Foxborough 42, Apponequet 7: Jack Taft goes 77 yards on the first snap, and 8-0 Apponequet's playoff run ends in the Round of 16
Foxborough scored on its first snap and led 42-0 at halftime. Apponequet kept the ball for the whole third quarter, and Joe Procaccini scored late to close an 8-0 regular season and a playoff run for 21 seniors.
FOXBOROUGH Apponequet came to Foxborough as one of three unbeaten teams in the MIAA Division 5 bracket, and Foxborough needed one play to change the night. Jack Taft ran 77 yards for a touchdown on the Warriors' first snap, Foxborough led 42-0 at halftime, and the No. 7 Warriors beat the No. 10 Lakers 42-7 in Thursday's Round of 16 game at Jack Martinelli Field.
Foxborough won the toss, took the ball and started at its own 23. Out of a tight double wing, Taft took the handoff on power, got through an Apponequet front that had all 11 defenders near the line of scrimmage and was gone. The touchdown came 19 seconds into the game, and Andrew Higgins kicked the first of his six extra points.
Apponequet answered by moving the ball on its first two drives. On the first, quarterback Paxton Canessa faked a handoff on third and 8 and found Braedyn Marshall alone down the sideline for about 40 yards, to the Foxborough 34. Joe Procaccini, who came in with 28 touchdowns, pushed the Lakers to the edge of a first down, and on fourth and short they ran power. Linebacker Joseph Lombardi filled the hole, and Foxborough took over on downs.
Three plays later, on third and 3, Brayden Jones had time to throw. Jackson Bohlen sold a short route, slipped past his defender on a stop and go, caught the ball along the home sideline and went 68 yards for a 14-0 lead.
The second Apponequet drive reached Foxborough territory too, helped by a roughing the passer penalty and an 8-yard run on which Procaccini hurdled a defender. On fourth down Canessa went deep off play action, and Kameron Rice intercepted at the goal line. His forward progress was marked at the 1.
That turnover set up the drive that broke the game open. Foxborough went 99 yards. Taft carried it off the goal line, Jones kept on a bootleg for a first down at the 32, and Taft broke a long run to the Apponequet 43. Jones then found Rice open to the 4, and Taft scored from there behind a full house backfield for a 21-0 lead with about nine minutes left in the half.
Rice intercepted another pass on the next series, catching a ball that bounced into the air, and Foxborough turned it into points. Jones hit Nick Hardiman on a rollout for a big gain, Rice ran for a first down, and on third and 10 Rice laid out in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown catch. It was 28-0.
The defense added the next score. Joshua Hindin sacked Canessa on third and 12 to stop the following drive, and Cam Russo, on his first punt of the night, dropped a kick out of bounds at the Apponequet 2. With just over a minute left in the half, pressure forced a throw from the end zone, and Foxborough's No. 84 intercepted it there for a touchdown. In the last 30 seconds, backup quarterback Maximus Thorsell lined up at halfback beside Jones, took the pitch and threw a touchdown pass on an option play, and Higgins' kick made it 42-0 at the break.
By the halftime statistics, the Warriors had 363 yards to Apponequet's 78, 15 first downs to five, and no turnovers to the Lakers' four.
| Apponequet | Foxborough | |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing yards | 39 | 163 |
| Passing yards | 39 | 200 |
| Total yards | 78 | 363 |
| First downs | 5 | 15 |
| Penalties | 1 for 5 yards | 2 for 30 yards |
| Turnovers | 4 | 0 |
| Third down conversions | 1 of 6 | 1 of 2 |
Apponequet never stopped running its offense. With the second half played on a running clock, the Lakers took the kickoff at their own 15 and kept the ball for the whole third quarter. Procaccini carried on nearly every down against a front led by Hindin at nose tackle, and he converted a fourth and 2. Canessa then threw to his younger brother, Beckett Canessa, for a first down at the Foxborough 20, and Procaccini stiff-armed his way to about the 7 before the quarter ended.
A personal foul after the whistle moved the ball to about the 5, but it stayed third down, and Foxborough's defense took the ball back on downs early in the fourth quarter. The drive covered most of the field and most of a quarter, and it showed the same toughness that carried the Lakers all fall.
