we went 9-2. From there, it’s basically been a whirlwind. Then we get one good year, ‘Oh, we’re lucky. We got good kids.’ Then we’re competitive again. And even then, it was line, ‘Hey, can we just be competitive in the (Hockomock League)? Can we just not get blown out by 40 by the Big Three (at the time, North Attleboro, Mansfield, and Foxboro)? Compete against some of the other teams?’ And then it just kind of snowballed. Then you get a win vs. Foxboro. You get a win vs. North Attleboro. Finally get a win over Mansfield. Then, once we beat Mansfield, I think everything felt like, ‘OK, other things are possible.’

AK: I’m curious, because one of my favorite players to watch this year was (KP quarterback) Tommy McLeish, because you guys don’t always throw the ball a lot, but you had to be able to throw the ball well when you do. What did he bring to your passing game, and what did the other kids bring to your passing game this year?

BL: Just having a quarterback that I have trust in is a big thing. People always say, ‘You don’t like to throw the ball.’ When I have receivers and quarterbacks, I’ve got no problem throwing the ball. And a line that can give us some time. It takes a lot of pieces to be able to throw the ball well. I just have a lot of trust. I love that Tom is a three-sport athlete, but he still comes and works out. If he’s got a game or something, he’ll come and just watch the other guys work out, help coach them up, and do all that stuff. So I loved his leadership. I loved his work ethic. I love his taste in music. He’s a great kid. So it’s easy to put trust in him. Then you see what, physically, he can do. He can really sling it. When you see it come out of his hands, you say, yep, we can do it, and if he minimizes bad decisions, we’ll be fine. The second part of your question, the complement to that, we had two receivers this year that really worked hard to put themselves in position to be pretty much just offensive specialists in Mason Campbell and Davey Holland. . . . Tommy actually talked about how hard (Campbell) worked to become (what he did). Some players are just dudes. Other players have to work. He’s a program kid. He worked really hard for it. But when I saw the kind of stuff he was doing in passing leagues, things like that, you say, ‘Hey, this kid can help us.’ He kept growing. He was tiny when he was a freshman. He kept growing. Good frame. Him and Davey, Davey was great, understood how to settle into zones. Had great hands, and find the soft spot, and be that possession guy for us. He got hurt. He was able to come back from that. It was great. We had (Hayden) Schmitz. We had (David Constantine) play on defense. We had (Thomas) Kilroy. Then we had (tight end Daniel) Silveria, who was, I just think exceptional. Probably the best tight end we’ve had in terms of being able to put his hands in line and block, be off the ball. You can split him out. Had great hands, speed, the things he can do after the catch. He’s the best total package we’ve had at tight end since I’ve been here.

AK: Let’s talk about your defense. Over the years, it’s been great, and I know (defensive coordinator Matt) Wassel has done a great job. I think even among your great defenses, it seemed like a great one. It was fast. It was physical. It was as good in the secondary as it was in the front seven. What did you like about your defense this year?

BL: I think you just said it right there. The back end was playing as good as the front end. Usually you’ve got one that you have to bail out the other. You’ve got to blitz more because you can’t cover, or you’ve got to cover because you can’t get to the quarterback. Whatever that is. This year, they were able to complement each other. You hear about balance all the time on offense, to have balance and stability all the way through the defense really made the difference this year for us. I just can’t say enough about coach Wassel and the things that he does, and to get those guys prepared is really special. Then, (linebacker) Aiden Astorino making all our checks is a huge key to our defense.