By Chris Wraight, Contributing Writer
Foxborough – For the first time, on Dec. 7, all seven of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association football state final games were held at Gillette Stadium. ?In the Division 2 final, the number two seed, St. John's High School Pioneers, ?played the Mansfield High School Hornets, the number one seed in its division.
The Hornets scored first, on a two-yard run by Alex Ruddy (point-after kick by Alex Thompson), answered by the Pioneers’ Drew Smiley (two-yard run and point-after kick by John Coveny).
In the second quarter St. John's’ Shane Combs broke it open for a nineteen-yard run (point-after kick by Coveney to take a Pioneers 14-7 lead into the half.
Mansfield came out reinvigorated in the second half and in the third quarter Ruddy scored again on an eleven-yard run (point-after kick failed) and an eight-yard run by Chris Buchanan (two-point run by Miguel Villar-Perez) put more points on the board.
The fourth quarter saw the Hornets add another score with a three-yard run by Villar-Perez (point-after kick by Thompson) as Mansfield shut out St. John's in the second half to win the state title 28-14.