MIDDLEBORO – The Sachems’ 24-14 win over the Rockland Bulldogs came down to three touchdowns, two interceptions, and a moment of retribution for senior defensive back Ryan Dibona.

Dibona got the second interception at the end of the game, which put a stop to Rockland’s comeback attempt and gave Middleboro a ten point victory. Coach Patrick Kingman said that Dibona’s interception was “huge.”

Dibona “deserves that,” Kingman said. “People have been going at him the last couple of weeks. We’ve given up some plays at times. For him to get a little retribution and close the game off is huge.”

Early on in their season, Middleboro had switched quarterbacks, and senior captain Nate Goodine was moved from wide receiver to signal caller. “It’s been pretty good,” Kingman said of the switch. “We’re four and one since he’s taken over. He’s done a nice job.”

“He’s a senior trying to play quarterback for the first time since his freshman year. There’s a lot to learn in the offense,” Kingmand said. “The more comfortable Nate Goodine gets at quarterback, the better off we are.”

The Friday Oct. 20 game started out slow, and neither team had scored at the end of the first quarter.

Senior running back Bolu Sotonwa opened the scoring for the Sachems in the second quarter with a rushing touchdown. Kicker Dylan Covell converted the extra point, putting the score at 7-0. 

In the fourth quarter, Rockland got a second touchdown. The Sachem’s responded with a second touchdown run from Sotonwa, leaving the score at 24-14 with four minutes left on the clock.

Rockland marched down the field. And on Rockland’s last play of the game, when their quarterback scrambled to the right and looked to make a touchdown pass, it all came down to Ryan Dibona.

During Rockland’s first touchdown drive, Rockland had completed a pass near the area of the field that Dibona was covering. Dibona was covering a wide receiver who ran deep down towards the end zone. A second Rockland wide receiver was able to get open by running into the space that Dibona had vacated.

“We adapted to that at half time,” Dibona said. “What we were trying to do is I was going to stay with the go [route] and then our safety was going to come down and try to drive on [the other route] ...  And I think it ended up working when we finally figured it out.”

In an attempt to make a comeback, Rockland presented the Sachems with a similar situation on their last play. One receiver ran a deeper route while a different receiver ran to the intermediate area of the field. Dibona covered the deeper route, and was in the right place at the right time to make an interception.

“I saw the quarterback run outside,” Dibona said of his interception. “I was trying to keep my eyes inside but I knew I had the guy on my back, and I saw the ball get in the air, so I just tracked the ball and got up there.”

Once Middleboro got the ball back after Dibona’s interception, Goodine ran for a first down, and Middleboro was then able to let the clock run out and end the game.

“We’re still playing for a league championship [and] we needed a bit of help,” Kingman said of the win. “We didn’t do what we needed to do last week” when Middleboro lost to Norwell.

“We have another big [game] at Abington next week,” he added. “We got a ten point victory and the ten points helps us in the power rankings.”

Goodine said that he “loved” playing quarterback for Middleboro. “I started playing quarterback when I was young,” he said. “I thought [the switch to quarterback] went pretty smooth. It worked, we kept going with it, it kept working, and we kept getting better.”

Dibona said it felt good to end his streak of being targeted by quarterbacks and wide receivers. “They’ve been throwing at me for the past couple of games, so it feels good to finally get a turnover.”