King Philip Running Game Overwhelms Mansfield Football

The Mansfield Hornets now find themselves in a place that they have been very few times in recent history - out of the race for a league title.

With no answer to the King Philip ground attack lead by Mark Glebus’ 151 yards and four touchdowns, the Hornets fell to the Warriors 42-21 at Mansfield High School.

“We didn’t bring our A-game tonight,” Mansfield head coach Mike Reading said. “They seized on every opportunity to hold us off.”

The Hornets are now 2-2 in league play and 3-3 overall.

King Philip remains undefeated after the win with a record of 4-0 in league play and 6-0 overall. With no other undefeated teams in the league, the Warriors clinch at least a share of the Kelley-Rex title.

The Hornets came out strong on their opening drive of the game behind the running of sophomore Bryan Lynch. After nearly getting tackled on a run from the Mansfield 47-yard line, Lynch surged passed the KP defense for a 44-yard run down to the Warriors’ nine-yard line.

Matt Karafa’s quarterback sneak on fourth and goal at the one put the Hornets up 7-0 with 6:49 to play but Mansfield would find themselves down 19-7 by the end of the opening half.

The opening drive for King Philip was a taste of things to come for the Warriors on offense. KP only needed one play to tie the game as Glebus sprinted down the field for a 61-yard touchdown run with 6:33 left in the first quarter.

The constant attack of KP counters and tosses to the outside proved to be difficult for the Hornets with very little to counter the constant scoring.

Glebus would get the Warriors from the outside of the red zone into the end zone at the start of the second quarter, running on five consecutive plays for 21 yards en route to his second touchdown of the night. A missed extra point kept the score at 13-7.

The proceeding Mansfield drive would go nowhere and ended after a blocked punt by KC Webster gave the Warriors their starting point at the Mansfield 32-yard line.

Facing second and five from the Mansfield 27, a counter to Glebus went for 21 yards and brought the Warriors down to the six-yard line. Three more runs by the running back resulted in a touchdown and a missed two-point conversion meant a 12-point KP advantage going into the half.

The Hornets offense briefly woke up with Michael Boen reeling in a pair of catches for 26 and 35 yards to give Mansfield their best field position since the first drive of the game down at the two-yard line.

Lynch’s second touchdown from the two-yard line and the extra point made it a 19-14 game. While in past seasons this may have been the start of a Mansfield comeback and KP disappointment, this year was different.

KP quarterback John DeLuca found Kyle Loewen on the next drive for a 44-yard touchdown on third and six that increased the lead to 13 after a successful two-point conversion.

Brett Mazur’s fumble recovery on the kickoff started off the drive that would put away the Hornets by the end of the third quarter. Another touchdown from Glebus by way of a sweep to the left on fourth and three on the Mansfield four with less than a minute remaining in the third gave KP a 33-14 lead with only a quarter to play.

King Philip added a final touchdown in the fourth quarter, a five-yard run by Steven Eaton while Mansfield scored with 38.9 seconds left on a pass to Boen from the King Philip 11.

The Hornets travel to Franklin next week for their final regular season game. A win is needed for the Hornets to qualify for the MIAA Division 2 South tournament.