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ATTLEBORO - This was exactly what the defensive script calls for - attacking the football, creating a turnover.

Andy Nunes, the senior captain and defensive lineman for the Bishop Feehan High football team, couldn't believe his eyes - the football was sitting right there, his for the taking.

"I was a fullback my sophomore year, I was ecstatic that I could run the 40 yards," said the Shamrock, who not only stripped the football from the hands of a Sandwich High running back on Thanksgiving Day morning, he recovered possession of the ball and then rumbled 39 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.

Just another example of the stinginess by the Shamrocks this season on defense.

In winning seven of their last eight games, the Bishop Feehan High football team has limited six foes that they have beaten to one touchdown or less. It's no secret, it's the same formula, the same philosophy that the Shamrocks intend to espouse Tuesday night in Taunton when they face Dighton-Rehoboth High in one of the MIAA Division 3 playoff games. The Eastern Athletic Conference champion Shamrocks (8-2) are back in the Division 3 Final Four for the second straight season, meeting the South Coast Conference-champion Falcons (9-2) in a 7:45 p.m. kickoff at Tiger Stadium.

Bishop Feehan and D-R will be joined in the MIAA playoff format by the Cougars of Tri-County Regional High, the Mayflower League Small School Division champions (8-3) to meet Brighton (4-6) in a Division 4-A semifinal round game at Franklin High - with a 5:15 p.m. kickoff.

"That was a perfect example of what we're taught, what we're expected to do - go to the ball," added Nunes of his defensive prowess, just two plays into the first offensive series by Sandwich. "Field position is huge in a football game," said the 205-pound Nunes, a two-year starter, who was also on the field for Bishop Feehan in their MIAA playoff loss to Mansfield last year.

"That's been the key to our defense this year, we've been able to pin teams down in their own end of the field - you don't find many teams putting together 70-, 75- yard drives."

The Shamrocks have played two bad defensive games this year - a 24-point shutout loss to North Attleboro and a 20-point loss to Attleboro.

"The North Attleboro game and the Attleboro game were wake-up calls to us," said Shamrock senior middle linebacker Josh Agostini. The Shamrocks' defensively, under the guidance of coordinator Peter Saba, have played both four and most recently three down linemen fronts.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Joe Knaub and the six-foot, 205-pound Max Marchione have been at the defensive end positions with Nunes inside. Nick Cataldo and Agostini have been the forces at inside linebacker, while the defensive secondary has a pair of aerial thieves in Kyle Cataldo and Garfield Douglas.

"As a group they have played well," praised Bishop Feehan head coach Tony Wood. "You have to stop the run and you have to prevent the pass, but I still maintain that the biggest stat of all in football is takeaways - we were plus-three Thursday against Sandwich.

"If you're able to do that, that's less chance of the other team scoring on offense and, generally, field position comes into play. You're giving your own offense a shorter field to work with and a better chance to score. It really helps with the other team not getting beyond the 40.

"The bottom line is that we have guys making plays." The Shamrocks have won three straight entering the playoff game against D-R. "After losing that Attleboro game, we really decided to take it (defense) more seriously," said Marchione of the Shamrocks' intensity on defense, especially not to surrender the big play, a long gainer. "It wasn't just one or two guys that had to play better, we had to play better as a unit."

The Shamrocks don't disguise their defense. "It's the same mentality, the same philosophy in the three years that I've been playing varsity," said Nunes. "The defensive line stops the ball, stops the run and the linebackers go to the ball and make the tackles."

The 5-foot-10, 193-pound Agostini has sensed that the Shamrocks might be a bit quicker, a bit stronger than the 2008 edition. "We had a lot of seniors coming back, guys who played in that playoff game, so there was leadership," he added. "With takeaways, it just happens sometimes, but the major reason that we've been successfully defensively is that a lot of it is just going to the ball."

Knaub is another two-year starter, in addition to duties in pinning opponents deep in their own territory with his punts. "We're a fast, strong team and we play well as a team," said Knaub. "We worked with what we have and we've learned to work with each other.

"It's knowing your assignments too. Turnovers help you win games, but mostly it's just running to the ball and making plays."