WRENTHAM, Mass. - Sophomore quarterback John DeLuca threw three touchdowns and rushed for one of his own - all in the first half - as King Philip rolled over Taunton, 40-8.
King Philip scored on every drive of the game - except for the last, when they took a knee to kill the clock.
"I was pleased with our execution," King Philip head coach Brian Lee said. "We've really been working on our special teams and they played much better. I'm just pleased overall. We were able to do some things and throw the ball and it made everything a lot easier."
In typical fashion, the Warrior defense came out strong and forced a punt from the Tigers after they took the opening kickoff. On King Philip's first drive, on just their third play, DeLuca hit a streaking Peter Garrity down the right sideline for a 58 yard touchdown less than three minutes into the game. Sam Fleck's extra point was good to give King Philip a 7-0 lead.
The Warriors were able to get the ball back, this time forcing a turnover on downs. Just a couple of plays later, DeLuca handed the ball off to senior Mark Glebus, who was met by a couple of Taunton defenders right up the gut. But Glebus bounced off one and then used a spin move to beat another, racing up the middle for a 28 yard touchdown to make it 14-0 with 2:16 left in the first quarter.
DeLuca took control in the third quarter and really distanced KIng Philip from Taunton. KP forced another punt from the Tigers at the end of the first quarter and just three plays into the second, DeLuca connected with senior Andrew Robillard for a 61 yard touchdown along the right sideline to make it 21-0 with 10:30 left in the second half.
It wasn't long until the Warriors had the ball back - the KP defense forced Taunton into another three-and-out - and it didn't take long for DeLuca and crew to cash in. A rush from Steven Eaton, a DeLuca pass to Kyle Loewen, and a face mask penalty set the Warriors up with first and goal from the 7 yard line. But a chop block on the following play pushed King Philip back to the 25 yard line. That didn't phase the Warriors as Glebus rushed twice for gains of 14 and 10 yards to get the ball to the 1-yard line, where DeLuca kept it himself for a touchdown. The extra point was wide to make it 27-0 with 5:57 left in the half.
Taunton was able to move the ball almost to midfield but their drive was stalled when quarterback Adam Leonard was sacked by Garrity and Loewen. After another punt, Taunton's defense was able to get to DeLuca for a sack on first down, but on second down Eaton rushed for 16 yards, giving the Warriors a first down. On the next play, DeLuca went back to what was working, throwing a pass along the right side of the field. The pass went into the end zone and was originally knocked into the air, but senior Lukas Cepkauskas hauled in the loose ball for a 27-yard touchdown.
"We've had two weeks and we've been working on it a little bit more," Lee said of the passing game. "We have a sophomore quarterback and we're protecting him. We took some more shots tonight and get the ball down the field and let the receivers do some work and help them out. I thought the wide receivers played well too as well as he threw the ball. And he had time, that's key too."
That score sent the Warriors into halftime up 33-0. DeLuca finished 5/5 for 177 yards and three touchdowns on the day with all attempts coming in the first half.
King Philip started the second half with the ball and used 10 straight run plays to go 54 yards, capped off by a three yard touchdown rush by Eaton to make it 40-0.
Taunton had only one offensive series the entire second half, but made the best of it. Starting at their own 38-yard line, the Tigers used nine straight run plays to march 62 yards and capped it off with their lone score of the game, a 4-yard rush from Trevon Brown. Brown took it in for to convert the two-point play to make it 40-8.
That would be the final score as King Philip ran 16 rush plays on the final drive to run out the clock.
Glebus finished as the leader of the pack for King Philip's run game, rushing for 85 yards on seven carries and a touchdown. Eaton had 48 yards on six carries and a score, Leo Munafo had 32 yards on seven carries and sophomore fullback Giovanni Fernandez had 24 yards on six carries.
Brown led the Tigers - who were without star running back Steven Harrison - with 37 yards on eight carries.
Both teams will be back in action next week as Taunton will host Franklin on Thursday, October 2nd at 6:00. King Philip will travel to North Attleboro on Friday night at 7:00.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.