King Philip defeats North Attleboro in early-season test

NORTH ATTLEBORO King Philip and North Attleboro both bring a similar punishing style to the gridiron But when the Hockomock League rivals collided Friday night at Beaupre Field it was KP s version of smashmouth football that won out Behind the tough running of Keigan Canto-Osorio and Tallan King plus another standout defensive performance the Warriors delivered blow after blow to topple the Red Rocketeers - with their gritty effort Canto-Osorio racked up yards rushing on carries with two touchdowns while King took carries for yards and a count We reported them last week we got the win but we didn t play very physical We weren t really tough KP head coach Brian Lee disclosed I declared You re going to be up against it against North because you know how tough and physical they are And they responded to that The contest swung in the favor of KP - on a controversial call at the end of Canto-Osorio s -yard touchdown run with left in the third quarter After unleashing two monster stiff arms on defenders to break free Canto-Osorio scampered along the left sideline and tried to beat the last defender to the pylon He dove for it and the play was called a touchdown despite it looking like the senior back lost control of the ball before journeying the goal line Lee agreed Canto-Osorio did fumble but was glad to catch a break He fumbled it Lee stated It s OK They blew that call We had certain other ones so that s how it goes It was a hell of an effort We didn t block anybody so he deserved a touchdown as far as I m concerned Sometimes you get lucky North Attleboro head coach Mike Strachan was frustrated with the call but tried to get his company to move on from it I reported my peace to the refs and after I noted my peace I went back to coaching Strachan declared At the end of the day it shouldn t come down to one play like that It just happens to be a big play in the challenge The Red Rocketeers - had a demanding time stopping KP s bruising rushing attack King sealed the contest for the Warriors when he bulldozed his way to a -yard touchdown run to give KP a two-score advantage with left That lead was in good hands thanks to KP s stout defense KP s defense forced three interceptions and came through with two key defensive stands in their territory in the second half including when North Attleboro turned the ball over on downs at the Warriors -yard line early in the fourth quarter It was great Lee disclosed Defense is what we hang our hat on that It keeps us going while we re trying to get things going on offense