Week 8 football: unbeaten Fairhaven and Apponequet go for 8-0 before the MIAA cutoff

FAIRHAVEN Fairhaven and Apponequet, the South Coast's two unbeaten football teams, both take 7-0 records on the road Friday night, Oct. 30, in the last week of games before the MIAA's power rankings cutoff. Fairhaven plays at GNB Voc-Tech at 6:30 p.m. at Jeffrey E. Riley Stadium, and Apponequet visits Dighton-Rehoboth at 6:30 p.m. All 12 games in the table below kick off Friday night, which leaves Halloween Saturday to soccer, field hockey and volleyball.

The MIAA's football cutoff is Saturday, Oct. 31, and the tournament brackets come out at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, the association said in its fall tournament schedule. Every division of its power rankings, which count scores entered through 4 a.m. Oct. 27, carries the same rule: "Top 16 teams with at least 3 wins and 7 games played qualify for the postseason tournament." Fairhaven is sixth in Division 6, with Old Rochester seventh and Case 11th. Apponequet is 11th in Division 5, and New Bedford is 13th in Division 1.

Friday's games

Week 8 football, Friday, Oct. 30

Game	Kickoff and site	Records	MIAA ranking, Oct. 27
Fairhaven at GNB Voc-Tech	6:30 p.m., Jeffrey E. Riley Stadium	Fairhaven 7-0, GNB Voc-Tech 2-5	Fairhaven 6th in Division 6; GNB Voc-Tech 32nd in Division 4
Apponequet at Dighton-Rehoboth	6:30 p.m., Dighton-Rehoboth Stadium Field	Apponequet 7-0, Dighton-Rehoboth 3-4	Apponequet 11th and Dighton-Rehoboth 22nd in Division 5
Old Rochester at Somerset Berkley	6:30 p.m., Hanson Memorial Stadium	Old Rochester 6-1, Somerset Berkley 1-5	Old Rochester 7th in Division 6; Somerset Berkley 30th in Division 4
New Bedford at Dartmouth	7 p.m., Dartmouth Memorial Stadium	New Bedford 6-1, Dartmouth 1-6	New Bedford 13th in Division 1; Dartmouth 26th in Division 4
Brockton at Durfee	6:30 p.m., Durfee stadium turf	Brockton 3-4, Durfee 5-2	Brockton 10th and Durfee 23rd in Division 1
Case at Sharon	6 p.m., Sharon High School stadium	Case 5-2, Sharon 5-2	Case 11th in Division 6; Sharon 23rd in Division 3
Diman at Bristol-Plymouth	7 p.m., Houlker Memorial Stadium at Southeastern	Diman 4-3, Bristol-Plymouth 4-3	Diman 22nd and Bristol-Plymouth 28th in Division 4
Bishop Stang at Cardinal Spellman	6 p.m., Potvin Field	Bishop Stang 2-5, Cardinal Spellman 2-5	Bishop Stang 28th in Division 5; Cardinal Spellman 28th in Division 6
Stoughton at Wareham	6:30 p.m., Spillane Field	Stoughton 0-7, Wareham 3-4	Stoughton 24th in Division 3; Wareham 17th in Division 8
Seekonk at West Bridgewater	6 p.m., West Bridgewater turf field	Seekonk 2-4, West Bridgewater 3-4	Seekonk 23rd and West Bridgewater 14th in Division 7
Southeastern at Old Colony	7 p.m., Old Colony football field	Southeastern 1-5, Old Colony 1-6	Southeastern 35th in Division 4; Old Colony 28th in Division 8
Cape Cod Tech at Atlantis Charter	6 p.m., Atlantis Charter main field	Cape Cod Tech 6-0, Atlantis Charter 4-3	Cape Cod Tech 4th and Atlantis Charter 36th in Division 8

Fairhaven at GNB Voc-Tech

Fairhaven has scored 281 points in seven games, about 40 a game, and has put up at least 35 in six of them. Its closest game was a 45-37 win over Case on Oct. 16, and its 56-28 win at Seekonk on Oct. 23 was its highest total yet. Junior quarterback Jackson Ponte completed 10 of 12 passes for 221 yards and five touchdowns at Seekonk and ran for 57 more yards, and The Boston Globe named him one of its Eastern Mass. players of the week. Junior Jackson Williams ran for 113 yards, caught passes for 55 and scored four times in the same game, the Globe reported, while Liam Pickup ran for 116 yards and Wes Amarello caught two touchdown passes, according to the Globe's Week 7 leaders list. A week earlier against Case, Aidan Donnelly broke a 76-yard touchdown run and finished with 135 yards, and Maddox Joseph ran for 108 yards and three scores, the Globe's Week 6 list shows.

