Sports

PHOTOS: Scenes from Foxborough's Home Opener vs. Whitman-Hanson

Foxborough High School suffers first loss of the season, 21-20 in heart-breaking fashion to Whitman-Hanson Friday.

The Foxborough High School football team fell behind early to visiting Whitman-Hanson and trailed 21-7 at halftime.

But a strong second half from both sides of the ball put Foxborough an extra point from tying the game with just over a minute to play in the fourth quarter.

"I would have liked to been playing for a little longer there," said Foxborough head coach Jack Martinelli. ... "It was a tale of two halves."

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And it really was. Foxborough was plagued by mistakes in the first half, beginning with the opening kick off returned Whitman-Hanson's Sean Vitello for a touchdown just 12 seconds into the game.

Less than four minutes later, WH's Dondre James hauled in a 38-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 14-0.

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Foxborough got one back with 3:28 to play in the first quarter on a 24-yard touchdown run by Kiivone Howard, who found separation on the outside.

From there, both defenses tightened up and kept the game 14-7 until the final seconds of the first half.

James beat the Foxborough secondary for the second time in the first half to score on a 37-yard pass from quarterback Thomas Sapienza. The touchdown came with 1.5 seconds remaining in the half, giving WH a 21-7 lead over the Warriors at the intermission.

The second half, however, belonged to Foxborough. The defense kept WH off the scoreboard for 22 minutes while the offense scored on two more rushing touchdowns from Howard, including a one-yard score with just over a minute to play to pull the Warriors within one point of tying WH.

But Foxborough missed the extra point and trailed WH, 21-20 with 1:18 remaining in the fourth quarter. WH recovered the onside kick and effectively ran out the clock, thanks to a big 52-yard run by Luke Laubacher on third and 12 from the Panthers' 46-yard line.

The Warriors will begin Hockomock League play next week when they host North Attleboro at Ahern Field at 7 p.m.

Howard a Scoring Machine

Foxborough's senior captain and star running back continued his great start to the season, recording three touchdowns for the third straight game to give him nine already on the season.


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