And this year's number one was no different: another unbeaten, state championship team.
Mansfield football went 13-0 and used a second half surge to take down St. John's in the D2 State Championship, 28-14, at Gillette Stadium.
Here is a look at the Hornets' season, from start to finish.
First, we take a look at HockomockSports.com season preview for Mansfield:
Tom Peace and Scott Barboza had the coverage for ESPNBoston.com:
The Hornets traveled for an out of state showdown, as No. 4 Mansfield battled 9-time Maryland state champions, Paul Laurence Dunbar school out of Baltimore Friday night and came away victorious, winning 29-26 over the Poets.
With less than two minutes in the fourth quarter, Mansfield (1-0) marched down the field into the Dunbar red zone and Hornets quarterback Kyle Wisnieski found senior wideout Mike Hershman in the end zone to give Mansfield the 27-26 lead. The Hornets would follow with the two-point conversion to go on to seal the win.
Dunbar (0-1) had been down 21-6 early in the third quarter but was able to put together some offense with three scoring drives to get back into the game. Dunbar quarterback William Crest went off, running in a score at the end of the third quarter to make it 21-12, then threw a 62-yard bomb to wideout Dominic Miller to bring the Poets within a point, and finally took the lead when Crest ran into the end zone from five yards out.
“He was unbelievable,” Mansfield head coach Mike Redding said of Crest, a senior West Virginia commit. “He was complete package, tall, big arm, athletic.”
Though the Hornets never gave up and stuck with the game plan, which was play solid defense and get the football back into Wisnieski’s hands.
For game three, Mansfield came out against rival North Attleboro and showed up their swiss-army knife offense.
Mike Scandura recapped the game for ESPNBoston.com:
Mansfield coach Mike Redding is like a kid in a toy store.
But unlike a kid who has an abundance of toys from which to choose, Redding has an abundance of offensive weapons that are designed to dissect the opposition.
That was the case – again – Friday night as the defending Hockomock League champion and No. 2-ranked Hornets began league play by belting North Attleborough, 35-14.
“Miguel (Villar-Perez) is very valuable,” Redding said of one of his weapons. “He’s a good receiver and a really good runner.
“With Mike Hershman and Brendan Hill out there to cover, you have to line up your defense to take away the pass and it opens up things for Miguel, Chris Buchanan and Matt Bukuras. We really have five good skill kids out there. It’s kind of a rare treat for a coach to be able to call plays for five different guys and they all can make plays. We’re developing some nice balance with all five skill guys contributing.”
After opening their Kelley-Rex division slate with a win, Redding talked about the Hornets’ intent to become a more diversified offense.
“That’s what it takes in this league,” Redding said. “If you try to get the ball to one guy too much you’re going to end up getting beat sooner or later. We have the five guys and we’re trying to spread it around.”
Stephen Sellner covered the shootout for The Boston Globe:
Third-ranked Mansfield survived a shootout with No. 20 Attleboro on Friday night, escaping Tozier-Cassidy Field with a 49-42 win.
Hornets senior Kyle Wisnieski finished 19 of 28 for 304 yards, throwing three touchdowns and an interception, while also adding a rushing TD.
Mansfield (4-0) led by 21 with 10:40 to go, but the Blue Bombardiers (3-1) reeled off 14 straight points thanks to an onside kick recovery.
Attleboro drove into Mansfield’s territory and had a shot to tie the game, but the Hornets defense forced quarterback Tim Walsh into three straight incompletions to secure the victory.
“Our defense finally came up with a big stop when we needed it, and [it was] just an unbelievable high school football game,” Mansfield coach Mike Redding said. “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
The next week brought a battle of undefeated teams in Mansfield and King Philip. It was billed as a battle of Mansfield's offense and King Philip's defense but in the end, it was the Hornet defense that stepped up.
Ryan Lanigan covered the game for HockomockSports.com:
Despite all of the hype leading up the game, it wasn't Mansfield's offense or King Philip's defense that had people talking after the game.
The Hornet defense stepped up big and Mansfield used two fourth quarter touchdowns to beat King Philip 20-7, staying undefeated and handing the Warriors their first loss of the season.
After giving up a 4-yard touchdown run by Mark Glebus on KP's first offensive drive, the Hornet defense shutout a talented Warrior rushing game for the last 39:22 of the game.
"I think the story of the night was our defense," Mansfield head coach Mike Redding said. "We gave up one early and then settled down and played great run defense against a very physical team that can run the ball. All week that was what we were preaching. Everyone was going to talk about our offense against the defense but the story of the game is going to be our defense playing against their run game and if we could stop them we have a chance to win."
The Hornets continued to stuff the KP rushing attack and limited their passing game as their offense searched for a spark against a stout Warrior defense.
But just like the previous games, Mansfield took care of business in a 35-13 win.
Eric Young covered the game for the MetroWest Daily News:
With its playoff life hanging in the balance, the Franklin High football team took the field Friday night knowing that a victory was of the highest order.
Unfortunately, its opponent had other ideas.
With a sparkling 6-0 record, Mansfield had already clinched a playoff spot, but that didn't stop the Hornets from taking their foot of the gas.
Armed with the motivation to secure the No.1 overall seed in the Division 2 South playoffs, the Hornets stung the Panthers on Friday night in a 35-13 victory, ending Franklin’s hopes of qualifying for the Division 1 South playoffs.
"It was tough to get anything going tonight," said Franklin head coach Brad Sidwell, whose team fell to 2-5 on the season. "We can't hang our heads. There is still football left to play and we’ll work on getting better and preparing for next week."
...
"They ran a very fast hurry-up offense tonight and Nick (Zucco) has terrorized us for three years now," Mansfield coach Michael Redding said. "It took us a little while, but I thought our defense made the right adjustments and settled in nicely."Mansfield's offense settled in as well.