The Lakers' seniors got their touchdown on the last possession. Procaccini returned a punt down the sideline, the Canessa brothers connected on a quick out and broke tackles into Foxborough territory, and Procaccini finished the drive with a touchdown run in the final two minutes, his 29th touchdown of the season. The Apponequet crowd cheered it, and the extra point made it 42-7.
What this Apponequet team did
Apponequet is 8-1, a year after going 2-9. The Lakers won all eight regular season games, each by at least eight points, and outscored their opponents 261-125. This fall coach Zane Fyfe, in his 12th season, had 56 players, 21 of them seniors, and Thursday's game was the program's first Round of 16 game since 2023.
Procaccini, a senior running back and safety, led all of Division 5 in touchdowns going into the playoffs, the Boston Globe reported. Canessa, a senior in his third season as the starter, connected with his brother Beckett for touchdowns of 75, 13 and 15 yards this fall, and the defense was led by linebacker Troy Cavallo, Marshall and Procaccini at safety. The seniors still have one more game: the Thanksgiving game at Old Rochester on Thursday, Nov. 26, at 10 a.m. at David S. Hagan Stadium.
What comes next
Foxborough (5-4) moves on to the Round of 8 against the winner of No. 2 Gloucester and No. 15 Blackstone Valley RVT, who play Friday, Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Newell Stadium, by the MIAA bracket. The higher seed hosts through the Round of 8, so the Warriors go to Gloucester if Gloucester wins and host if Blackstone Valley pulls the upset. Foxborough is home against Mansfield on Thanksgiving morning.
Every South Coast final is on the Friday Night Scoreboard.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every play in this story comes from the Foxboro Cable Access broadcast of the game, watched live on Nov. 5, 2026, with our own drive by drive notes, the on-screen score bug and the broadcast's halftime statistics. The final, 42-7, was called on the broadcast at 7:53 p.m. and matches the MaxPreps game page, read at 8:1x p.m. Seeds, the next round and the Gloucester and Blackstone Valley game come from the MIAA bracket, read Nov. 5. Season records, the Thanksgiving schedule and Apponequet's season figures come from our preview and the sources listed there. Procaccini's 29 touchdowns are the 28 the Boston Globe counted before the playoffs plus Thursday's. Player names are spelled as the schools and their published rosters list them. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Comment is being requested from both head coaches, Foxborough's Jack Martinelli and Apponequet's Zane Fyfe; their words will be added.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (5)
- Foxboro Cable Access (FCATV), live broadcast of Apponequet vs. Foxborough varsity football, Nov. 5, 2026Watched live Nov. 5, 2026, 5:50 to 7:55 p.m., with our own play by play notes; score bug read through the game (APP 0, FOX 42, 2nd quarter, 0:00 at 7:10 p.m.); halftime statistics graphic on air about 7:23 p.m.; the broadcast crew called the final 42-7 at 7:53 p.m.
- MaxPreps, Apponequet at Foxborough, Nov. 5, 2026Final: Apponequet "lost their away playoff game against Foxborough (MA) by a score of 42-7"; records Apponequet 8-1, Foxborough 5-4. Read Nov. 5, 2026, 8:1x p.m.
- The Boston Globe, MIAA football playoff previewPublished Nov. 1, 2026: Procaccini leads Division 5 with 28 touchdowns. Cited in our preview, read Nov. 2, 2026.
- MIAA, 2026 Division 5 football state tournament bracketSeeds; Gloucester vs. Blackstone Valley, 11/06/26 6:30 PM, Newell Stadium, Gloucester HS. Read Nov. 5, 2026, 8:1x p.m.
- 8-0 Apponequet and Joe Procaccini, with 28 touchdowns, visit Jack Martinelli's Foxborough in Thursday's Division 5 playoff openerSC360 playoff preview. Background on both teams, from the sources listed there: Procaccini's 28 touchdowns, the most in Division 5; Apponequet's 2-9 season in 2025; the 261-125 scoring margin; 56 players and 21 seniors; first Round of 16 game since 2023; the three unbeaten teams in the bracket; the Thanksgiving schedule; the MIAA's higher-seed hosting rule.