WRENTHAM, Mass. – During Brian Lee’s tenure at King Philip, the Warriors have displayed a penchant for making life difficult for even the most prolific offenses. In big matchups, like Friday night’s visit of highly ranked Xaverian to Macktaz Field, KP manages to turn the game into a low-scoring, ball control, defense-oriented affair.
Against Xaverian, it was a prototypical KP performance. The Warriors had multiple players in the backfield on seemingly every play, making sure that star quarterback Henry Hasselbeck had next to no time to make plays down field. KP finished with four sacks, a forced fumble, a couple of passes batted down, a pick-six, and countless quarterback pressures.
Riding its defense’s dominant play in front of a packed house, the Warriors pulled out a 19-14 victory, solidifying its place among the state’s elite again this fall.
“Really just put a lot of pressure on him, and sustained pressure, and the back end and the secondary did their job too,” Lee said about his team’s defense. “When you’re playing an opponent who has such a reputation, it’s going to amp you up. Everybody knows what Xaverian is, how good they are, how well-coached they are, they have a culture, all the things you’re afraid to face in a program.
“We knew it was going to have to be our best, sustained effort.”
Right from the start, the Warriors were sending blitzes from every angle to make Hasselbeck uncomfortable. On Xaverian’s second possession, Carson Meier’s pressure forced an incomplete pass on first down and Kyle Abbott’s pressure caused one on second down. Will Astorino chased down Michael Oates on a screen pass for a loss of four and a three-and-out.
“Coach Wassel planned a ton of blitzes against them,” Astorino explained after the game. “We knew that if we got pressure we could disrupt them. We did that and that’s why they couldn’t get anything going offensively. That was a great defensive performance. We put on a show.”
On the next Hawks drive, Sean King came up with the big hit on Oates, forcing the ball loose. KP recovered at the Xaverian 40 and used the short field to take the lead. Astorino got the call on three straight fullback dives and then Abbott (18 carries, 66 yards) gained seven. Nathan Kearney got a first down to the 19, but KP managed only three more yards and Matthew Kelley split the uprights on a 33-yard kick.
Jonathan Monteiro almost immediately gave the visitors the momentum with a 52-yard kickoff return. After a Christopher Sesay sack, Oates had his best run of the day, gaining 21 down to the KP 19. Abbott read the sweep and dropped it for a one-yard loss. A drop on third down and a penalty made it fourth and 14 before Kearney got a big hand on a screen pass attempt, leading to a turnover on downs.
KP went into the break leading 3-0 and hadn’t allowed a point in 10 quarters to start the season. Early in the second half, the defense showed that it can score as well as keep other teams off the board. Sesay again got into the backfield, hitting Hasselbeck as he threw. The pass fell into the hands of Meier short of midfield and he went the distance to make it 10-0.
Lee said, “It was huge. We definitely struggled on offense. It was a defensive battle, everybody was having trouble moving the ball. Once we got up 10, it really felt like alright, okay, now we’ve got a little bit of breathing room here. It was just a huge, huge play for us.”
Hasselbeck (8-of-16, 148 yards) just didn’t have the time to get anything going for the Hawks. On the next drive, Abbott pressured one incompletion and on third down, Astorino chased down the quarterback for a four-yard loss.
Thomas Brewster’s good punt return set KP up with another short field, starting at the Xaverian 39. A 16-yard completion from Tommy McLeish to Connor Mello converted a third down to the 21. Aiden Astorino had a couple of carries and on third down KP took no chances with a QB sneak to set Kelley up for a 30-yard kick and a 13-0 lead.
The visitors would get the ball back in the closing seconds of the third. Aiden Astorino batted down the first pass attempt, but on the final snap of the quarter, and with multiple Warriors draped all over him, Hasselbeck was able to lay a ball out for Monteiro on the edge and he took it 77 yards for the score. It was the first points allowed by KP this year.
KP got the ball back midway through the fourth quarter, starting at its own 46. On fourth and three from the Xaverian 47, McLeish was able to draw an offsides penalty for a critical first down. Three plays later, play action fooled the Xaverian defense and McLeish hit Kelley down the right sideline for a 36-yard completion. It was KP’s longest play of the night.
“The offensive coordinator (Shawn Hill) was like I want to throw and I was like I don’t know,” Lee said about the big play call. “It’s three minutes and maybe we just eat some clock here because you could feel every second was going to count.”
Kearney got the ball on the next snap from the six and he churned for extra yards and got an extra push from the line to get into the end zone.
The conversion failed but KP restored its two-score lead with just 2:20 to play. Hasselbeck tried to get the Hawks up the field quickly to give themselves a chance. With the help of a personal foul penalty, Xaverian got to the KP 25 with a minute to go.
Luke Danson got the fourth sack of the night, dropping Hasselbeck for a loss of four, but on the next play the Xaverian QB found Monteiro in the back corner of the end zone. After a brief conversation, the officials ruled him inbounds to cut the lead down to five with 43 seconds to go.
Daniel Silveira snagged the onside kick attempt, sealing the victory for the Warriors.
Astorino, who wasn’t unable to contain his excitement after the win, said, “So proud of those guys. They gave it all that they had. We knew they were going to be a tough challenge. Probably every one of their players outweighs us by 50 pounds, but we played with some heart and some passion. That’s how KP plays.”
When asked about the significance of beating a program of Xaverian’s pedigree, Lee explained, “It’s knowing you played a good team and you were able to compete. I didn’t know really what we were. I didn’t know how mentally tough we were, I didn’t know how resilient we were, I didn’t know what we would do when we couldn’t run the ball, who would make plays in the pass game for us, and can we play that old school KP ‘D’ that has kept us in games.
“We got a lot of yeses and a lot of things to feel better about this week.”
King Philip (3-0) will open Kelley-Rex play next Friday with a visit from also unbeaten Taunton.
- Taunton Cousins Dominate in the Circle and at the Plate - 06/19/2023
- Softball Photos: Taunton vs. Central Catholic - 06/19/2023
- Dynasty Continues, Taunton Wins Third Straight D1 Title - 06/19/2023