Preseason expectations are funny.

For some teams, they can feel like a heavy weight, and add unwanted pressure. They can crumble a team’s psyche.

Then, for others, those expectations don’t affect them negatively at all. And those squads fly past them, and even improve upon them.

It was the latter scenario for the three state title winners in Friday’s games at Gillette Stadium. Uxbridge in D7, Duxbury in D4, and Foxboro in D5 all entered this fall as powerhouse programs and among the small list of favorites in their respective divisions.

And while Foxboro and Duxbury lost a game each, overall, these teams all were even better than everyone expected.

Starting with Uxbridge, the Spartans were a team to watch in the preseason. St. Bernard’s coach Tom Bingham told us at the Northeast 7v7 in New Hampshire that Uxbridge should be the favorite in D7.

Boy, was he point with that, or what?

Uxbridge quarterback Kellen LaChapelle, and his younger brother, sophomore running back Camden LaChapelle, had monster efforts at Gillette in Uxbridge’s 42-16 win over Amesbury.

That capped a perfect, 13-0 season for Uxbridge, and the Spartans will have a high final ranking in our final MIAA top 25.

For Duxbury, expectations are always really high, but again, the Dragons found a way to leap over them. Even though this team lost in its opener to Hanover, the Dragons finished on a tear.

On Friday, Duxbury beat Scituate, 62-33, to avenge a 2021 loss to the Sailors in the D4 title game. The Dragons have just won two D4 state crowns since that setback, and have separated themselves as one of the best programs in the state, year in and year out.

The star of Duxbury’s 2023 season was senior running back and linebacker Alex Barlow, who was among the best at both positions statewide.

Duxbury was our preseason No. 9 team, and will finish even higher than that.

Then, in the third game of the day, Foxboro beat Hanover, 48-21. Foxboro was our preseason No. 16 team, but we had Hanover higher. The Warriors though proved to be the best, and only lost to unbeaten D2 champ, King Philip, in a close game.

The Foxboro offensive line was a dominant unit, and the defense, led by end Brandon Mazenkas-O’Grady and linebacker Lincoln Moore, was outstanding.

Coach Jack Martinelli, who won his 300th game this season, was correct when he called this Foxboro season “storybook.”

And his Warriors gave him an appropriate ending to it.