MATTAPOISETT —  The Old Rochester Regional High School homecoming football game saw a dominant victory, charitable donation, and a tennis ball-launching catapult on Friday, Oct. 25.

Just before the action began, head coach Bryce Guilbeault said that his team had a strong game plan for the night, and that “hopefully we execute it, and everything will fall into place.”

Despite a rocky start, his players delivered on that hope.

Seekonk started strong, scoring a touchdown with ten minutes and 53 seconds left in the first quarter.

Quick to answer,  Junior Ryan Quinlan scored Old Rochester’s first touchdown of the game on the next drive.

The score was tied 7-7 at the start of the second quarter, but the Bulldogs would soon turn the tide of the game for good.

Touchdowns from Seniors Jackson Cote, and Camden Brezinski, as well as a solid defense, left Old Rochester with a 21-7 lead at the end of the half.

At just 15 seconds into the second half, Junior Eddie Espejo turned a kickoff return into a touchdown. When asked about the play, Espejo said that he noticed the Warriors had loaded heavily on to one side of the field. With confidence in his own speed, and good blocking from his teammates, Espejo was able to make it to the endzone.

Following Espejo’s speedy touchdown, everything began to fall into place, just as Guilbeault predicted. 

With a series of touchdowns, a two-point conversion, and even a 42-yard field goal by Junior Ryon Thomas, Old Rochester ran up what started as a competitive game, to a 46-7 blowout.

When asked about his long-shot kick, Thomas said that he was happy to avenge a missed attempt at a 42-yard kick against Dartmouth. Thomas doubles as the team’s quarterback, and said that he values his role in both positions equally.

After the victory, Guilbeault revealed that the game plan he mentioned earlier was to draw the pass-heavy Seekonk offense into running the ball. While the action was close early on, Guilbeault said that he was happy to see everything start to click in later on in the game.

With this win, the Bulldogs improved their record to 6-1, while Seekonk fell to 5-3.

While football may have taken center stage, it wasn’t the only attraction at the homecoming game. 

To commemorate its 50th reunion, the class of 1969 donated $1,000 to help defray activity fees for students.

Class of ‘69 graduates John Guilherme and Steve Heath played football, basketball, and baseball during their time at the school, and said that “the fact that kids have to pay at all just to play sports, or be in a play” was enough motivation to want to help out. 

The former classmates said that Athletic Director Bill Tilden could name a few students “right off the top of his head” who couldn’t afford the $275 activity fee. Heath and Guilherme said they felt that helping to defray those costs directly would be more impactful than a traditional plaque from their class to current students.

During halftime, students had a peculiar competition to raise money for their respective classes.

Teams from each grade level used a catapult to launch tennis balls toward a bullseye-shaped target across the football field.

The Junior team consisting of Sean Lally, Davis Fox, Maggie Carroll, Isabelle Kelly, and Paige Zutaut were able to shoot the first, and second closest ball to the target, winning $150 for their class.

The sharpshooting juniors attributed their success to teamwork, allowing one member to focus on balance, and another on the release point when launching the tennis ball.