Ryan Lanigan had the details for ESPNBoston.com:
When it looked like Wellesley's defense found a way to limit Mansfield's high-power offense, the Hornets displayed yet another weapon.
Quarterback Kyle Wisnieski ran for a team-high 80 yards helping to spark Mansfield to a 31-14 win over Wellesley in an MIAA Division 2 South Quarterfinal game.
Wisnieski is known for his accurate passing to weapons like Brendan Hill, Michael Hershman, and Kyle Hurley and the Hornets have even established a strong run game this season behind Miguel Villar-Perez and Chris Buchanon, but it was Wisnieski's legs that did the trick Friday night.
Peter Gobis covered the game for The Sun Chronicle:
Scoring on their first five offensive possessions, creating a 35-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter of the MIAA Division 2 playoff game, the unbeaten Mansfield High School football team had executed its game plan to near perfection, in addition to securing a pair of takeaways and two quarterback sacks.
And then the Hornets were a heartbeat away and an onside kick (recovered by Stanley Pignone) away from watching it all vanish.
"We've got character, we've got kids who make plays," sighed Mansfield High coach Mike Redding, whose Hornets won a heart-stopper of a 42-35 battle with once-beaten Needham in the semifinal round of the Division 2-South playoffs Friday night at Alumni Field.
Scott Barboza recapped the Hornets' win for ESPNBoston.com:
At the heart of defending against Mansfield’s offense is a simple numbers game.
“There’s just too many weapons,” Hornets head coach Mike Redding said Friday night. “As good as anybody is on defense, you can’t handle four receivers, three backs, a good line, on a beautiful night to play. It’s tough to top what we’re able to do with our guys.”
Coming off one of the more impressive defensive performances in the MIAA football playoffs a week against Natick, Barnstable entered the Division 2 South title game looking to shut down an equally explosive unit. After picking apart one of state’s top aerial attacks with Troy Flutie, the Red Raiders faced another tall task in trying to stop Mansfield quarterback Kyle Wisnieski and his cache of weapons.
Unlike the previous week’s performance, Barnstable was unable to slow the Hornets as Wisnieski dissected the Red Raiders to the tune of 276 yards and four touchdowns as Mansfield rolled to a 41-16 victory.
The Hornets (10-0) advance to play North champion Waltham in the Div. 2 state semifinal next week.
Mansfield won, 41-0.
Ryan Lanigan covered the game for HockomockSports.com:
Mansfield scored on their first six drives of the game and their defense allowed just three first downs as the Hornets cruised to a 41-0 win over Waltham in the Division 2 State Semifinal.
The Hornets cruised in the game but head coach Mike Redding was not expecting to be as easy as it was.
"Looking at them on film, they just seemed like a gritty team that found ways to keep games close, and were winning them in the fourth quarter," Redding said. "I think to be honest they were just too banged up."
Mansfield is now 11-0 on the season and are averaging just over 35 points a game while giving up just under 16 points a game. They have won their four playoff games by an average of 22.5 points.
"Obviously, we're playing great football," Redding said. "We executed really well on [offense]. I think the big thing is that we deferred and we wanted the wind early to try to jump on them, and we got the 21 early and kind of took the game away from them."
And it wasn't just a meaningless game - it was on Thanksgiving against longtime rival Foxboro.
Redding claimed that Mansfield would play to win and that they wanted to be 12-0 going into the state title game.
Mike Scandura covered the game for The Boston Globe:
No Brendan Hill.
No Miguel Villar-Perez.
No problem.
Mansfield played most of its Thanksgiving Day game against Foxboro minus two of its top offensive players. But the Hornets defense pitched a shutout and Mansfield prevailed, 14-7, and remained undefeated (11-0, 6-0 in the Hockomock League) heading into the Division 2 Super Bowl against St. John’s (Shrewsbury).
Wide receiver Hill (803 yards, 10 touchdowns) injured his knee on the fifth play of the game and running back Villar-Perez (930 yards, 11 touchdowns) left after the first quarter with an injured shoulder.
But Mansfield’s defense, led by cornerback Aurian Dawkins, held the Warriors (6-5, 3-3) to 84 yards of total offense.
“Our defense was unbelievable,” coach Mike Redding said. “They threw a defensive shutout. We gave them the pick-six. But our defense came to play.”
Despite trailing at halftime, Mansfield showed their heart and came away with the win to complete the perfect season.
Cameron Merritt covered the final win for HockomockSports.com:
After a heartbreaking loss in this same game last season, the Mansfield High Hornets capped off an undefeated season by defeating the St. John’s (Shrewsbury) Pioneers 28-14 to win the MIAA Division II Super Bowl.
“We asked a lot of guys to do a lot of different things today without Brendan [Hill] in,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Redding. “Chris [Buchanan] ran hard, Miguel [Villar-Perez] played with a bad shoulder, ran hard, [Alex Ruddy] had a couple of good carries, Q’Ra [Guichard] came in and blocked well. Just a lot of guys doing what we had to do to find a way to win. Great team effort.”
After a slow start in the first half, in which the Hornets, missing star wide receiver Brendan Hill, gave up five turnovers, the Hornets had a complete turnaround in the second half, in which they scored three answered touchdowns to clinch another state championship.
#2: Honoring Their Coach
#3: Kings of the Mat
#4: The Last Gasp Goal
#5: Honesty, Sportmanship
#6: True Teammates
#7: Six Players Join The Club
#8: A Shot Worth The Wait
#9: Repeat Sectional Champs
#10: The Rivalry Rematch
#11: Vaulting To The Top
#12: Triple Overtime Thriller
#13: The Brick Wall
#14: Making A Big Splash
#15: The Buzzer Beater
Honorable Mention: The Finalists
2012-2013: The Complete Countdown