Our two editors, Ryan Lanigan & Josh Perry have extended beyond just Game of the Week and have briefly broken down each game this weekend. Below is a look at 5 of the games - for more on Mansfield/North Attleboro check out our extensive Game of the Week coverage that includes a take from ESPNBoston, The Boston Herald, and The Enterprise.
Friday
The Panthers were stunned at New Bedford last week, while the Bombardiers opened their new field with a rout of Dartmouth. Nick Zucco returns at QB for Franklin, but the bigger concern will be how to stop the Attleboro offense, which has racked up 76 points in two weeks. Tim Walsh has the spread offense clicking and confidence is flowing for Attleboro. Franklin will need to find consistency on the offensive side of the ball and try to keep the Bombardiers 'O' off the field. Last year these two played a shootout at Pisini Field, but both teams will hope and expect that their defenses are much better equipped and much stronger this season.
The Pick:
Ryan Lanigan - Attleboro 28, Franklin 18
Josh Perry - Attleboro 34, Franklin 20
King Philip (2-0) @ Taunton (2-0) - 4:00
This will be a clash of styles. The Tigers have scored 79 points in two weeks behind a triple option running game led by Gerald Cortijo and Domingo Jenkins. However, there are still question marks about the Taunton 'D,' which has given up over 20 points to both New Bedford and Durfee. On the other side is the King Philip Warriors who have given up only 13 points in two games including a shutout of high-powered Westwood. Led by Brett McEvoy and Joe Johnston, the KP defense is fierce, but the offense has not been able to finish enough drives. KP will hope the return of JJ Dillon will open up running lanes for Johnston and Christian Flaherty.
The Pick:
Ryan Lanigan - Taunton 22, King Philip 21
Josh Perry - King Philip 28, Taunton 7
Stoughton (2-0) @ Milford (0-2) - 7:00
Two teams that have been on the opposite sides of blowouts will meet on Friday night at Milford football will finally get their first taste of Hockomock league action. After Milford joined the Hock last year, the football team was the one hold out but will now make their league debut. It's not exactly the debut former Mansfield assistant Joe Todd would have probably hoped for, with his squad 0-2, scoring a league low 12 points a game and giving up a league high 38 points a game. Even worse is Stoughton is third highest in points scored through two games and the third best defensive team. The Black Knights are priding themselves on defense this year and this could be a statement game in the making.
The Pick:
Ryan Lanigan - Stoughton 35, Milford 7
Josh Perry - Stoughton 42, Milford 0
Saturday
There's a reason this game finished second in our Game of the Week Poll. When the season started, the Davenport was truly wide open. It still technically is still wide open as league play starts this weekend. But even before things get started, most people had split the league in half and had identified three teams as contenders. Foxboro and Oliver Ames both fell into that category and now they will battle in their first Davenport games of the season. Foxboro's lone loss came to a very, very good Walpole team that could possibly beat over 75% of this Hock. OA came away with a big win over Hingham before escaping with a win over Pembroke. Both teams still have something to prove...will home field advantage be the deciding factor? It remains to be seen with what crowd shows up on Saturday.
The Pick:
Ryan Lanigan - Foxboro 21, Oliver Ames 20
Josh Perry - Oliver Ames 27, Foxboro 21
Canton (0-2) @ Sharon (0-2) - 2:00
There's only a couple of guarantees when this weekend finishes - two teams will be 3-0 and at least one team will fall to 0-3 overall - unless of course Sharon and Canton finish in a tie. Though both are 0-2, each of these squads are coming in hungry with a chip on their shoulder. Both of these teams could easily be 1-1 too, as Canton lost in OT and Sharon lost just by one score. Both defenses were able to clamp down on offenses that had shown flashes of brilliance before. When you look at this game, it will come down to which offense can execute better.
The Pick:
Ryan Lanigan - Canton 28, Sharon 14
Josh Perry - Canton 20, Sharon 19