Game Story: Mansfield Boys Football Makes a Clutch Win 27-26

They had opened the season with three straight wins in which they outscored their opponents 132-0. As good as they had looked during those contests, the Warriors knew their biggest challenge was coming into Wrentham this week. 

Hockomock League powerhouse Mansfield would be paying Wrentham a visit and would provide the Warriors with their biggest challenge to date.

When the dust had settled, the Hornets had handed the home team its first loss off the season, 27-26, but not without a score of its own down the stretch.

After Mansfield had opened up double-digit leads on two separate occasions, the Warriors came charging back with a clock definitely on the visitor’s side. The Hornets had once again opened up the gap between themselves and the Warriors to 13 (27-14) when Greg Donahue, who looked to be stopped in the backfield, broke a tackle and rumbled into the end zone from 11 yards out and only 5:08 left on the game clock.

Using almost half of the remaining time, King Philip drove 78 yards on 15 plays to cut into the Hornets lead. With star running back Charles Ruffin being helped off the field, quarterback John Dillon took to the air.

The sophomore signal caller connected on four of his nine passes during the drive. The last was to Ruffin, who not only returned to the game, but took Dillon’s pass into the end-zone for a 5-yard touchdown.

“We had a great drive and thought that we put it away, but their sophomore quarterback plays like a senior.” Mansfield Coach Mike Redding said. “They did everything they could to win the game. There were no losers tonight — two great teams going toe-to-toe.”

On the ensuing kickoff, KP’s Charlie Harrington recovered the onside kick, putting the home crowd on the edge of their seats. On two occasions during the final drive, KP was faced with a fourth-down situation and, on both occasions, Dillon connected with Sam McDonald (6 catches for 116 yards) to continue the drive. 

The second hook-up was a fourth and 19, where Dillon lofted a beautiful 32-yard pass over McDonald’s shoulder. The junior made a fantastic grab, bringing the ball down to the 2-yard line. Charles Ruffin (19-156 yards and 2 touchdowns) would burst through the line to cut lead to one.

As Mansfield set up defensively in what they thought was going to be a game-tying PAT, the Hornets quickly had to call timeout as KP coach Brian Lee was going for the victory. Dillon’s pass was knocked down and Mansfield held onto a hard-fought 27-26 victory.

“I think that we had shown we were having a lot of trouble stopping them if we went into overtime,” the Warrior coach said. “I just thought that we had the momentum while we had the ball down there, so we went for it. I wanted to take care of business and not give them another chance.”

Taking the opening kickoff, Mansfield quickly took control of the game, marching the ball down the field on an 11-play 69-yard drive that used 6 minutes and 9 seconds of the first quarter. King Philip was not impressed, as the Warriors quickly evened the score. Ruffin took the opening handoff and burst through the line and rumbled 61 yards for the game-tying touchdown.

Mansfield took that momentum right back within the blink of an eye. The Hornets’ Blayne Taylor (5-74) did his best Ruffin imitation, rushing 57 yards toward the KP end zone on the first play of the next drive. Two plays and two touchdowns in 33 seconds. Brett McEvoy blocked the PAT as the visitors went back on top, 13-7.

“It was a great football game with two very good teams. Funny how both teams graduated a bunch of good people, but you wouldn’t know it tonight,” Redding said. “Give them credit, they had all the momentum and tried to steal the win, and they were pretty close to doing it.”

KP’s Lee agrees the game was a special one — his only regret is that his team came up on the losing end.

“I was very pleased — you can keep saying never quit and never surrender,” Lee said. “This certainly is not the most talented bunch of guys that I’ve had, but they should what you can do if you keep believing in each other and keep fighting. I’m very proud of them.”

Mansfield’s George Busharis had only 86 yards through the air, but the running game accounted for 225 yards rushing (Donahue leading the charge with 120 yards on 117 carries). 

King Philip rushed the ball for 171 yards (Ruffin 19-156 yards and 2 TDs), while Dillon was 13-26 for 189 yards through the air.