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FOXBORO - The Norton High football Lancers suffered the worst type of loss, having beaten themselves.

"We killed ourselves ... we didn't have that championship focus," said Norton High coach Robb McCoy.

"We had to play a mistake-free game and we made mistakes," said Lancer senior two-way end and captain Darren Doucette.

"We beat ourselves," sighed Norton junior quarterback Brendan St. Germain.

So, instead of having no less than a 12-6 lead heading to the lockerroom at halftime Saturday morning at Gillette Stadium, perhaps even a 13-point lead, the Norton High Lancers self-imploded in the final two minutes of the second quarter. Arlington Catholic recovered a Lancer fumble for in the end zone for a touchdown; Norton saw a potential game-tying 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Brian Desmond wiped out by an illegal block penalty; and then A-C responded with another touchdown with 12 ticks left on the clock.

Scoring 18, second-quarter points (two of the scores within the final 1:56 of the first half), the Catholic Conference champion Cougars (10-3) took home the MIAA Division 3 championship - a 32-20 conquest of the Tri-Valley League champion Lancers.

Senior tailback Sean Ryan rushed for 71 yards, including touchdown romps of 34 yards on Norton's initial series of the game and 28 yards midway through the second quarter to put the Lancers ahead 12-6.

Arlington Catholic seized the moment and the magic from Norton's season in the final two minutes of the first half. Instead of protecting a six-point lead, taking over possession of the ball at their own 14-yard line with 2:06 remaining, the Lancers elected to attempt a quick pitch toss to Ryan on the very first play.

The ball bobbled around inside the five-yard line and while it appeared that Ryan might have had a knee down - but not full possession of the ball - it squirmed into the end zone where AC's Steve Pagliucca - momentarily - had possession of the ball, the officials awarding the Cougars a touchdown.

Bad enough.

On the ensuing kickoff, Desmond gathered in the ball for Norton, ran inside, then outside to the left - all the way for a touchdown. But the six-point effort was whistled back by an illegal block penalty.

Pretty bad.

The Lancers were forced to punt when they regained possession of the ball with 1:41 to go and AC took over at the Norton 35-yard line with 27 seconds left until intermission. On the very first play, Norton was whistled for a pass interference penalty - first down for AC at the Norton 24.

And on the very next play, AC quarterback Corey Spencer (14 completions for 194 yards) picked out Ricky Douglas against single coverage in the left corner of the end zone for another six Cougar points. It went from bad to worse awfully fast for Norton.

"That was unbelievably disappointing," said McCoy of the chain of events. "The mistakes killed us, we beat ourselves - uncharacteristic things. Penalties, fumbling the football on the goal line, we kept killing ourselves - if you make enough mistakes you're going to lose."

To add further insult, Arlington Catholic scored on its first two series of the second half, having possession of the ball for 10:31 - the Lancers losing possession of the ball on its first series on a fumble at the AC five-yard line, then AC swiping a St. Germain pass two plays into their second series.

"We made a lot of mental mistakes," said senior captain Ricky Robichaud. "The penalties killed us, we missed tackles - the bottom line is that we beat ourselves."

The Lancers drove 96 yards on 11 plays, St. Germain completing a 15-yard scoring strike to Doucette for a final touchdown. In that series, twice St. Germain completed third down situations for Norton, first with a 25-yard pass to Doucette, advancing the ball to the Lancer 29, then a 20-yard pass to Desmond, advancing the ball to the AC 31.

But, the Lancers were already staring at a 32-12 deficit.

It was a 17-yard pass from St. Germain to Desmond, advancing the ball to the AC 34 that set up Ryan's go-ahead touchdown for Norton. And with AC facing a third down and 20-yard situation on its first offensive series, Doucette claimed a sack of Spencer for six lost yards.

The Lancers were taking momentum and the ball away from the high-powered spread offense of AC too when they drove from their own 39 to the AC 41 on its very next series before the drive stalled.

The Cougars. with Spencer completing seven of 13 passes for 128 yards in the first half, drove 81 yards on 10 plays to knot the score - Jibrell Henderson clutching the first of three TD tosses off the hand of Spencer. Impressively, on a fourth down and eight-yard play, Spencer completed a pass to Henderson for 12 yards to the Lancer two-yard line.

Handsomely, Norton immediately responded with another go-ahead touchdown, a 65-yard, nine play series - almost exclusively with the ball in the hands of Ryan (seven rushes). He converted a third down and two-yard play to the AC 39, then behind a block from center Tim DeMartin bolted to the right and danced the right sideline for a 28-yard touchdown.

And after AC had reclaimed the lead so stunningly in the final two minutes of the first half, the Cougars just marched down the field against Norton at the outset of the second half - Henderson returning the kickoff 39 yards to the Norton 47, then Spencer completing three straight passes for 23 yards before Charlie Bates ran up the middle for a nine-yard score.

"Our pass defense was pretty bad, we've seen the spread (offense) before," added McCoy. "We didn't get much pressure on the quarterback and when we blitzed it wasn't good enough."

Norton responded, Doucette returning the ensuing kickoff 23 yards and St. Germain and Doucette combining on a 21-yard gain to the AC 33. But inside the AC 10-yard line, the Lancers once again fumbled - Steve Kerins recovering at the Cougars' five-yard line.

"We came ready to play, we fought to the end," said Doucette. "The turnovers hurt us, but credit to Arlington Catholic too, they're a good football team."

And on Norton's very next series, AC's Henderson intercepted a Lancer pass at the Cougar 38 - uuggh.

"Things kept going wrong," added McCoy. "If you get outplayed that's one thing, but losing like this hurts even worse."