Back in the North Attleboro High locker room after the Rocketeers' stunning, fourth-quarter rally and victory over Mansfield High, the three Big Red captains - Joe Kummer, Dylan Rayburg, and Josh Harris - surrounded by the team and coaches presented assistant coach Ryan Van De Giesen with the game ball. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

"It meant so much to them to be able to do something for him after what he and his family have been through, Ryan was overwhelmed. A memory that will last a lifetime for some of these kids," said an observer ...

**Providence College freshman Jenna Roncarati, via Bishop Feehan High, became the first Friar named to the Big East Conference's All-Rookie Team since 2002. Roncarati started in 18 soccer matches for the Friars (8-8-3), who notched their most wins since 2002. A Cumberland resident, Roncarati was a mainstay for the Friar defense, which only gave up an average of 0.89 goals per game and a total of 17 on the season ...

**At the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Cross Country Meet, former Mansfield High Hornet Ryan Collins, a junior at the University of Virginia, finished second to a teammate by three seconds at 23:17 over the 8-kilometer course in Cary, N.C., the Cavaliers taking second place to North Carolina State. Collins heads to Louisville this weekend for the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Meet ...

**Nick Schwieger's season is over for the Dartmouth College football team, the Bishop Feehan product from Norton and Big Green running back suffering a severe finger fracture requiring surgery ... **Here's one big reason why Mansfield High boys' soccer coach Andy Coppola voted for King Philip High senior midfielder Matt Heagney as the Hockomock League Player of the Year - Heagney was at a Hornets' match and when no one volunteered to serve as a ball boy, the Warrior ran the sidelines, "not only is he a great player, but that proved to me why type of person that he is" ...

**And two other former Hornets, the Meagher brothers, Matt, a senior (sixth place, 32:46) and Kevin, a freshman (23rd, 33:55)led the Nova Southeastern University men's cross country team to the NCAA Division II South Region Championships in Florida on the 10-kilometer course, advancing to the NCAA Championship Meet Nov. 21 ...

**Plainville's Jimmy Renner started the second stage of qualifying school for the PGA Tour this week at the Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Fla. ...

**That Seekonk High flash, Warrior senior John Gregorek, is an odds-on favorite to win the MIAA Division 4 Championship Meet title Saturday at Franklin Park in Boston. "He's in good shape," said Seekonk coach Eli Mello, noting that Gregorek hasn't tapered down yet, still pacing some 50 miles per week in training ...

**Dighton-Rehoboth High record-setting striker Keith Rose and defender Jack Fisher will be joined by Seekonk High striker Aris Santiago and midfielder Brendan Gouveia are among the South Coast Conference all-star soccer players to be competing against the South Shore League all-stars Tuesday night at 5 at Greater New Bedford Voke. The girls' match at 7 has Seekonk High goalkeeper Krista Chauvin along with D-R's Alyssa DaSilva and Samantha Silvia ...

**"He sets the tone, that's why he's the best player in the (Old Colony) League, the No. 1 vote getter," Attleboro High boys' soccer coach Peter Pereira praised center forward Jake Keefer ...

**Putting out the fire was King Philip High Athletic Director Steve Schairer, who was forced to have a chat (at the urging of MIAA referees) with a neighbor of Macktaz Field to cease burning leaves in the backyard Saturday afternoon, the smoke of which was cascading through the northern end of the pitch for the opening round soccer match ...

** The Union College football team (7-2, 6-0) is a win away (perhaps Saturday against Susquehanna) from clinching the Liberty League championship with four former area players having prominent roles, sophomore QB Andrew Connolly of Foxboro, senior fullback Dave Carson of Mansfield, sophomore running back Dave Mogan of Foxboro and sophomore defensive lineman Chris Paine of Attleboro, via Bishop Feehan ...

**"It was his worst nightmare," related Foxboro High cross country coach Mike Atwood of sophomore Brendan Sullivan, who finished 14th in his class race at the MSTCA Invitational Meet, that is the race starting two minutes before the announced time with the Warrior shedding his warmup suit behind a pack of runners ...

**"We spend 10 minutes just serving, then another 45 minutes just serving and in situations," related Bishop Feehan High volleyball coach Joe Reardon of his Shamrocks' improved performance from the line this season, especially Emily Walsh and Morgan Lindberg. "Serving is the biggest part of the game, it's like a free throw in basketball - it's just you and the ball." ... **Former Bishop Feehan Shamrock Jen Leaverton (three goals, one assist in 18 starts at striker) and her St. John's University women's soccer team (13-6-1) qualified for the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time, one of seven Big East teams and will meet Virginia at Penn State this weekend ...

**Former Dighton-Rehoboth High striker Kelsey Mahoney, a sophomore midfielder with the Stonehill College women's soccer team (10-8-1) was a third team All-Northeast 10 Conference pick, Attleboro High's Jenna Costa, freshman at UMass-Lowell was named to the All Rookie Team and former Mansfield High Hornet Kelly Regan, a senior midfielder at Stonehill was named to the Northeast-10 All Tournament Team ...

**Former Franklin High AD and baseball coach Peter Pasquarosa has joined head coach Eric Podbelski's staff at Wheaton College. Pasquarosa was an assistant at Babscon College, while also working with the Cape Cod League's Harwich Mariners ...

PETER GOBIS can be reached at 508-236-0375 or at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com.