New Bedford beats Dartmouth 52-20, scoring twice around halftime to pull away
The Whalers are 7-1 after an 0-10 season a year ago. Chase Afonso ran for two touchdowns and threw a 58-yard scoring pass for Dartmouth, which led 14-12 in the second quarter.
DARTMOUTH Lyric Ramos scored on the last play of the first half, Tru Gonsalves-Cosme ran 65 yards on the first snap of the second, and New Bedford pulled away from Dartmouth for a 52-20 win Friday night, Oct. 30, at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium.
The game was tied 20-20 with 38 seconds left in the half. Those two scores, on either side of the break, made it 36-20, and the Whalers added 16 more points in the second half while their defense kept Dartmouth off the board.
New Bedford is 7-1, according to the results both schools post on Arbiter Live, and its 52 points were its most this season. The Whalers went 0-10 last fall, and their 20-14 win at Brockton last week was their first win in that matchup since 2018, The Boston Globe reported. They came into Friday 13th in the MIAA Division 1 power rankings, where the top 16 teams with at least three wins and seven games played qualify for the state tournament. The football cutoff is Saturday, Oct. 31, and the brackets come out at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.
Dartmouth, coached by Rick White, fell to 1-7. Chase Afonso played quarterback for the Indians, ran for two 7-yard touchdowns and threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Brendan Martin, and Dartmouth led 14-12 midway through the second quarter.
A first half that went back and forth
The plays below are as called on the Dartmouth Community Media broadcast of the game.
Dartmouth received the opening kickoff and punted, and New Bedford scored on its first possession. Gonsalves-Cosme, the senior quarterback, got to the edge for a long run to the Dartmouth 43 and hit Jordyn Correia for another first down at the 34. Fullback Logan Desmarais was stopped just short on third-and-goal from the 2, and on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Gonsalves-Cosme pitched to Ramos, who slipped Thomas Pallatroni's tackle with a second effort and crossed the goal line. Aaron Charest made an open-field tackle on the two-point shovel pass, and New Bedford led 6-0 with about four minutes left in the first quarter.
Dartmouth tied it on its next drive. A face mask penalty at the end of a Martin run added 15 yards, Martin ran 18 yards on third-and-11 to the New Bedford 25, and Afonso kept the ball for a first down at the 14. After Martin carried to the 7, Afonso kept up the middle on third-and-2 for a 7-yard touchdown run with 11:27 left in the second quarter. Desmarais, playing linebacker, tipped the two-point pass, and it was 6-6.
New Bedford's next drive stalled when Sam Blevines, a Dartmouth junior linebacker, stopped Miguel Neves short on third-and-4, and a delay of game penalty moved the Whalers back five more yards. Gonsalves-Cosme lined up to punt from New Bedford territory, then took off. He got past a couple of tacklers, cleared the first down marker at midfield and went 68 yards for a touchdown that made it 12-6 with a little more than eight minutes left in the half. Martin's pressure forced an incomplete pass on the two-point try.
Martin returned the kickoff to the Dartmouth 40, and two more 15-yard penalties on New Bedford, a face mask and a late hit, both at the end of Martin runs, moved the ball to the 6. Two runs left Dartmouth at the 7, and on third down, Afonso faked a handoff, rolled left and turned the corner for his second 7-yard touchdown. Martin ran in the two-point conversion, and Dartmouth led 14-12 with 5:22 left in the half.
New Bedford answered with a drive built on Desmarais runs, including a long one through the middle into Dartmouth territory. Blevines stopped him at the 1, and Ramos scored from there with about two minutes left. Desmarais ran in the two-point conversion for a 20-14 lead.
Dartmouth tied it again on its next drive. Afonso and Martin ran the Indians to near midfield, a completion down the sideline was called back for an illegal shift, and on second-and-11 Afonso slipped away from the rush, kept the play alive and threw deep to Martin, who caught it for a 58-yard touchdown with 38 seconds left in the half. New Bedford stopped Afonso on the two-point run, and it stayed 20-20.
After a short kickoff, Gonsalves-Cosme found Correia along the sideline for a first down, dumped a pass to Ramos, who stepped out of bounds at about the 20, and then hit Desmarais in the flat to the 4 with 12 seconds left. Pallatroni stopped Desmarais at the 3, New Bedford used its last timeout with three seconds to go, and Ramos took the final handoff of the half into the end zone through a hard hit. Neves dove in for the two-point conversion, and New Bedford led 28-20 at halftime.
Two plays that changed the game
Gonsalves-Cosme returned the second-half kickoff to the New Bedford 35. On the first snap he rolled out, kept the ball and ran 65 yards down the sideline in front of the Dartmouth bench for a touchdown. Desmarais ran in the two-point conversion, and in two snaps around halftime New Bedford had turned a 20-20 game into a 36-20 lead.
Dartmouth recovered its own fumble on the next kickoff, and Afonso broke a long run into New Bedford territory, but a holding penalty put the ball back in Dartmouth territory. A procedure penalty followed, and on third-and-20, Correia went up and batted away Afonso's deep pass, and Dartmouth punted.
New Bedford then held the ball for more than four and a half minutes of the third quarter. Conor Munson and the Dartmouth line stopped two runs, but Gonsalves-Cosme rolled out and hit Neves for a first down on third-and-4. Facing fourth-and-4 at the Dartmouth 39 after a timeout with 2:55 left in the quarter, Gonsalves-Cosme ran for a first down to the 30. His sidearm pass to Desmarais set up first-and-goal at the 6, and Desmarais scored on the next play with 2:33 left. Gonsalves-Cosme threw the two-point pass to Correia, who won a jump ball in the end zone for a 44-20 lead.
