FOXBOROUGH — The road to a Division 8 state championship for the Randolph football program started with a first-year head coach in early March and a 1-5 record in the Fall II season.
And it ended, with much celebration, Wednesday at Gillette Stadium after Malik White sailed into the end zone with a go-ahead 20-yard punt return with 2:43 remaining to secure a stunning 20-14 victory over South Shore League rival Hull.
It was the culmination for a team under the direction of coach Jonathan Marshall that had a 17-player roster in April, and overcame numerous challenges, roadblocks, and adversity along the way.
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“We talked about turning this from a team to a program, we have a middle school team now, a JV team,” Marshall said. “We had 17 kids on this team last year and now we’re Super Bowl champions because they wanted to do it.”

After running the spread last spring, Marshall, a former Marine who previously was an assistant at Framingham and Holliston, switched to the double wing this fall.
The 10th-seeded Blue Devils (8-4) completed just one pass — a 16-yard toss to White — but the senior back churned out 110 yards on 24 carries, and QB Sebastian Jouissance blasted in with a pair of 1-yard keepers.
“”We were just able to run the ball in the second half to keep it out of a high-powered offense’s hands, and so it really was complementary football and it was a team effort,” Marshall said. “The offensive line cleared out those holes and allowed the running backs to hit them hard.”
In a 14-14 game in the fourth quarter, Hull (9-4) snapped from its 15-yard line on a fourth-down punt. But with Randolph applying pressure, the boot off the foot of Blaise Belmarsh caromed off the helmet of his blocker.
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“”I heard the ball hit the back of someone’s helmet and I looked up and I saw it coming my way, I got it and found a hole and all of a sudden I was in the end zone,” said White, who accounted for nearly half of the Blue Devils’ 250 yards of total offense.

In a game that included various momentum swings and the Blue Devils facing a 14-8 deficit entering the fourth quarter thanks to the wizardry of Hull junior John Gianibas (9 catches 125 yards; 13 rushes, 72 yards), Randolph never wavered in its plan or belief in each other.
“Every team stretch we do starts with us chanting ‘Believe’ and I think that’s where our toughness starts,” said Marshall, whose Blue Devils lost their Oct. 1 regular-season meeting to Hull, 26-6.
But the start of the team’s in-season growth truly began with its first-round matchup in the Berkshires at Lee.
“We were given the furthest route to travel in [the first round] out to Lee and we knew once we got in the playoffs that we could do this, and with that win I think we started to believe,” Marshall said.
That mental toughness was on full display Wednesday, with Randolph staying level-headed and committed to its run game, allowing for Jouissance to score a pair.
For White, the impact of his winning return was not about himself, but more about putting the emphasis on the program he leaves behind as a state champion.
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“My brother is the starting running back on the middle school team, he’s in eighth grade,” White said, “and I’m glad I could set a new bar and standard for him for when he gets here.”
Randolph 20, Hull 14
Division 8 Super Bowl
at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
Randolph (8-4) 0 8 0 12 — 20
Hull (9-4) 0 14 0 0 — 14
H — Jaden Stilphen 5 run (Logan Chenette kick)
R — Sebastian Jouissance 1 run (Malik White run)
H — John Gianibas 40 pass from Luke Richardson (Logan Chenette kick)
R — Sebastian Jouissance 1 run (rush failed)
R — Malik White 20 punt return (rush failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — H, John Gianibas 13-72, Jaden Stilphen 13-37; R, Malik White 24-110, Greg Izedonmwen 12-76, Makhai Barnes 5-28, Sebastian Jouissance 8-17, Shaquon Rush 1-3.
PASSING — H, Luke Richardson 13-25-2—154; R, Makhai Barnes 1-1—16, Sebastian Jouissance 0-3—0.
RECEIVING — H, John Gianibas 9-125, Nick Tiani 2-16, Tyler Sordillo 1-8, Austin Bongo 1-5; R, Malik White 1-16.


Colin Bannen can be reached at colin.bannen@globe.com.