It’s been a year of firsts for the Dartmouth High football team after it picked up its first Old Colony League championship win since 2008 on October 22.

Heading into the game, the only thing that stood in the way of an undefeated regular season and the OCL title was Barnstable, but the Indians stepped up to win the game, 7-23.

“Every year our goal is to win the OCL championship,” said head coach Rick White. “I’m proud of these guys. They could get it done tonight against Barnstable, and they’re a tough opponent.”

Dartmouth picked up the first touchdown during a slow first quarter, but missed the extra point, putting them up 0-6. The Indians got back to the Red Raiders 10-yard line with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, and although a tough Barnstable defense forced the team to settle with a field goal, the Indians went into halftime with the upperhand, up 0-9.

Dartmouth picked up two more touchdowns in the third quarter and came close to shutting Barnstable out, but the Red Raiders scored its first touchdown with just 10 seconds left in the game, leading to a 7-23 Dartmouth win.

“I thought our defense was tremendous,” White said. “Offensively we were OK at times. It wasn’t a great night offensively, but [Captain Cole Jacobsen] had a good game, and we were able to get him going tonight.”

White added that Barnstable has a tough defensive line, which Dartmouth struggled to push through.

The team’s path to the championship cleared its usual major hurdle, Old Colony powerhouse Bridgewater-Raynham, with a win on October 7. White said the Div. 1 team tests the limits of Div. 3 Dartmouth every year.

“Bridgewater-Raynham is one of the top 10 teams in the state,” White added.

With the regular season coming to a close, White said his next big challenge will be preparing for the postseason. The second-seeded Indians will take on the seventh-seeded Walpole Rebels in the first round of playoffs on October 28 at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium on Slocum Road.

“You just have to take it one game and one day at a time,” White said about the playoffs.

Dartmouth won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2014 and 2015.