DARTMOUTH — Bishop Stang High School’s football coach, Tim McCarthy, hopes that the experience his team gained from last year’s postseason will help the Spartans when they face Foxboro in the semifinals of the Eastern Mass. Division 2 playoffs tonight at Stonehill College.

A year ago, Bishop Stang completed the season with a 10-3 record. The Spartans captured the Eastern Athletic Conference championship and then defeated Wareham, 21-13, in the opening round of the playoffs. The Spartans were defeated by Duxbury, 28-13, in the Division 2A Super Bowl.

"We think the kids will benefit from having been in the playoffs and Super Bowl last year," said McCarthy. "The kids are very excited. We are playing our best football of the season and are peaking at the right time. We will not hold anything back. The kids are definitely ready to play."

This fall, the Spartans and the EAC moved to Division 2. They won their second consecutive conference title and completed an undefeated season at 9-0 with a victory over Bishop Connolly on Thanksgiving morning.

"Prior to the season, as a coaching staff, we believed we had a real good chance to repeat in the league," said McCarthy. "But we did not think we would go undefeated. That was a pleasant surprise."

McCarthy feels there won't be a lot of surprises when the Spartans battle the Warriors tonight in Easton. "They are very physical on offense," said McCarthy of 8-2 Foxboro, whose offense has averaged 27.5 points per game this season. "They come right at you with their running game. They don't surprise anyone. They want to control the line of scrimmage. Foxboro is very good at what they do. They are also capable of throwing on any down."

"We will have to bring our "A" game on defense on Tuesday night. We feel our strengths on defense are our linebackers and our people up front, from tackle to tackle. We are a little soft on the outside, but we cover the tackle-to-tackle gaps well. Our secondary has also been up and down this year."

McCarthy is also impressed with the physical play of the Warrior defense, namely middle linebacker Ryan Moreshead. Foxboro has surrendered just 9.6 points per game in 10 contests this season and has allowed double digits only twice (North Attleboro, Canton)

"He is a complete player," said the Spartan head coach, when speaking of Moreshead. "They are very quick to the ball on defense and are very athletic. I think they are a little more athletic than us on defense. As a team, they execute very well. They are very disciplined and execute what they do very well."

The Bishop Stang offense will pose one of the biggest challenges of the season for the Foxboro defense, having averaged close to 30 points a game this year.

Junior Robert Gianferante quarterbacks the Spartan offense and has several weapons in the backfield, led by senior standout Josh Weinstein. Senior halfbacks Brandon Sullo and Walter Butler have also had very good seasons as had senior fullback Sean Redmond, who is also a star on defense at an end position.

"We have several talented backs," said McCarthy. "You can't key on any one kid. They are all good athletes. Any one of them can carry the ball and break one off for a touchdown at any time. We have scored a lot of our touchdowns this year on big plays. We always try to come out at the start of a game and get on top early. Our biggest concern is executing and not making mistakes because the game will come down to mistakes."