MIDDLEBORO — After advancing to the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival semi-finals the students behind Middleboro High School’s “Crossroads,” did not move on to state finals.

Producer Samuel Mosher, said it wasn’t win or lose, and that it never has been. Doubling as the theater teacher at the high school, he told his students that it was a celebration first. Middleboro was among seven other schools performing Saturday, March 15 at Westford Academy in Westford.

In a tight competition, only three schools were chosen to move on to the state finals.

“We didn’t want to be the school who goes in and says, ‘You’re going down. You’re going to lose,’” he said. “We should be celebrating and lifting each other up and I was proud of our kids more than anything because when they lost, they did it graciously — they did it with sportsmanship.”

From the staff to the bus drivers, Mosher said the atmosphere was electric. In a school full of theater kids, he said everyone felt comfortable and friendships bloomed at every conversation. With all of the positivity, the event ran smoothly and the cast and crew had no hiccups in competing.

“Crossroads,” is a show close to Middleboro — literally. Mosher, an alumnus from the school is the writer of the play, and director Hannah Bradley starred in the first ever production in 2017.

The kids chose to perform it themselves and according to Mosher — gave their best run at semi-finals.

"The opinions from the judges, the reviews and professionalism — art is super subjective,” he said. “The kids took that first round of judges' notes and they improved. That was the best performance we gave — the one we just did on Saturday.”

The students won’t have to exit stage left just yet. Middleboro High School will put on two more shows before the summer.