Once the new MIAA football alignments came out, all eyes were on Div. 2 to see if a certain powerhouse squad was listed there.

Sure enough, Catholic Memorial was one of 22 teams.

That certainly irritated many schools who believed the Knights should have moved up to Div. 1 after dominating the Div. 2 scene the previous two seasons. Catholic Memorial captured the previous two state titles and won each of those eight postseason contests by at least 20 points, one of the eight victims being Marshfield.

Thus when the tournament pairings came out this year, Marshfield found itself on the same side of the draw as Catholic Memorial. Few gave the Rams any chance of ending the Knights’ reign of terror, but they didn’t count on a group of young men from Marshfield rising to the challenge and stunning Catholic Memorial 52-40 to advance to the Div. 2 title game against King Philip.

“Our kids deserve all the credit for this,” said Marshfield coach Chris Arouca. “They played really hard and believed in themselves. They looked at this game as a challenge — they said they didn’t know how good they could be until they played the best.”

When the teams met two years ago, Catholic Memorial rolled to a 41-0 win. It took Marshfield about 10 seconds to let everyone know that this is a new year, a new team. Giovanni Joseph took the opening kickoff and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams some confidence.

“They were just so much bigger, faster and stronger than us two years ago. To gain four yards on a play was big for us,” Arouca said. “To see Gio take the kickoff and really run away from them on the return was huge for us.”

Some may have thought trying to match Catholic Memorial point-for-point would be a recipe for disaster, but don’t count Arouca among that group.

“We knew there was no way anyone was going to stop that offense,” Arouca said. “Our mindset was that we have a good quarterback (Tor Maas), a good running back (Davin True) and some good receivers, so we were going to take our best shots and see what happened.”

Marshfield kept delivering shots for the entire 48 minutes, rendering Catholic Memorial defenseless in the second half. The Rams kept the pedal to the metal and never stopped until the verdict was in hand.

Normally, a win of this magnitude would be cause for a ticker tape parade in Marshfield. The reality of the situation is that the Rams still have a lot of work to do, starting with a Thanksgiving Day matchup with a 9-1 Duxbury team competing in the Div. 4 state championship game, followed by the state final contest against undefeated King Philip.

“It’s really a grind, we played a physical Bishop Feehan team then Catholic Memorial,” Arouca said. “Now we get Duxbury and King Philip next week. It’s hard and we’re obviously beaten up after a game like Catholic Memorial, so we’ll get another chance to see how good we are.”

1. St. John’s Prep (11-0): Time for the fan-appealing two-step with Xaverian over the next week.

2. Xaverian (9-2): Hawks overcame some injuries and a tough Needham squad to reach the Div. 1 finals.

3. King Philip (11-0): Warriors were so impressive in putting away Barnstable.

4. Marshfield (9-2): Never mind the phrase the Rams are coming. They are clearly here as Catholic Memorial can attest.

5. Catholic Memorial (7-3): Rarely have the Knights been put in a position where they couldn’t match the opposition on the scoreboard, but Saturday was one of those instances.

6. Needham (9-2): Rockets left everything on the field against Xaverian and did themselves proud in the process.

7. Hanover (11-0): Hawks were pushed to the limit by an unsung Danvers team before advancing.

8. Duxbury (9-1): Defense stepped up big time in slowing down Tewksbury.

9. Foxboro (10-1): Warriors really clicked in handing a good Shawsheen team its first loss.

10. Walpole (8-3): The Noah Mackenzie-Jamal Abdal-Khallaq passing combination has been lethal in the postseason.

11. Milford (9-2): Shorthanded Scarlet Hawks put up a valiant effort against Walpole before succumbing.

12. Andover (9-2); Golden Warriors had no answers for the top seeds from St. John’s Prep.

13. Milton (8-3): Wildcats get a second shot at Walpole for all the marbles.

14. Methuen (7-3): Final hurrah for standout quarterback Drew Eason against Dracut/Innovation.

15. Mansfield (6-4): Should be one of the better Thanksgiving Day tilts against Foxboro.

16. Scituate (8-3): Year in and year out. Herb Devine has the Sailors peaking at the right time.

ON THE BENCH: BC High (6-4), Barnstable (9-2), Central Catholic (4-6), Weymouth (7-3), Everett (8-2), Shawsheen (9-1), Peabody (9-1), Billerica (8-2), Dartmouth (9-1), Bishop Feehan (7-2)