Dighton-Rehoboth football falls to Dennis-Yarmouth in back-and-forth contest

NORTH DIGHTON— Last week, Dighton-Rehoboth (0-2) were held scoreless by Canton. On Friday night, the Falcon offense came to life combining for 32 points thanks to a strong showing from their backfield and senior quarterback Joel DaSilva.

Unfortunately for them, Dennis-Yarmouth scored 34.

"This week I think we took a giant step forward," D-R coach Kevin Gousie Sr. said. "Our effort was there (and) I think we did some things very well but we still made enough mistakes unfortunately that they were able to capitalize on and win the game."

The Dolphins were led once again by junior quarterback Jayden Barber, who went 15-of-27 passing for 275 yards, a pair of touchdowns and an interception while also recording five carries for six yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Peyton Kellett hauled in seven catches for 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns while sophomore running back Oliver Doto had five carries for 41 yards and a pair of touchdowns and sophomore Hudson Cambal recovered a fumble.

"I feel like we made enough plays to win tonight (but) we have to keep improving," D-Y coach Chris Marsh said. "We’ve got to get better on defense and we’ve got to get better at tackling. There’s a lot of areas to improve but when we had to have it at the end, the kids stepped up and they made the plays they needed to make to win the game."

As for the Falcons, DaSilva went 12-of-24 passing for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also recording three carries for 32 yards. Senior running back David Diaz-Tavares had 19 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown while hauling in six catches for 67 yards, senior running back Kevin Gousie Jr. had five carries for 45 yards and a pair of touchdowns and junior wide receiver Evan Thibert had two catches for 15 yards and a touchdown.

On the defensive side of the ball, Thibert also recorded an interception while senior lineman Cam Newman and junior linebacker Gavin Salera each had a sack.

D-R came out of the gates hot, scoring on their first two drives as Gousie Jr. punched through the defensive line and ran in a 26 yard touchdown to make it 6-0 with 6:02 left in the first quarter as D-Y blocked the resulting extra point attempt by senior kicker Liam O'Neill. Forcing the Dolphins into a turnover on downs in just five plays, the Falcons took control of the ball again at their own 44 yard line and a few plays later, DaSilva found Evan Thibert in the far corner of the end zone from 25 yards out to make it 12-0, with the score staying that way as O'Neill missed his second point after try with 0:24 left to play.

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With the change of the quarter came a quick shift in momentum. On the first play of the second quarter, Barber connected with Kellett, who dashed around D-R defenders and brought the ball in from 37 yards out for the touchdown. After a successful extra point by junior kicker Zachary Quintilliani, D-Y cut the host's lead to 12-7 with 11:51 left in the half.

After a three-and-out by the Falcons, the Dolphins needed just a few plays to take the lead as a 43-yard catch by Kellett set up a six-yard run by Doto into the end zone, making it 14-12 in favor of the visitors following the extra point by Quintilliani with 8:47 left in the half.

A fumble by Diaz-Tavares ended the next D-R drive as D-Y recovered and took advantage of the opportunity as Barber connected with Kellett for an eight-yard touchdown in the closing seconds of the half. Following a third successful point after try by Quintilliani, the Dolphins went into the break up 21-12 on the hosts.

"That second quarter was a killer for us," Gousie Sr. said. "We started out real strong and it seemed like we took our foot off the gas and they came back."

After a pair of unsuccessful drives by both sides to start the third quarter, the Falcons cut the lead as DaSilva found Thibert in the end zone for an eight-yard pass and O'Neill made the resulting extra point, making it 21-19 with 4:03 left in the quarter.

The next four drives resulted in a pair of touchdowns for both sides as they duked it out. Barber ran the ball in himself from three yards out to make it 28-19 after the extra point, then D-R responded back through a three-yard touchdown run by Diaz-Tavares, but another missed extra point kept it at 28-25. Gaining 15 extra yards on a personal foul against D-R, D-Y capitalized on the next play as Doto broke through for a 30-yard touchdown run, but a missed extra point saw the score stay at 34-25 before Gousie Jr. closed the gap again on the next drive with a 14-yard touchdown run. DaSilva then took the resulting point after try, making it and putting the Falcons within a pair of points of the Dolphins with 4:18 left to play.

Thibert picked off Barber on the next drive to give the hosts the opportunity to win it, but it wasn't meant to be as D-Y's defense was able to force them into a turnover on downs from which the Dolphin offense could wind down the clock and seal the victory.

"If you score 32 points, you should win a football game. Unfortunately we had some lapses on defense at times that hurt us," Gousie Sr. said. "(D-Y has) got a lot of really good skill guys and they picked a couple matchups for them that worked very well and they made the plays they needed to make to win the game."

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As for the Dolphins, Marsh said he wants to see his team work on getting better at tackling but overall likes where they sit through the first two weeks.

"Being 2-0 is certainly better than the alternative, so we’ll take it, build on it and hopefully make it three (wins) next week," Marsh said.

Both teams return to action next Friday, with D-R hosting Oliver Ames (0-2) while D-Y hosts Monomoy (1-1).

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: D-R football bested by D-Y in back-and-forth affair