By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com Editor

WORCESTER, Mass. – For King Philip’s seniors, this was the last ride, their last game together, their last chance to pull on the gold and green, and their last chance to leave a legacy no other team in program history had ever claimed.

So captains Leo Dowling, Brady Herlin, and Johnny Prater made sure they went out as champions.

Behind Dowling’s steadying presence behind the plate, Herlin’s relentless work at the plate, and Prater’s command of center field, the Warriors beat Milton, 4-1, on Thursday night at Polar Park to win the Division 2 state championship, the first state title in program history.

“Obviously they’re fantastic players, but that’s not what makes a leader,” King Philip head coach Jeff Plympton said. “These guys came in day in and day out. Brady wasn’t a captain to start the season and then he just led by example day after day after day and we’ve brought him to that role. Leo’s just been an absolute guy behind us, such a leader for us for four years, and then Johnny just patrolling the whole outfield. It’s just amazing to watch.”

It had not always looked like KP’s season would end this way. The Warriors opened the year with a tough loss to rival Franklin, had a couple of hiccups and speed bumps along the way, and closed the regular season on a three-game skid.

But when the Warriors needed someone to steady the dugout, their senior captains made sure the season didn’t slip away.

“That week before the playoffs, we really bought in at practice and bought in that first game,” Herlin said. “Ever since we won that one, that first game, there’s no looking back. We knew what we were gonna do.”

Dowling saw the same shift.

“We got to come together for playoffs and one final ride, play for each other,” Dowling said. “Don’t wait until it’s a senior’s last game to see their tears. Know what it feels like and go leave it all out there for them.”

From there, the Warriors started to look like the team they believed they could be all along.

“After that first playoff game, the team was a family, instantly,” Prater said. “You could tell everyone came together. Everyone bought in and the team became a family. From then on, I knew we were winning.”

Once KP got rolling, each of its captains found a way to leave his mark.

Dowling’s impact started with his presence behind the plate. The senior catcher has been a constant for the Warriors throughout his career, catching more than 638 innings over four years and handling nearly every frame for KP’s staff during that stretch.

On Thursday night, he guided junior Matt Labriola, in his first year on varsity, through 6 2/3 innings against a tough Milton lineup. The Wildcats put traffic on the bases in the first two innings, including a run in the second that cut KP’s lead to 2-1, but Labriola and Dowling never let the inning get away.

“He brings so much behind the backstop,” Herlin said of Dowling. “He’s a brick wall and the way he calls pitches. He just keeps hitters on their toes and they never really know what’s coming. They really helped our staff.”

For Dowling, it was a fitting finish to a four-year varsity career that started with heartbreak against Milton in the state final as a freshman and ended with him behind the plate for the first championship in program history.

“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t really see this happening in my last game,” Dowling said. “But all these guys came together and it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Herlin made his impact in the box score and in the margins. The senior reached three times, had two hits, stole two bases, and scored the insurance run in the sixth inning.

With one on and nobody out in the top of the sixth, Herlin dropped down a bunt, hustled down the line to beat the throw to first, and avoided the double play. He stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Cooper Sisti‘s RBI single to give KP a 3-1 lead. The Warriors later added another run when Nick Broughton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, stretching the lead to 4-1.

It was the type of winning play Plympton had watched Herlin make all spring.

“Brady wasn’t a captain to start the season and then he just led by example day after day after day and we’ve brought him to that role,” Plympton said.

Prater’s impact came in center field, where he patrolled the gaps and made sure Milton never got the response it needed.

Right after KP stretched its lead to 4-1 in the top of the sixth, Teddy Dunn led off the bottom half by sending a rocket to straightaway center. It was the type of swing that could have changed the inning, maybe putting the leadoff man on second — potentially third — and giving Milton immediate life.

Prater erased it.

The senior center fielder tracked the ball to the warning track in dead center and hauled it in for the first out, one of two catches he made in the inning to help keep the Wildcats quiet after KP had finally created some separation.

“Anytime the ball goes up in the air I go, Johnny can get it,” Plympton said. “It’s a good feeling to have. I’m going to be sad to lose him out there.”

Even Herlin, who has played with Prater for three years, briefly wondered if Dunn’s swing had done damage.

“I mean the ball is smoked,” Herlin said. “I was like, oh crap, but I saw Johnny flip his hips and I don’t think I’ve seen him get a better read in the three years I’ve played with him. As soon as he left his feet, I knew that ball was gonna be in his glove.”

For Prater, that confidence is part of the job.

“The second I see it off a bat, anywhere on that outfield, I think I’m there,” Prater said. “I have the confidence that I’m there.”

KP still needed three outs in the seventh, and Milton made the Warriors earn them. Henry O’Brien grounded out to short for the first out, but John Sullivan followed with a single and Jack Naughton walked, bringing the potential tying run to the plate.

Labriola got Peter Mullen to hit into a fielder’s choice back to the mound for the second out, with Sullivan moving up to third on the play, but the junior reached his pitch limit and had to leave one out short of finishing it himself.

That forced KP to shuffle the infield. Junior Jacoby Cady came on for the final out, and junior Jake Conlon took over at third base in Cady’s spot. On his first play of the game, Conlon fielded Ben Doak’s grounder cleanly, threw across the diamond, and the Warriors poured out of the dugout as state champions.

The seniors had their ending, the captains had their legacy, and KP had the first state championship in program history.

“This feeling is unreal,” Herlin said. “It’s definitely gonna take a little bit to set in, but I mean, we’re the first ones in KP history to come and do it. No better feeling.”