MIAA Football State Championships - Divisions 1-4: Xaverian, Catholic Memorial in Command; North Attleborough, Scituate Victories Unrivaled

The 2025 MIAA Football Tournament began with a total of 128 teams across eight divisions, with 16 qualifiers in each. Following three weeks of action before Thanksgiving, 16 teams took to the turf at Gillette Stadium from December 4-6, and eight champions ultimately were crowned.

Catholic Conference schools came away victorious in Divisions 1-2, while the Divisions 3-4 championship games featured matchups of league rivals. Xaverian Brothers High School repeated its 2023 championship in Division 1 and Catholic Memorial High School took home Division 2 again. North Attleborough High School (Division 3) and Scituate High School (Division 4) turned strong performances into 2024 championship hardware.

Here is a recap of the Division 1-4 championship games:

Division 1

Xaverian Brothers High School continued to assert the Catholic Conference’s dominance in the state’s highest division, repeating as champion as the No. 3 Hawks survived a stiff challenge from No. 4 Needham High School for a 14-7 victory.

Vincent Busa toughed out 140 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, but the Hawks’ biggest play was their first from scrimmage. After forcing a Needham three-and-out, Will Wood connected with Dave Chiavegato for an 81-yard catch-and-run touchdown that gave Xaverian a quick 7-0 lead just 2:20 into the game.

Busa’s 2-yard plunge with 10:15 left in the half pushed the lead to 14-0. That was all the scoring for the Hawks, who turned it over to their defense to put the clamp on the Rockets. Needham potent offense finished with just 156 total yards.

The Rockets finally broke through on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Griffin Carr to Aidan Williams, cutting the deficit in half with 7:57 left in the third quarter. But the Rockets never got any closer.

Wood was 4-of-5 passing for 105 yards, and Luke Bell added 43 yards on 7 carries for the Hawks.

Williams sparked the Needham offense one last time, adding 13 carries for 58 yards to his 3 catches for 41 yards.

Xaverian is 10-6 all-time in championship games, while Needham’s only previous appearance was a loss to Boston College High in 2011.

Box Score    Division 1 Bracket

Division 2

Catholic Memorial made it a pair of state championships for the Catholic Conference as the top-seeded Knights returned to the top of the podium with a 39-21 victory while denying No. 2 seed King Philip Regional High School a repeat of its 2023 state championship.

It was the third meeting in four years between the schools, with CM also winning in 2021 and ‘22 and improving to 5-3 overall in championship games.

CM piled up 469 yards of total offense, including 334 rushing behind the two-headed attack of Lasean Sharp (8 carries, 148 yards) and Mekhi Dodd (19 carries, 129 yards). Both added a pair of TD runs as the Knights scored twice in the second quarter for a 20-8 halftime lead and gradually pulled away.

Sharp’s 65-yard TD run set the tone, but King Philip didn’t back down as Drew Laplante broke a 64-yard score of his own to tie it at 8-8. Then it was Kise Flannery’s turn, scoring from 3 yards and then hitting Dodd for a 37-yard score for CM.

Flannery finished 8-of-12 passing for 135 yards, with a pair of completions each to Caleb Garrity (55 yards), Dodd (40) and Gavin Brown (22).

Laplante led the Warriors with his 157 yards on 17 carries. Zach Gebhard (6-of-16, 86 yards) hooked up with Hayden Schmitz for a 42-yard score, and Talian King had the other TD run. Keigan Canto-Osorio chipped in 68 rushing yards on 7 carries for KP.

Catholic Memorial coach John DiBiaso extended his state records with his 16th championship victory in his 23rd championship appearance overall. DiBiaso is 3-2 at CM and previously was 12-5 at Everett and 1-0 at Weston.

King Philip is 3-4 all-time in championship games.

Box Score    Division 2 Bracket

Division 3

In a showdown of Hockomock League rivals and a rematch of their regular-season meeting, No. 4 seed North Attleborough High School left little doubt with a convincing 35-0 victory over No. 3 seed Mansfield High School.

Ryan Bannon led the balanced effort for the Red Rocketeers, carrying 20 times for 85 yards and 3 touchdowns. Chase Frisoli added 71 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and also threw for 79 yards. Francis Strachan had the other NA touchdown run, rushing for 60 yards on 7 attempts.

North Attleborough’s defense also was the big story, limiting the Hornets to just 115 total yards, including 26 on the ground.

Frisoli scored from 5 yards in the first quarter, and Bannon added his first from 10 yards for a 14-0 lead at the break. Short runs from Bannon (1 yard), Strachan (4 yards) and Bannon again (1 yard) broke it open over the final quarter and a half, as North Attleborough picked up its first championship since 2002. Both teams are 8-4 overall all-time in title games.

For Mansfield, Tommy Vallett completed 8-of-19 passes for 93 yards, much of that to Andrew DeGirolamo (5 catches, 79 yards).

North Attleborough also won the regular-season matchup between the Hockomock rivals, 27-21 on Sept. 16.

Box Score    Division 3 Bracket

Division 4

Another matchup of league rivals – this time from the Patriot League – wasn’t a regular-season rematch but one with plenty of history nonetheless.

No. 2 seed Scituate High School scored the game’s first 29 points and then sailed to their second title in four years, holding off top-seeded Duxbury High School, 29-13. It was the third matchup in four seasons between the teams after Duxbury’s record-breaking 62-33 triumph in 2023.

But the Dragons never had a chance at matching those numbers. The Sailors pitched a first-half shutout and did all of their scoring in the first 24 minutes behind the talented arm of Jonny Donovan. He finished the day 18-of-24 passing for 249 yards and all four touchdowns, setting the tone with scoring strikes to Lawson Foley (8 yards) and Willy Robinson (78 yards) in the first quarter.

Donovan hit Foley again from 8 yards, making it 22-0 with 5:00 left in the first half, then wrapped it up with a 15-yard toss to Rowan Glowac just 29 seconds before intermission.

Robinson racked up 122 receiving yards on 8 catches, while Foley (31 yards) and Glowac (68 yards) had 4 catches apiece. Grayson Foley added 66 yards on 17 carries.

Jack Rees scored from 3 yards out and also hit Ethan Torpey for a 4-yard score, but Duxbury’s comeback fell short.

Scituate is 3-2 all-time in championship games, while Duxbury is 7-5.

Box Score    Division 4 Bracket