Five South Coast teams make the MIAA football playoffs, and Fairhaven hosts Case in the first round
The MIAA released its eight brackets Sunday. Apponequet plays at Foxborough on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. Dates for the other three South Coast games are to be announced.
FAIRHAVEN Five South Coast football teams made the MIAA state tournament, according to the brackets the MIAA released Sunday afternoon, Nov. 1: Fairhaven, Joseph Case of Swansea, Old Rochester, Apponequet and New Bedford. Two of them will meet in the first round, where unbeaten Fairhaven, seeded sixth in Division 6, hosts 11th-seeded Case.
Old Rochester is seeded seventh in the same division and will host No. 10 Bay Path RVT. Apponequet, also unbeaten, is the 10th seed in Division 5 and travels to No. 7 Foxborough. New Bedford is seeded 12th in Division 1 and goes to No. 5 Springfield Central.
The MIAA said 128 teams made the field across eight divisions, the sixth postseason played under its statewide format. Each bracket holds the top 16 teams in the final power rankings with at least three wins and seven games played. Every Round of 16 and Round of 8 game is played at the higher seed's field, and the association said the tournament can begin as early as Thursday, Nov. 5.
The first-round games
Seeds and records are as the MIAA lists them on its brackets.
- Division 6: No. 11 Joseph Case (6-2) at No. 6 Fairhaven (8-0), date and time to be announced
- Division 6: No. 10 Bay Path RVT (4-4) at No. 7 Old Rochester (7-1), date and time to be announced
- Division 5: No. 10 Apponequet (8-0) at No. 7 Foxborough (4-4), Friday, Nov. 6, 6 p.m., Ahern Middle School, Foxborough
- Division 1: No. 12 New Bedford (7-1) at No. 5 Springfield Central (7-1), date and time to be announced
As of about 3 p.m. Sunday, the MIAA had posted a date, time and field only for the Apponequet game. The other three South Coast games are to be announced, and the association said it will add dates, times and sites to each bracket as they are set.
The road from here
Fairhaven and Case play for a Round of 8 game against the winner of No. 3 Abington and No. 14 Wilmington. Old Rochester's quarter of the bracket holds No. 2 Hudson and No. 15 Bishop Fenwick, and both quarters sit on the same half of the Division 6 draw, so Old Rochester and the Fairhaven and Case winner could meet in a state semifinal.
In Division 5, the Apponequet and Foxborough winner moves on to face No. 2 Gloucester or No. 15 Blackstone Valley RVT. In Division 1, the New Bedford and Springfield Central winner meets No. 4 Wachusett Regional or No. 13 Shrewsbury. The MIAA has not set dates for the state finals.
How the seeds were set
The MIAA ranks teams by a rating that adds a team's average margin of victory, capped at 14 points in any one game, to the average rating of its opponents. Under that formula, both unbeaten South Coast teams drew middle seeds.
Fairhaven's capped average margin was 12.6 points, the best of any South Coast team, but its schedule rated at minus 5.95, which left its overall rating at 6.68. Apponequet's average margin was 12.4 points, against a schedule rated at minus 4.64, for a rating of 7.73. Foxborough, at 4-4, rated 8.69 on a schedule rated at 9.57, which made it the higher seed and the host.
Old Rochester's rating was 5.79, with an average margin of 7.9 points. Case had an average margin of 8.9 points and a rating of 2.28. New Bedford's average margin of 8.1 points and a schedule rated at 2.57 gave it a 10.69 rating. Springfield Central's rating was 19.00.
New Bedford and Old Rochester both closed the regular season with wins on Oct. 30: New Bedford beat Dartmouth 52-20 and Old Rochester beat Somerset Berkley 42-7. Every South Coast final is on the Friday Night Scoreboard.
Outside the top 16
The other South Coast teams finished outside the top 16 of their divisions in the final power rankings. In Division 1, Durfee (6-2) finished 21st and Taunton 23rd. In Division 4, Diman was 22nd, Middleborough 23rd, Dartmouth 24th, Somerset Berkley 28th, Bristol-Plymouth 30th and Greater New Bedford 32nd. Dighton-Rehoboth was 21st and Bishop Stang 28th in Division 5, Seekonk was 21st in Division 7, and Wareham was 20th, Old Colony 25th and Bourne 37th in Division 8.
Those teams can keep playing, since the MIAA's football format has its non-playoff scheduling committees set games for teams that did not make the tournament and for teams knocked out of it, unless a school tells its committee it will not play.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every seed, record, pairing and rating in this story comes from the MIAA's own pages: its Nov. 1 release, the eight Division 1 to 8 bracket PDFs, the eight final power rankings PDFs and its 2026 football tournament format, all read Sunday, Nov. 1, between 1:11 and 1:44 p.m., and the live Division 5 bracket page. Records are as the MIAA lists them on the brackets. Ratings are rounded to two decimal places and average margins to one. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. We read all eight live bracket pages again at about 3 p.m. Only the Apponequet and Foxborough game had a date, time and field, so the other three games are listed as to be announced until the MIAA posts them.
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)
- MIAA: "Fall 2026 Football Tournament Brackets Released"MIAA news release posted Nov. 1, 2026: 128 teams, sixth statewide tournament, top 16 with at least 3 wins and 7 games, begins as early as Thursday, Nov. 5, dates, times and sites to be added, higher seed hosts the Round of 16 and Round of 8. Read Nov. 1, 2026, 1:11 p.m.
- MIAA Tournament Brackets, Fall 2026 football, Divisions 1 to 8 (PDFs)The eight division bracket PDFs (brackets-fall-2026-football-division-1.pdf to -8.pdf), dated November 2026: every seed, record and Round of 16 pairing in this story. Read Nov. 1, 2026, 1:17 p.m.
- MIAA: Football 2026 Division 5 State Tournament (bracket page)The live Division 5 bracket page: Foxborough vs. Apponequet Regional H.S., 11/06/26 6:00 PM, Ahern Middle School, Foxboro. The Division 1 and 6 pages, read at the same time, list no date for the New Bedford, Old Rochester or Fairhaven games. Read Nov. 1, 2026, 2:22 p.m., and all eight division pages again at about 3 p.m.
- MIAA 2026 Football Power Rankings, FINAL, Divisions 1 to 8 (PDFs)Final power rankings PDFs (power-rankings-fall-2026-football-division-1-final.pdf to -8-final.pdf): the rating formula, average margins, opponent ratings and overall ratings, and the final ranks of the teams outside the top 16. Read Nov. 1, 2026, 1:27 p.m.
- MIAA: Football Tournament Format 2026The tournament format: cutoff Oct. 31, brackets Nov. 1 at 1 p.m., start no earlier than Thursday, Nov. 5, state finals to be set, and the regional non-playoff scheduling committees. Read Nov. 1, 2026, 1:44 p.m.