Division 4 football state final: Nashoba Regional romps to Super Bowl title

FOXBORO — When Nashoba Regional quarterback Sam Bolinsky entered the huddle after getting the play from the sidelines, Troy Barksdale knew something unusual was up.

“He had this big smile on his face,” Barksdale said.

It was third and 14 on the Dighton-Rehoboth 36 in the third quarter and the call was for Barksdale to throw a halfback option pass to Will Danby.

“I get it and I’m like, ‘OK, OK,” Barksdale said. “Is Will open? Is Will open? I was like, ‘He’s open, he’s open,’ and I just let it go and he got it and it was amazing.”

“I had no idea if it was going to work or not,” Danby said, “and I went to fake-block the kid. He went right inside me and I knew I would be wide open.”

Barksdale tossed a pass to a wide-open Danby and he ran into the end zone to stretch Nashoba’s lead to 24-0 with 3:02 left in the third.

The Chieftains went on to post a 31-0 victory in the Division 4 state football championship game Friday night at Gillette Stadium. Nashoba (12-1) earned its second state title in four years. Dighton-Rehoboth finished 9-3.

The Chieftains had practiced the halfback option pass for the last several weeks, but they had never run it in a game. It was the only touchdown pass that Barksdale, a senior, has ever thrown.

Barksdale also intercepted a pass to end Dighton-Rehoboth’s best scoring chance and he caught a 40-yard pass to set up another score.

Danby caught two touchdown passes and Alex Childs ran for two scores and kicked a 19-yard field goal and four conversions.

Bolinsky suffered a fractured fibula in his right leg five minutes into a 21-0 loss to Melrose in the state championship game last year, but he completed 10 of 18 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown against Dighton-Rehoboth.

“It’s a lot nicer,” Bolinsky said. “I can tell you that right now. Trying to clear your head when you get here. First 10-15 minutes you look around and be like, ‘The last time I was here, it didn’t go so well, you’ve got a clear mind, it’s a fresh new game.’”

“I haven’t said a word about it,” Nashoba coach Jamie Tucker said, “until Wednesday night, but in the back of my head, in the back of Sam’s head, in the back of everybody’s head, we knew our goal this year was to get back here and to win this game and it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Nashoba piled up 426 total yards and held the Falcons to 159. Bolinsky completed several deep passes.

“We didn’t plan for that in the beginning,” Bolinsky said, “but we figured out where their corners were playing. They were shading heavy inside and when we figured that out the first time we were like, ‘We should start throwing it deeper because we don’t think they could catch up to our receivers.’”

Nashoba scored twice late in the first half to grab a 14-0 lead.

Childs ran 15 yards and kicked the conversion to cap a 93-yard scoring drive with 4:40 left in the half. On the previous play, Bolinsky lofted a screen pass to Brendan Lee and he followed his blockers and raced down the left sidelines. Dighton-Rehoboth didn’t tackle him until he had reached the 15-yard line for a 61-yard gain.

After the Chieftains forced the Falcons to punt, Nashoba marched 53 yards in six plays to double its lead. Bolinsky found Darby in the left corner of end zone from 17 yards out.

“That was a new play that was added this past week in practice,” he said.

Darby did a good job of planting his feet in bounds before falling out of the side of the end zone.

Two plays before Darby scored, Bolinsky connected with Barksdale for a 40-yard pass to the Dighton-Rehoboth 20.

Late in the first quarter, Dighton-Rehoboth marched to the Nashoba 22, but Barksdale ended the scoring threat by intercepting a deep returning it a few yards to the Nashoba 13.

In the third quarter, Childs kicked a 19-yard field goal and Barksdale threw his touchdown pass four plays after Jack Bonazzoli recovered a fumble on the Falcons 44.

In the fourth quarter, Childs ran three yards for a touchdown, only to have the play negated by an illegal procedure penalty. Undaunted, Childs ran eight yards for a score on the next play.

“There’s no one tougher than Alex Childs,” Tucker said. “He’s such a tough kid, he runs hard and he plays hard every single play.”

Evan Doig intercepted a pass with 11 seconds left to preserve Nashoba’s fourth shutout and its third in its last four games.

“Any time you can give up zero, that’s a great night,” Tucker said.

“This is just icing on our cake for our team,” Childs said, “knowing that we were dominant throughout the season and nobody is better than us in our division.”

“The score doesn’t matter,” Barksdale said. “It’s just winning it period. It could have been by one point or 100 points, it doesn’t matter. It’s just the win and the redemption from last season and all we fought for all season long.”

The Chieftains limited Falcons quarterback Harrison Pray to only 10 completions in 27 attempts for just 114 yards and two interceptions. Chase Carroll ran for a team-high 32 yards for Dighton-Rehoboth.

“I thought they were a very good team,” Dighton-Rehoboth coach Dave Moura said of Nashoba. “They’re physical, they’re disciplined, they’re very good on defense, they fly to the football. Our kids played their hearts out, but that’s a good football team.”

In 2015, Nashoba defeated Reading, 27-13, in the Division 2 state championship at Gillette Stadium and the Chieftains also captured the Central-Western Mass. Division 1 Super Bowl in 1999 and the Central Mass. Division 2 Super Bowl in 2011 and 2012.

Dighton-Rehoboth last played in a Super Bowl in 1999, and hasn’t won one since 1998.

—Contact Bill Doyle at william.doyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.