GNB Voc-Tech is 2-5, with wins of 13-0 at Old Colony and 25-14 over Bristol-Plymouth on Sept. 24. After Friday, Fairhaven hosts Dartmouth at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26.

Apponequet at Dighton-Rehoboth

Apponequet has allowed 105 points in seven games, the same total as Fairhaven, and its closest game was the 21-13 opener at Middleborough on Sept. 11. Senior Joe Procaccini ran for touchdowns of 20, 28 and 33 yards and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass in the 35-15 win at Bishop Stang on Oct. 22, the Globe wrote in naming him a player of the week. A week before, he ran for three touchdowns in the 33-8 win over Somerset Berkley, the Globe's Week 6 leaders list shows.

Dighton-Rehoboth has won two straight, 27-13 at GNB Voc-Tech and 33-28 over Somerset Berkley on Oct. 23. Senior Jack Lynch, a Globe player of the week, caught three touchdown passes, ran for another score and gained 114 total yards in the Somerset Berkley win, and Artie Holmes threw for 127 yards in that game, the Globe's Week 7 list shows. Apponequet beat both of those opponents too, Somerset Berkley 33-8 and GNB Voc-Tech 48-21. Its Thanksgiving game is at Old Rochester at 10 a.m. Nov. 26.

Old Rochester at Somerset Berkley

Old Rochester is 6-1 and has won three straight. Its only loss was 35-14 to Foxborough on Oct. 2. Benji Baptiste ran for five touchdowns in the 53-18 win over Bishop Fenwick on Oct. 16, the most of any player on the Globe's Week 6 leaders list, and Old Rochester followed with a 36-6 win at GNB Voc-Tech. Somerset Berkley is 1-5, and its last game was the 33-28 loss at Dighton-Rehoboth. Its win came 42-22 over GNB Voc-Tech on Oct. 2.

New Bedford at Dartmouth, Brockton at Durfee

New Bedford is 6-1 after a 20-14 win at Brockton on Oct. 24, its third straight. Senior Lyric Ramos connected with Tru Gonsalves-Cosme on a 39-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, scored on a 1-yard run and made an interception, and the Globe wrote that the win put the Whalers in first place in the Big Three. New Bedford has scored 240 points, and its only loss was 34-8 at Quincy on Oct. 3. Dartmouth is 1-6, with a 14-7 win at Bishop Stang in the opener, and two of its losses came by one point: 14-13 to Middleborough and 13-12 to Old Rochester.

Durfee (5-2) hosts Brockton (3-4) at 6:30 p.m. after a 34-7 win at Tech Boston Academy on Oct. 23. Its two losses were 21-7 at Taunton and 28-27 at Framingham. Durfee meets New Bedford at Fenway Park at 4 p.m. Nov. 25, with New Bedford the home team.

Around the rest of the South Coast

Case (5-2) has allowed 85 points all season and visits Sharon (5-2) at 6 p.m. Junior Anderson Emard returned two fumbles for touchdowns, of 83 and 43 yards, in the 35-8 win at West Bridgewater on Oct. 23, and finished with nine tackles and a forced fumble, the Globe reported. Aedan Borges ran for 136 yards in that game, the Globe's Week 7 list shows. Case's two losses were 12-7 to Diman and 45-37 at Fairhaven.

