The Middleboro Sachems defeated the Apponequet Lakers 21-13 in their football season opener on Friday, Sept. 2, after taking a late lead in the fourth quarter.

Following the game, head coaches Patrick Kingman and Zane Fyfe sat down with Nemasket Week reporter Sam Tucker to share their thoughts on the rest of the upcoming season and what their teams will focus on moving forward.

Apponequet Regional High School

Q: What strengths are you seeing on the roster this year, and how are you working them into the team’s overall strategy?

Fyfe: Over the past couple years, we've had a lot of young kids playing because we had a small class coming through. Now, all those kids that have played the last few years are really starting to matriculate.

We have a lot of experience, and a lot of football knowledge. We were able to get running in the preseason, rather than taking a slow pace to get through things. Because of that, we can do a little more complicated plays — and make the team a little more difficult for the opposition. So with those guys we can do a lot more.

Q: What are you going to be focusing on during practice in these early weeks of the season?

Fyfe: For us, it's about guys getting repetitions during practice. Football is a game of attrition and if you don't have the depth — you're probably not going to do so well. You can't expect kids to not get hurt. So, we've been working on getting guys repetitions, especially some of the younger guys that haven't played as much on varsity in the past.

Q: How have you seen the players grow into the team you see now?

Fyfe: Some guys have moved around a little bit, and they've embraced their new positions. They're taking a lot more of the workload, and they're giving it their all. It’s a nice thing to see the older kids helping out with the younger kids, and trying to pass the knowledge on.

Q: What are some takeaways from the opener this evening?

Fyfe: We're resilient, but we still have to fix the small things. It's just knowing our assignments and getting to where we need to get to. They showed the hustle and intensity — which I've been on them about — now, it's the little things that we need to get better at.

Q: Who are the players to watch this season?

Fyfe: Sean Lundrigan is playing a mixed position on offense and inside and outside linebacker on defense. Aaron Procaccini, one of our guards and linebackers, and Zachariah Menendez, an offensive tackle and defensive end; those are probably the big three right now. Colin Cyr, who got a couple of balls today, is also a good player to watch for.

Middleboro High School

Q: What strengths are you seeing on the roster this year, and how are you working them into the team’s overall strategy?

Kingman: I think you saw tonight — Wyatt Goyette is the key to what we do. You get him the football and he makes plays happen, he's dynamic. I thought our offensive line did a really nice job pass-blocking at times tonight. We have a lot of returning stars on the offensive side, we just have to get it together.

Q: What are you going to be focusing on during practice in these early weeks of the season?

Kingman: We’ve got to get better on the back end, we just didn't do a very good job of covering third, third-and-long and fourth-down plays. In the beginning we didn't play the run very well, so we just need to get our guys in a little bit better mindset of stopping the run on first and second-down.

Q: How have you seen the players grow into the team you see now?

Kingman: This is a great group of kids, they all pull for each other. They want each other to do well, so we just have to find a way to make some stops. I think we'll get there — we’ve got to coach them better. That's kind of how it works.

Q: What are some takeaways from the opener this evening?

Kingman: I thought our punter punted the heck out of the ball, that was a huge punt at the end of the game. We gotta work on our execution on some snaps and stuff like that. But other than that, I thought the kicking game was okay and we recovered well.

Q: Who are the players to watch this season?

Kingman: Wyatt Goyette, Johnny O'Brien, Jacob Nichols, DJ Alexander and all the guys up front.

To find team schedules, visit the Middleboro and Apponequet Regional High School calendars on the Arbiter website.