Dragons roar again: Duxbury football pounds Grafton for first Super Bowl title since 2016

FOXBORO -- Due to the quick turnaround from an NFL prime-time game on Thursday to an MIAA prime-time game on Friday, old friend Pat Patriot was still down in a three-point stance at the 50-yard line at Gillette Stadium.

On a field decorated for a throwback game, the Duxbury High football team threw it back as well -- to the time when the Green Dragons were unbeatable on the big stage.

Duxbury went 5-0 in MIAA Super Bowls from 2005-16 but the magic had faded a bit recently with losses here in 2019 (to Springfield Central) and 2021 (to Scituate). The latter defeat was especially agonizing as the Dragons had a seven-point lead with 2:03 left in last year's final, only to see the Sailors march for a touchdown and then run in the winning 2-point conversion with 27 seconds left.

Fueled by the memory of that loss, top-seeded Duxbury (12-0) went wire-to-wire in Division 4 this year, winning every game by at least 13 points and outscoring opponents 498-186. The capper came Friday night as senior quarterback Matt Festa ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more to lead a 42-7 clobbering of No. 2 Grafton (11-2) that delivered the Dragons' first Super Bowl title since 2016.

"I'm on top of the world right now," said senior receiver Chris Walsh, who caught five passes for 145 yards and a TD. "I feel so good. Three-hundred sixty-four days ago, we felt exactly what Grafton feels right now."

This time it was the Dragons who got to party on the field and run over to the stands to sing the school fight song with the crowd.

"This is probably the best feeling in the world," senior safety Brendan Bonner said. "After last year, nothing beats this."

More:Follow all 8 of the MIAA high school football state championships at Gillette

It's the fifth time Duxbury has been crowned undefeated champ -- the Dragons finished 13-0 in 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2011. They were 12-1 when they won the 2016 championship.

Those were the good old days, and they appear to be back.

"We used to win them all the time," said senior nose tackle Nick Ayres, who walked out of the stadium cradling the Div. 4 Harry Agganis Trophy. "As kids we'd come out here and we'd watch. It's not new to us, Gillette Stadium. It's obviously not new to the seniors who have been here three times in four years. It's the tradition of showing up, playing every single day, going hard with one goal in mind and that's winning.

"To go 12-0 with a Super Bowl win and to have that up there on the banner on the wall in our coaches' office, it means that our names are going to be remembered forever. Growing up, these guys were our idols in 2016. I can remember almost every single big play from that game (a 40-7 rout of Shrewsbury). I was sitting right up there (in the stands). To be here in this position and influencing the kids who are probably watching the game today, I couldn't ask for anything more."

Festa was obviously the star in this game. His four rushing TDs -- one shy of the single-game MIAA Super Bowl record, held by multiple players -- came from 4, 2, 3 and 4 yards out. He also threw a 33-yard TD pass to Dylan DeAngelis to open the scoring and hit Walsh with a 24-yard TD pass that made it 35-7 in the third quarter.

Festa finished with 12 carries for 35 yards and completed 10 of 14 throws for 250 yards. He wrapped up his senior campaign with 35 TD passes and 4 INTs and added 14 rushing scores. Throw in a receiving TD and he finished with an even 50, one more than he had as junior.

"He is the best quarterback in the state," Walsh raved. "He is going to play at a high Division I level. He's so good. I can go out there and it doesn't matter who's covering me, he's going to throw me open. I have so much trust in him."

Still, it was hardly a one-man show.

Junior running back Alex Barlow, for example, ran 13 times for 125 yards. He had big gains on several scoring drives -- runs of 13 and 14 yards on a march that ended with Festa's first TD run for a 14-0 lead in the second quarter; a 17-yard run to kickstart a drive that ended with Festa's 2-yard TD run that gave Duxbury a 21-7 lead at halftime; and a 15-yard run on the opening drive of the second half that made it 28-7.

"He's one of those throwback players," coach Matt Landolfi said. "He's from the '80s, 1982 or something like that. He'll run over somebody, he'll play defense. He's the first one at practice sitting outside ready to go. He's a special kid."

DeAngelis, meanwhile, had just six catches for 47 yards and no TDs this season coming into the game, but he busted out with the 33-yard TD catch and later a 42-yard reception down the seam that brought the ball to the Grafton 2. The latter play came on a fourth-and-2 and set up Festa's 2-yard TD run for a 21-7 cushion.

"We have fun with Dylan; we gave him a lot of grief because he hadn't had a touchdown all year," Landolfi said with a laugh. "It was his day today, for sure. He's a heck of a player, wonderful player. Great linebacker, great H-back and just so happy for him."

Kicker Nathan Elliott was 6 for 6 on PATs.

Defensively, the Dragons were almost flawless, limiting the Gators to 286 total yards (129 rushing, 157 passing). Liam Donagher, Grafton's most dangerous player, managed only 70 total yards. He ran three times for 4 yards and his 11 catches generated just 66 yards.

Bonner, who had a third-down pass breakup to end Grafton's first drive of the game, was everywhere in the secondary, making sure that Duxbury wouldn't have a repeat of the 62-41 shootout win over Middleboro in the quarterfinals.

"We felt like after the Middleboro game we (had to tighten up)," he said. "We're a great unit. We practiced hard all week. It shows on the field."

Defensive end Henry Bicknell and Ayres were dominant up front.

"Bicknell has been great all year, and Ayres has stepped up," Bonner said. "He was out last year with a shoulder injury and it's great to see him step up and make big plays."

Landolfi added of Ayres: "He really was stout at nose tackle, immovable, which changes your defense completely."

Grafton's only score came when Donagher caught a 9-yard TD pass from Casey Jordan to narrow Duxbury's lead to 14-7 with 5:22 left in the first half. The Dragons responded with a nine-play, 80-yard TD drive and the Gators offense really didn't threaten again until Duxbury made a tackle on the goal line as time expired and the celebration began.

Landolfi, the defensive coordinator on both the 2016 and 2019 teams, was asked if he had bored his current players with tales of those great Duxbury teams of the past.

"I haven't," he said with a laugh. "We don't really talk about it. We try not to. I don't want them to think too far outside of what their world is."

Still, some of the Dragons do remember at least the 2016 team.

"I remember coming to the 2016 (Super Bowl)," Bonner recalled. "That one I was 11."

"In 2016 I was here watching them," Walsh said. "I was sitting up in those stands and saying, 'I want to be on that field and win a state championship just like them.' It's such an unbelievable feeling (to accomplish it). We couldn't have ended it in a better way."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Duxbury football beats Grafton to win first Super Bowl since 2016