A hot start wasn’t enough to win the Bulldogs the South Coast Conference Championship.

Old Rochester Regional High School lost 42-7 to the Apponequet Lakers on Saturday night, ending a two-year championship streak for the Bulldogs.

“I mean it’s not what we wanted,” Bulldogs Coach Bryce Guilbeault said.

Guilbeault said he knew Apponequet was a tough team, and he praised the effort of his team.

“I give these guys credit,” he said. “It would be easy to turn it down in the second half there. They kept fighting, they kept clawing.”

The Bulldogs got off to a good start with a touchdown on the first drive of the game, less than four minutes into the quarter. ORR scored the extra point to make the game 7-0.

But Apponequet responded right away to tie the game, and didn’t let up from there.

The Lakers scored another touchdown with under two minutes to go in the first quarter, making the game 14-7 Lakers.

Then, an interception and 15-yard Bulldogs penalty set the Lakers up to make the game 21-7 early in the second quarter.

The Lakers scored twice more in the second quarter, leaving the game 35-7 at halftime.

The Bulldogs and Lakers traded possessions twice in the third quarter, before the Lakers scored again to reach the 42-7 final score.

Guilbeault said he felt bad for the seniors on the team, who would’ve pulled off the Bulldogs’ first ever threepeat if they had won the championship.

“They won two SCC championships, they played at Gillette Stadium, the Super Bowl,” he said. “I just feel bad because I know we all wanted a different outcome.”

But Guilbeaut said it came down to Apponequet outplaying ORR.

“That’s a good Apponequet team there,” he said. “They played well. Hats off to those guys. They had a great game plan and they executed better than we did today.”