Desmarais opened the fourth quarter by breaking two tackles on a long run to the Dartmouth 30. Ramos carried to the 20 and then inside the 5, and a Dartmouth offside penalty moved the ball half the distance to the goal. Desmarais went in from inside the 3 for his second touchdown, and Gonsalves-Cosme kept the ball on the two-point try and dove in for a 52-20 lead with about seven and a half minutes left. The game ran on a running clock from there, and Dartmouth's last drive reached the New Bedford 35 as time ran out.
Who stood out
Ramos, a senior who transferred from Bishop Stang before this season, the Globe reported, scored three rushing touchdowns, from the 1 twice and from the 3. Gonsalves-Cosme, also a senior and a Stang transfer, scored on runs of 68 and 65 yards, set up two other touchdowns with passes to Desmarais and accounted for two of the five two-point conversions, one on a pass and one on a run. Desmarais ran for two touchdowns and two two-point conversions and tipped a two-point pass on defense, and Correia caught a two-point pass and broke up a third-down throw.
For Dartmouth, Afonso accounted for all three touchdowns. Martin, a junior, caught the 58-yard touchdown, ran in the two-point conversion that gave the Indians the lead and carried the offense on Dartmouth's first two scoring drives. Pallatroni and Blevines each made a stop at the goal line, and Charest and Munson were in on key tackles.
Neither team tried a kick after a touchdown all night. New Bedford went for two after all seven of its touchdowns and made five, and Dartmouth made one of three.
The road ahead
New Bedford, in its second season under coach Bob Lomp, will learn its tournament path when the MIAA releases brackets Sunday. Thanksgiving week, the Whalers play Durfee at Fenway Park at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25, according to New Bedford's schedule. A win there would clinch the Big Three title, the Globe reported last week.
Dartmouth came into the game 26th in Division 4, and with one win it falls short of the MIAA's three-win line for the tournament. The Indians close their season at Fairhaven at 10 a.m. Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every play, clock reading and score in this story is from the Dartmouth Community Media broadcast of the game, from the opening kickoff to the final play, checked against the scoreboard shown on the broadcast; plays we could not hear clearly were left out. The 52-20 final, both records and every season result, date and field are from the schedules both schools post on Arbiter Live, read Friday night, Oct. 30, and season points were added up from those results. Dartmouth names are spelled as the MaxPreps Dartmouth roster prints them, Desmarais and Correia as the MaxPreps New Bedford roster printed them last season, and Gonsalves-Cosme, Ramos, Neves and coach Bob Lomp as The Boston Globe printed them on Oct. 24; players we could not match to a published spelling are not named. Rankings are from the MIAA power rankings with scores entered as of 4 a.m. Friday, and the cutoff and bracket dates are from the MIAA's fall tournament schedule. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard: neither coach is quoted in this game report.
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 (10)
- Dartmouth Community Media: Dartmouth High Football vs New Bedford, October 30, 2026Free public live broadcast from Dartmouth Memorial Stadium, Oct. 30, 2026, from the opening kickoff to the final play. Source of every play, clock and score in this story; the 52-20 final called on air matches both schools.
- New Bedford High School boys varsity football schedule and resultsArbiter Live, the school's own schedule page. Oct. 30 result W 52-20 at Dartmouth, record 7-1, season results, Nov. 25 home game vs. Durfee at Fenway Park. Read Oct. 30, 2026, 9:38 p.m.
- Dartmouth High School boys varsity football schedule and resultsArbiter Live, the school's own schedule page. Oct. 30 result L 20-52 vs. New Bedford, record 1-7, Nov. 26 game at Fairhaven. Read Oct. 30, 2026, 9:38 p.m.
- MaxPreps: Dartmouth football roster, 2026-27Spellings for Chase Afonso, Brendan Martin (Jr.), Thomas Pallatroni, Sam Blevines (Jr.), Aaron Charest and Conor Munson. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- MaxPreps: New Bedford football roster, 2025-26Spellings for Logan Desmarais and Jordyn Correia (last season's roster; the 2026-27 page lists no players). Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- The Boston Globe: Saturday's football roundup, Oct. 24Spellings of Tru Gonsalves-Cosme, Lyric Ramos and Miguel Neves; both seniors transferred from Bishop Stang; 0-10 last fall; first win over Brockton since 2018; coach Bob Lomp in his second year; a win over Durfee clinches the Big Three title. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- The Dartmouth Week: Indians celebrate Thanksgiving victory over Blue Devils, 21-16Spelling of Head Coach Rick White. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- MIAA 2026 Division 1 football power rankingsScores entered as of Oct. 30, 4 a.m. New Bedford 13th (6-1). Top 16 teams with at least three wins and seven games played qualify. Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- MIAA 2026 Division 4 football power rankingsScores entered as of Oct. 30, 4 a.m. Dartmouth 26th (1-6). Read Oct. 30, 2026.
- MIAA: Fall 2026 Tournament Bracket Schedule and GuidelinesPosted Oct. 27, 2026. Football cutoff Saturday, Oct. 31; brackets Sunday, Nov. 1, 1 p.m. Read Oct. 30, 2026.