BRIDGEWATER — King Philip will have a shot to defend its title.
Drew Laplante and Tallan King combined for 229 yards and five touchdowns as No. 2 King Philip clinched a fourth consecutive Super Bowl berth with an impressive 35-14 win over No. 3 Marshfield in the pouring rain on Friday night at Bridgewater-Raynham.
The Warriors will play Catholic Memorial in the Division 2 Super Bowl for the third time in four years at Gillette Stadium. The date and time will be announced Monday.
“Coach (Brian) Lee has always done such a good job of making us stay humble and keep our eyes on the prize,” Laplante said. “Those seniors last year had such a good year and he had to bring us down to earth so show us seniors we could do it again. In order to do that though, we had to work even harder. And it starts in January running hills.”
As the rain came down and soaked the field, it perfectly fit the Warriors’ (11-0) style of play. The ground and pound approach, fueled by King Philip’s physicality and diverse run game, wore Marshfield down. In the first half it was all King as the senior rushed for all 101 of his yards to go with three touchdowns. After King went down with a lower leg injury early in the third quarter with King Philip up 19-0, Laplante took over finding the end zone twice.
“Tallan (King) is an animal. He plays both ways,” Laplante said, “I felt like since he went out, it was time for me to step up and make some big plays.”
The meeting was another installment in a series of high profile matchups between these teams. Back in 2022, the Warriors defeated Marshfield in the quarterfinal. Last year, after the Rams shocked top-seeded Catholic Memorial in the semifinals, King Philip came away victorious in the Super Bowl.
This time around was all Warriors. On its opening drive, the Warriors went 62 yards over nine plays, capped off by a 10-yard touchdown run by King to go in front 6-0. One possession later, the Warriors showcased their identity to their full extent going 74 yards over 15 plays, all of which came on the ground. The drive’s climax came on its final play when on fourth and goal from the one, King took a toss to the left and plowed into the end zone to up the lead to 13-0.
King Philip’s defense continued to impress with Aiden Astorino coming up with an interception. Astorino’s pick set up King’s second, 10-yard touchdown run of the night and gave the Warriors a 19-0 lead at the break.
After falling behind 26-0, Marshfield tried to claw its way back. Aidan Summers corralled a seven yard touchdown reception to get Marshfield on the board, and a seven yard touchdown scramble by Tor Maas cut the deficit to 26-13 with 8:13 remaining. The Warriors ground attack iced the game with Laplante rushing for yardage of seven, three, five, three, and then for a 35 yard score to give King Philip a commanding 34-13 lead.