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FOXBOROUGH -- The members of the Foxboro football team preach an undying devotion to 26th-year head coach Jack Martinelli and his philosophies on the gridiron, but the Warriors do take umbrage with his theories on motion.

In fact, they'd flat out argue that he's trying to debunk Newton's Law.

See, the veterans on this year's Foxboro squad believe an object in motion should remain in motion unless acted upon by a greater force. Under that train of thought, the Warriors, who closed out the 2006 season by playing some of the finest ball in the state and captured the Division 2 Super Bowl title, should be regarded as one of the area's top squads until someone proves otherwise.

Martinelli's not so sure.

"No matter how many years you've been doing this, you learn that you can't just pick up where you left off," said Martinelli. "We're down at ground floor zero again. Fortunately, we've got some kids that worked extremely hard from the end of last season until now. We've got good leadership and, if these kids do the things they are supposed to, things will take care of themselves one way or another."

There's reason to believe that graduation might have been a great enough force to slow the Warriors and that seems to be the prevailing notion among Hockomock League pundits.

They say Mansfield is loaded... that North Attleboro won't get caught looking ahead again... that Franklin has the most pure talent in the league.... that Oliver Ames will be much improved... that Stoughton is going to be solid again... that Canton can't be overlooked any more.

Then there's Foxboro... they lost a lot.

"I can't wait to win that first game and hopefully show a bunch of people that we're not down," said senior captain Tim Mogan, whose running prowess helped propel Foxboro to a 21-10 triumph over Burlington in last year's title game.

"I think we're just as good as last year. We can get to that level if we work hard."

So you don't agree with Coach?

"I don't think we have to start over at all," said Mogan. "We're going to try to just resume where we left off last year. We want to keep winning games and see where it takes us."

But what about the other teams in the league? Can you guys really hang with Mansfield and North Attleboro?

"Not a lot of people are giving us credit for what we did last year," said senior captain Stephan Neville, a two-way starter and a wide receiver that Martinelli calls, "our home run threat."

"We have a lot of talented guys coming back. We're very excited. We think we have a legitimate shot at getting to another Super Bowl."

There isn't even a bit of pretentiousness in Foxboro, but maybe a little chip on the shoulder. The Warriors emerged from arguably the state's toughest conference thanks in large part to a thrilling upset of previously undefeated Mansfield on Thanksgiving Day.

Five days later, Foxboro handed Bishop Stang its first defeat, a 21-6 decision, in a first-round playoff game. The Warriors reward? Meeting yet another undefeated squad -- this time a Burlington squad coming off a 45-9 steamrolling of (yes, you guessed it) previously undefeated Natick.

Having endured Super Bowl defeat the year before -- an 8-3 loss to Natick -- Foxboro came out inspired. The ultra-physical Warriors popped the high-octane Red Devils right in the mouth and led 21-3 at the intermission.

Game, set, Super Bowl.

This year's squad brings back a large senior class, but only four starters overall. That doesn't stop Martinelli from trying to sell his squad. "We only have four returning starters," he said, "but that's about all we brought back the year before, so we'll see what happens."

Could Martinelli's charges be swaying their fearless leader?

"It's so difficult to remember the previous year," he said. "No, you can't just pick up where you left off. It's certainly in the back of each kid's mind. But, as coaches, we can't allude to that. That's self-pressure.

"But it is nice to get to that level. I guess you hope it transfers to the next group in some way or form."

As Lloyd Christmas might say, "So you're saying there's a chance." Yep, all the Warriors want is a little benefit of the doubt. But it's not going to come easy.

The Warriors open with a rigorous three-game non-conference stretch that features Concord (N.H.), No. 9 Dartmouth, and Merrimack Valley power Central Catholic. It's a trio of tests that will prepare the Warriors well for their Hockomock slate.

Matched up against rival Mansfield, Foxboro looked sharp Friday night during the annual Hockomock Jamboree in Franklin. The Warriors moved the ball well on their first two possessions, while forcing the Hornets to go three-and-out on its first two series. Ali Mourtada's 34-yard field goal put Foxboro on top, 3-0, before Mansfield's first team drove for a touchdown early in the second quarter.

Count Mansfield coach Mike Redding among the believers in Foxboro.

"I've been here for 20 years and I don't think they've ever been down in any of those years," said Redding. "We know they're going to be right there at the top of the league. They talk about the Big 3 with us, North Attleboro and Foxboro. This year might truly be the Big 5 or the Big 6 with Franklin, Oliver Ames, and Stoughton all in the mix. But we knew Foxboro would be up there, no doubt."

The Warriors boast some serious size up front, led by two-way tackle Brian Woollard and his 6-foot-5, 305-pound frame. Woolard will protect junior quarterback Brian Swanton (who has looked good throwing the ball during the preseason) and pave the way for the running back tandem of Mogan and sophomore Luke Soccorso.

Much of Foxboro's talent will go both ways with Mogan anchoring the linebacking corps along with Stephen McGrath, while Neville patrols the secondary with Joe Nixon and Mourtada.

"We have a lot of talent and we have a big, big line," said Mogan. "I know no one expects that. We've got a lot of tough kids. Just like last year."

Okay, Coach, if you can't carry over that momentum from one year to the next, is there at least a thread from last year's squad that you'd like to see replicated this fall?

"These kids learned a valuable lesson when Stoughton beat North Attleboro," said Martinelli. "We got a second chance. I saw an emotion from these kids that I hadn't seen before that. Because we lost early to North, the kids have been around long enough to know that one loss like that is enough to make it very tough to go anywhere. But (North's loss) put a passion back in them. They played near-perfect football for the last three games of the season and that's a credit to the kids."

The Warriors don't want to leave anything to chance this time around.

"We have to replicate the toughness of last year's squad," said Neville. "We have to persevere even if we lose... We don't want to have to rely on anyone else, though. We have to go out there and take care of business and not rely on anyone to do our work."

Chris Forsberg can be reached at cforsberg@boston.com