NATICK - Preparation is a key come playoff time.
After a hellacious regular season schedule, there might not be a more prepared team in the postseason than Bridgewater-Raynham.
The sixth-seeded Trojans showed it was ready for the playoffs with a dominating performance to dismantle No. 3 Natick, 35-6, at Memorial Field in the first round of the D1A South Sectional.
"(The regular season) prepared us well and that's what I tried to stress to the kids all week long," said B-R coach Dan Buron, as the Trojans will face the winner of No. 2 Wellesley and No. 7 Hingham in the semifinals. "We've been battled tested and they rose to the occasion."
B-R (5-3) didn't take long to get started. On the third play from scrimmage, Shawn Noel Jr. scampered 13 yards into the end zone and George Lampros add the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Trojans' ground game began to kick into high-gear on its second series with a 44-yard touchdown run from Devante Greaves to go ahead, 14-0, with 3:39 left in the first quarter.
"I really think the team that scores first is going to have the upper hand," Buron said. "We were able to do that pretty quickly and then the defense made some nice stops and we were able to convert right away again."
Natick (6-2) had no answer for B-R's rushing attack as Bryce Shaw extended the lead to 21-0 on a hard-nosed 21-yard touchdown run at the 4:02 mark of the second quarter.
Noel, who finished with 120 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns, added a 1-yard score just before halftime to put B-R up, 28-0.
While Noel got the bulk of the workload, mixing in Greaves (four carries, 78 yards) and Shaw (seven carries, 47 yards) made the Trojans' ground game that much more effective as it finished with 256 rushing yards.
"When you have three versatile backs in the backfield, you can get anything done," Shaw said.
Natick's lone bright spot was a 1-yard touchdown run by Malik Williams late in the fourth quarter.
But aside from that, B-R's defense slammed the door shut and showed it's a contender in the D1A South.