Diman and Bristol-Plymouth are both 4-3 and have played three of the same teams. Diman beat Old Colony 33-0, Southeastern 33-6 and Tri-County 20-7, and has allowed 13 points in its last three games. Bristol-Plymouth beat the same three teams 14-0, 41-12 and 28-7. Timmy Nixon ran for three touchdowns in the 41-12 win at Southeastern on Oct. 23, the Globe's Week 7 leaders list shows. Bristol-Plymouth plays its home game at Houlker Memorial Stadium at Southeastern, where it also beat South Shore Tech on Sept. 18. Bishop Stang (2-5) visits Cardinal Spellman, and Stang's Jason Campbell ran for 117 yards against Apponequet, on the same Week 7 list.

Wareham (3-4) hosts Stoughton at Spillane Field. The MIAA has Wareham 17th in Division 8 with a rating of minus 9.0294, a step behind 16th-place Ware at minus 9.0101. Ty-Rell Pires ran for three touchdowns in Wareham's 38-0 win at Atlantis Charter on Oct. 16, by the Globe's count. Seekonk (2-4) visits West Bridgewater (3-4). Old Colony (1-6) hosts Southeastern, and Atlantis Charter (4-3), which won 36-18 at Holbrook on Oct. 24, hosts unbeaten Cape Cod Tech of Harwich.

This week's results

Westport swept Diman 3-0 in volleyball on Wednesday for its second straight win. Fairhaven won 3-2 at Durfee to improve to 16-3, Old Rochester beat Dennis-Yarmouth 3-0 for its 13th straight win and is 16-2, and Old Colony won 3-1 at Middleborough for its 10th straight and is also 16-2. GNB Voc-Tech beat New Bedford 3-1, and Bristol County Agricultural won 3-0 at Wareham. On the Globe's Oct. 24 volleyball leaders list, Fairhaven's Sophia Lomba had 21 assists, 12 digs and four aces and Margaux Poyant three blocks, and Dartmouth's Lindsey Barber had 23 assists and Hailey Moreira 12 kills.

In field hockey on Wednesday, Durfee won 1-0 at Taunton and is 10-6-1. Senior Alina Emery reached her 100th career point when she scored the only goal in Durfee's 1-0 win over Case on Oct. 23, the Globe reported. Bishop Stang tied Barnstable 2-2 and is 11-3-3, and Dartmouth (10-5-3) lost 5-0 to Dennis-Yarmouth at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium. Somerset Berkley (15-1-1) won 9-1 at West Bridgewater on Tuesday and has outscored its opponents 117-14. In soccer, Westport's boys won 3-0 at Diman and are 11-2-3, and Seekonk's girls beat Westport 4-0 for their fourth straight win.

Friday and Halloween Saturday, other sports

Friday's other games include Old Rochester volleyball at Dartmouth at 5:15 p.m., Case at Fairhaven volleyball at 6 p.m., Somerset Berkley field hockey at Acton-Boxborough at 5:30 p.m., Bishop Stang field hockey at Seekonk at 6 p.m. and Somerset Berkley's boys soccer team at Westport at 3:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Oct. 31, two boys soccer games start at 10 a.m.: Fairhaven at Bishop Stang at Hugh Carney Stadium and Dighton-Rehoboth at Dartmouth (10-1-2 through Wednesday) at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium. Durfee hosts Mansfield in field hockey and GNB Voc-Tech in girls soccer, both at noon on its stadium turf. In volleyball, GNB Voc-Tech hosts Shawsheen Valley at 11 a.m. at the Z. Walter Janiak Field House, Bristol-Plymouth plays at Diman at noon, and Old Colony visits Smith Vocational at noon.

Unified and cheer

Apponequet's unified basketball team is 4-0. Old Rochester's unified team is 2-3 after wins of 37-36 at Dighton-Rehoboth on Oct. 19 and 61-48 over Bourne on Oct. 26. New Bedford's unified team plays at Brockton at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, Durfee's plays at Middleborough at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Wareham's plays at Riverview School at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5. Old Rochester's unified team plays the Tri-Town Police in its annual fundraiser game at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, with all proceeds going to Unified Sports, the Town of Marion posted. In cheer, Bristol-Plymouth hosted a league competitive cheer meet in its gym on Sunday, Oct. 25, its schedule shows.

The Standard-Times published its own game-by-game Week 8 preview on Thursday, and The Herald News reported Westport's volleyball sweep first and profiled Somerset Berkley's field hockey team.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.