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Sports

KP 2011 Football Season A Success

King Philip grabs Hock Championship with 9-1 record.

It was a year in which the King Philip Warriors accomplished something no other football team had done in the Wrentham’s school history.

The Warriors beat all odds putting together an impressive 9-1 regular season record en route to their first Hockomock League Championship.

“The Hockomock is very competitive; when you compete game in and game out with that caliber of talent, you begin to adjust,” King Philip Head Coach Brian Lee said. “For the seven years I’ve been here our goal has been that title. When you go up against the talent of this league week in and week out, you eventually become a product of the league.”

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Unfortunately, the Warriors fell to Duxbury 7-0 in the Eastern Mass Division 2 Semi-Finals and were denied a chance to play at Gillette Stadium for the division championship.

The only blemish on what could have been a perfect season for the Warriors came in week four against league powerhouse Mansfield 27-26.  Although the team suffered a loss, it was a learning experience for Lee and his squad.

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“Looking at the talent we’ve had over the past three seasons, we couldn’t get it [winning the league] done. This year, we came into the season with a team with less experience than in the past,” the coach said. “Each week we gained more and more experience and, by week four against Mansfield, I had a good idea that this team was actually good.”

Prior to the season getting underway, Lee knew that he had athletes that could catapult this team, but was still unsure how they would react once game time came. The only known commodity was senior running back Charles Ruffin.

“The quarterback competition was shaping up, but either way we're starting the
season with a new signal caller. It was going to be a sophomore or a junior
with no past experience,” Lee said. “Another question was: how would the
offensive line respond? If everything came together — everything — then it could
be something special. But there were so many 'ifs.'”

Everything did come together, and the Warriors rewrote the King Philip record books. Along the way, the Warriors had six athletes named to the Hockomock League All-Star team, including the offensive MVP in Ruffin, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards and had 24 touchdowns in only nine games. The other Warrior All Stars were sophomore quarterback John Dillon, receiver Sam McDonald; guard Jason Litchfield, middle linebacker Nick Lussier and cornerback Joe Cochrane.

While Dillon (1,000 plus passing yards with 15 touchdowns and only one interception) emerged as the team’s quarterback of the future, the biggest surprise that came out of this year’s team was senior outside linebacker Nate Malone.

“Nate’s five foot nothing and probably the smallest linebacker in the league at 145 pounds,” the coach said. “He wasn’t even a starter for us in the past, but he took things to heart and played unbelievably for us.”

Looking back seven years ago, when Lee first took over the King Philip program the coach could only hope that his team get to where they are today.

“I remember my first year here. We beat Bellingham and Canton, and everyone was all excited. We then lost close games to Stoughton and Oliver Ames, before Foxboro, Mansfield and North Attleboro killed us,” Lee said. “At that point I was wondering what I got myself into and can we ever be on that level?”

That question was answered this past season. 

King Philip football has become an elite program, one that wants to continue to improve on a yearly basis.

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