Images courtesy of the MIAA and KP Football
The Catholic Schools dominates narrative surrounding Massachusetts high school football often suggests an insurmountable gap between the powerhouse Catholic Conference programs and the rest of the state. However, a closer look at the results in recent years reveals a more competitive reality.
While the Catholic schools often boast broader geographic reach and have an advantage in that regard, upper echelon public school programs have proven they can not only compete with the Catholic Schools but they have consistently come out on top in head-to-head matchups.
Take B.C. High as a prime example. Despite their athletic prestige, they have struggled against top-tier public competition recently. In the last 15 years, they have dropped two games apiece to North Attleboro, and Falmouth, and their record against Hockomock League powers is even more telling. The Eagles have gone 0-3 against King Philip and 0-2 against Mansfield, proving that disciplined, committed and well coached programs have can success against programs who have talent advantages over them.
The dominance of King Philip serves as the strongest argument for public school parity. Over the last five years, the Warriors have beaten Xaverian, B.C. High, Bishop Feehan, and Malden Catholic. You can say they are an outlier against the Catholic and there would be some truth to that but this is a program head coach Brian Lee built from the ground up. Their success isn’t an outlier; it is a blueprint for how public schools programs with strong coaching, talent and belief can compete against Catholic Schools.
Conversely, they have lost three Super Bowl to Catholic Memorial which illustrates that eventually the talent gap catches up to you.
Marshfield also made a definitive statement on the biggest stage in 2023, when they knocked off Catholic Memorial in the state semifinals. That win caught the attention of folks around the state and it once again proved that good public schools can be competitive with the mighty Knights.
Similarly, Needham proved its mettle in 2024 by defeating St. John’s Prep, while also putting forth a competitive team effort against Xaverian in the Division 1 Super Bowl. Needham was very good in 2024. Most years a public school could not compete with a Catholic School on that stage but they did.
Perhaps the most compelling case for the public schools is found in Western Mass with Springfield Central. The Golden Eagles have consistently beaten Xaverian. They have beaten the three straight years in the regular season (2023, 2024, and 2025), only to lose to them in the playoffs.
Springfield Central has also beaten the X twice in the playoffs in the last five years. In 2022, the Golden Eagles beat Central Catholic 38-0 and then beat Xaverian 56-22 in the playoffs before losing 13-0 to St. John’s Prep in the Division 1 State Title Game in a rain storm.
Springfield Central’s last state title win was in 2021 when they beat Central Catholic 22-15. Along the way, they beat B.C High 50-20 during the regular season and beat Xaverian 40-15 in the playoffs.
The reality is, that is only a handful of schools that have had some modicum of success against the Catholic Schools. The upper echelon Catholic Schools have an inherent advantage when it comes to talent and it shows in their almost 80% winning percentage against public schools in recent years.
Of course we would remissed if we did not mention Everett’s success against the Catholic Schools through the years. The Crimson Tide under John DiBiaso routinely beat Catholic Schools including 2017 when Everett beat Xaverian 35-10 in the Division One Super Bowl, the program’s last Super Bowl title.
The only way to fix this is to remove the Catholic Schools from the MIAA, which quite frankly isn’t going to happen and nor should it or create a Catholic Playoff bracket where they compete in a Catholic School Playoff. That however is unlikely as well.
What is likely is the potential for a Football Super 8 tournament. The Super 8 is on the brink of returning in baseball and it could end up being implemented in all sports in Massachusetts eventually. While that may not be a “cure all” of sorts, it could level the playing field somewhat for schools competing in the Division 1 through 8 playoffs.
The talent gap between the Catholic and Public Schools has widen in Massachusetts but it hasn’t always been this wide and the good public school programs have proven that at the very least, they can compete with the Catholic Schools.