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FOXBORO - No doubt, Mike Delaney has made Foxboro High School and the Hockomock League more interesting places to be for the remainder of this football season.

But the transfer from New Jersey, good as he is, won't be able to turn the league upside-down all by himself, as was proven Saturday in the second half of the Warriors' 21-14 loss to North Attleboro at the Ahern School Field.

"It takes whatever 11 kids are on the field at any time to make it go," said veteran Foxboro coach Jack Martinelli after his team surrendered three unanswered second-half scores to the 2-1 Rocketeers to fall to their fourth defeat without a win.

If there was a silver lining to the day, it was the addition of Delaney, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior tailback with plenty of obvious ability.

"The kid's a terrific player," Martinelli said after the newcomer gained 163 yards on 35 carries (4.7 yards per carry) and scored Foxboro's first two offensive touchdowns of the season. Delaney proved he was something special the first time he touched the ball, ripping off a 24-yard gain to the North Attleboro 40 on the second play of the game. He had 82 yards on 12 carries in the first quarter alone, and went over the 100-yard mark on his 15th carry, a 5-yard gain to the North Attleboro 5 on Foxboro's first possession of the second quarter.

After Foxboro's Dillon Myers intercepted a North pass to start that drive at the Rocketeer 32, Delaney carried six times for all of the yardage, the last four coming on a pitchout to the left side for a 7-0 lead with 7:02 left in the half.

Foxboro's Jake Walsh provided another interception at the North 20 with 6:17 left, and two plays later, Delaney broke off right tackle and cut back to the left, completing the 20-yard scoring run for a 14-0 lead with 6:05 left.

Delaney had 139 yards on 23 carries by halftime, most of his big gains coming on pitchouts or sweeps where he could utilize a surprising burst of speed for a player of his size. But the Rocketeers made the necessary adjustments to lessen his effectiveness after halftime.

"We came with some pressure off the side," North Attleboro coach Kurt Kummer said, "and he couldn't get to the edge. I don't know if he had the speed to get there by then. Then we stopped that inside-out run, and as soon as we did that, we were able to close them down a little bit."

With eight defenders in the box and gang-tackling the order of the day, North held Delaney to 24 yards on 12 carries in the second half. His longest gain of the half was for 6 yards on Foxboro's final possession. Defensive tackle Brian Courtney, linebacker Joshua Harris and safety Kevin Richman were particularly successful in corralling the big back.

Still, it was an impressive debut for the highly heralded player, who traveled an interesting route to his new team.

As recently as Sept. 19, Delaney was the lead tailback on the football roster of Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, N.J. He had gained 324 yards on 36 carries in two victories for the Lions over Kittatinny and High Point, but he left the school before the team's third game of the season, attending it on Sept. 26 as a spectator. Eight days later, he was wearing a gold No. 8 Foxboro jersey, replacing the No. 23 that he had worn at Pope John.

Administrators and athletic officials of Pope John High would not comment to local newspapers about the reasons for Delaney's separation from the school, only admitting that he was no longer a student there.

Foxboro High School Athletic Director Craig Najarian, responding on Friday to interview requests by The Sun Chronicle and its sister paper, the Foxboro Reporter, said the process of Delaney's transfer was handled "by the book." "Because he was a high-profile kid coming in, we went above and beyond what was needed to make this happen," Najarian said. "We wanted to make sure that we did it by the book."

The rules of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association are quite specific in the area of transfers, and are often misunderstood or inaccurately cited by the general public. Generally, the provisions of Rule 57 in the MIAA Handbook are intended to guard against recruitment or frequent transfers for no other reasons than to enhance a student's athletic fortunes, and under most circumstances, a student may have to wait for a period of time to gain his or her eligibility, occasionally up to a full year.

But there are circumstances under which a transferring student can gain immediate eligibility. Under Rule 57.7.1, a transfer student is immediately eligible if his or her parents are changing residence to the area served by the school to which he or she is transferring.

According to Najarian, Delaney's parents are in the process of moving to Foxboro from Hackettstown, N.J. The family already has local roots; Delaney is the nephew of Bert Delaney, former member of the Foxboro Board of Selectmen and an assistant principal at Foxboro High.

As part of the transfer process, Foxboro High also sent a copy of the MIAA's Form 200 to Pope John XXIII High School, which documents the transferring student's standing in the school at the time of his departure. Najarian said the form was returned with the equivalent of a glowing recommendation.

"There was no discipline file," Najarian said. "He's a good student, had good grades, and he was a class president."

With that information in hand, the path was clear for Delaney to enroll at his new school and begin his career as a Foxboro Warrior. Needless to say, his new teammates welcomed him with open arms.

"The guys are great," Delaney said after the game.

He also made it clear that he appreciated the importance of the goals of the team.

"I'd rather get the win," he said when asked if he was satisfied with his first game as a Warrior. "I don't care about my performance, I'd rather get the 'W.'"

With his help, those are likely to come soon.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.