Last modified: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:06 AM EST
Members of the KP D-2 team which made it to the Eastern Mass. title game include: Paul Plantamura, Eddie Collins, Jr., Kyle Loewen, Kyle Angelo, Mike McCarthy, Ryan O’Donoghue, John Dean, Billy Dittrich, Liam Clifford, Anthony Fruci, Brendan Pyne, Nick Tenaglia, Jon Poirier, Harrison Butler, Jack Rezendes, Ben Goslin, Zack Goslin, Adam Rivers, Jake Fornicairi, Rich Hepburn, Joe Kearney, Andrew Sprague, Rhett Warner and Brendon Walsh. (SUBMITTED)

Overtime loss spells end of the road for KP D-2 squad

WRENTHAM - No Pop Warner team from Wrentham has ever advanced to the National Championships in Orlando, Florida, yet this year's D-2 squad was just two wins away.

And nearly closer than that.

With a berth in the New England Championship game at state, the King Philip D-2 squad had a shutout going through three quarters but ended up being forced to overtime before eventually falling to Woburn, 12-6.

King Philip took the lead in this hard-fought, semifinal game when Kyle Loewen scored on a 45-yard double reverse to make it 6-0 at the half. But, in the fourth quarter, Woburn scored and was in prime position to take the lead before KP blocked the PAT kick, making it 6-all. It stayed that way until overtime.

Woburn won the OT toss and elected to defend first, King Philip getting stopped at the 1-yardline after four plays starting from the Wobrun 10. Knowing that a score would mean a spot in the New Englands, Woburn needed to go just 10 yards for the win. After three plays, Woburn had moved the ball down to the 3-yardline, then scored the winning points on a fourth-down pass play.

Before that, the D-2 team had won two playoff games to get to the Super Bowl. King Philip knocked off North Attleboro 6-0 then sneaked past Plymouth.

King Philip actually trailed Plymouth 6-0 in the fourth quarter, but with only 1:53 left to play KP scored on a 15-yard sweep and the extra point made for a 7-6 KP win.

That meant a spot in the Super Bowl against Hyde Park, a matchup of undefeated (10-0) teams. King Philip came up with another impressive defensive effort to win 12-0, not allowing a first down in the game.

King Philip is coached by head coach Mike McCarthy as well as assistants Jim Dean, Mark Loewen, Ralph Poirier and John Pyne.