MATTAPOISETT — For the second time in three years, Old Rochester Regional High School athletics has been named by The Boston Globe as having the winningest teams among all Division 3 schools in the state.

"I'm thrilled for the community," Old Rochester Regional School Principal Mike Devoll said after recently learning of the award designation. "It's really a community award because it takes a whole community to have the athletes and athletics that we do.

"Parents make big commitments to their kids with transportation, and funding. We have great students and coaches. Our coaches are very committed," Devoll said. ORR High Athletic Director "Bill Tilden leads a passionate athletic department. It starts at the top with him."

The high school athletic director credited the student athletes, coaches, and parents for their commitments to making the athletics programs a success.

"I think it shows the hard work the kids put in all the time," Tilden said. "We just have some amazing kids and we have a fantastic group of coaches."

He said there are 23 athletic teams at the high school, with an almost equal number of girls teams to boys teams.

"I knew as we were going through the season that we had an amazing fall and a great winter so I knew we'd be in the running for it. I just didn't know if we'd win again," the high school athletic director said. "There's a lot of great schools out there so you really can't plan on it. You just have to hope for the best."

Devoll noted that ORR High last won the Dalton Award in 2015. In 2017, they won the Ames Award, and then in 2018, they won the Dalton again.

Devoll said he and Tilden have had conversations on why they their teams do so well.

"If we try to pinpoint what the key ingredient is, Bill alway points to our high sports  participation rate. We have strength in numbers," Devoll said, "We've got 74 kids out for football this year, 60 out for boys soccer, 45 out for girls soccer, so the participation rates are really, really high."

Devoll noted that as of Aug. 24, there are 802 students enrolled in the high school. That couldn't make Tilden happier.

"It's fantastic," he said. "The more kids we can draw from, the more kids we can turn into three-sport athletes is only going to make us better."

"I think we're probably known more for certain sports than others, but I just think it goes to show that all our sports are really good, and it's because the kids are dedicated and don't just play one sport," Tilden said. "We wouldn't be able to survive with kids just playing one sport. All the athletes, or as many as we can get, are playing three sports, one each season. I think that's what keeps us going. Each season we're really strong in every sport."

While this is certainly a feather in the cap of the high school, Devoll said the high school's athletics its not simply about being good at something physical, its about succeeding in many aspects of their lives now and into the future.

"We had freshman orientation yesterday (Friday, Aug. 24) and we stressed to them about getting involved at high school and a very easy way to do that is through athletics, Devoll said. "We want our  students to be well rounded."