King Philip Owns 4th Quarter Against Mansfield

By Jake Levin (@JakeLevin09)

WRENTHAM — Shane Frommer had only six yards rushing through three quarters. The No. 19 Mansfield Hornets must’ve been in excellent position to bring an end to the 16-game winning streak of the No. 5 King Philip Warriors, no?

Frommer found other ways to impact the game, with his 91-yard interception return for a touchdown proving to be the spark for 28 unanswered King Philip points in the Warriors' 28-10 victory over Hockomock League rival Mansfield on Thursday night.

To the House! from Matthew Siegel on Vimeo.

“I knew we had to make a big play,” Frommer said after the game of his momentum-swinging score. “I saw [Colin Eutsay] make an out route, I knew I had to jump it. My teammate thankfully tipped it for me and I picked it. Right when I knew I picked it, I knew it was going for six.”

Mansfield couldn’t have asked for a better start, taking the air right out of the crowd with a game-opening 14-play, 79-yard scoring drive capped off with a Dan DeGirolamo 9-yard touchdown run. Michael DeBolt’s PAT made it 7-0 Hornets.

The hot start continued thanks to Hunter Ferreira, who picked off King Philip quarterback Brendan Lydon on just the Warriors’ third play from scrimmage. Ferreira returned the ball 39 yards, all the way back to the King Philip 30. The Hornets received three points off the turnover on a DeBolt 37-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead just 15 seconds in to the second quarter.

Threatening to score once again, Mansfield had the ball at the King Philip 10-yard line with under two minutes to go in the half. On third-and-7, Frommer jumped Eutsay’s route and brought it to the house. The Hornets held the lead at the half, 10-7, but the missed opportunity would linger into the second.

“We were on the ropes bad, we had nothing going,” Warriors head coach Brian Lee said. “Everything was going wrong. There was the pass interference, then we let them get a big run, we had no answer. And then bang, get a play, alright, we’re back in it. So we could go into the locker room and adjust to what we needed to do and go from there.”

King Philip received the second half kickoff but was forced to punt after an 11 play drive went nowhere. Mansfield seemed to regroup, with the Scott-to-Ferreira connection coming together once more for a 28-yard gain on third-and-11, but the Hornets too would punt.

With under a minute to go in the third quarter, the Warriors got the ball back at the 50. Lydon marched King Philip downfield in record time, throwing his first of two fourth quarter touchdown passes to Dylan Leonard to give the Warriors their first lead of the night.

After a slow start, Lydon wound up with a line of 8 for 17 for 106 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Pinned deep at its own 8-yard line with 7:22 remaining, Mansfield trailed by four. On the first play of the drive, Scott uncorked a deep ball off his back foot in search of Ferreira around midfield. Luke D’Amico played the role of deep rover to perfection and came up with an interception, giving King Philip the ball back and a chance to put the game away.

After picking up one first down, the drive seemingly stalled out for the Warriors at the Mansfield 31. Facing fourth-and-10, King Philip was too far for a field goal but too close to punt. Stuck in no-man’s land, the Warriors decided to go for it and saw the gamble pay off in the biggest of ways when Lydon connected with Thomas Madden for his second touchdown pass of the fourth quarter. Baker’s kick made it 21-10 King Philip.

On the ensuing series for Mansfield, if Jack Webster’s interception of Scott wasn’t the dagger, then Frommer’s 47-yard touchdown run three plays later certainly was.