In maybe the most exciting finish of the weekend, Scituate slipped past Foxboro, 20-14, when junior quarterback Jonny Donovan hit Lawson Foley with a 44-yard touchdown as time ran out.

It was a terrific win for Scituate, beating the defending D5 state champs in dramatic fashion.

We spoke with Scituate coach Herb Devine to get his perspective on the win.

Adam Kurkjian: Tell me about that ending. How often in practice do your practice Hail Mary situations?

HD: Zero percent of the time. We just ran what we call Tripod Right. Told the two tall kids to get down to the 5-yard line, and if you catch it, see where you are, and try to catch it. We had the other kid go behind them, and try to do a tip drill. We just didn’t know how far, or how quickly . . . I think we were on the 40-something-yard line. If we can get it into the end zone, great. If not, just tip it back, and I have a kid there. Honestly, Lawson just went up and caught it, was at the end zone, and was in. It wasn’t something we practiced at all. We’re not taking credit for any wonderful practice thing that we did. Got a little lucky. . . . Let’s just throw it up for grabs, and we were just lucky. That’s all I can say.

AK: You knew how good Foxboro was coming in. They won the state title last year. Great program every year. When you guys won that, did it give you a little bit of a boost knowing you just beat a real quality opponent?

HD: Knowing how we were as coaches and the kids, we were disappointed in a lot of the mistakes we made. A lot of not protecting well. That happens when you play a good team. Foxboro, they send a lot of pressure at you in different packages and different ways. It’s not something that you can prepare for, because we haven’t really seen them. You see one scrimmage for film. They did a good job. I think our first series, we went right down the field, scored, went for two. We had a plan to go for two, got it. And then almost went for another touchdown. Got called back for a running back holding call. So it was good momentum to start the game. Foxboro, they’re such a good football team, they kind of methodically go down the field. They do what they do. They’re physical. They grinded out first downs. Their quarterback is obviously experienced. Their line, their receivers, they did a good job of playing a good football game. We had opportunities. They muffed two punts that they’d probably tell you about, that they’ve got to correct. It gave us great field position inside their 20 twice, once in the third quarter, once in the fourth quarter. We didn’t take advantage of them. We missed a field goal, got a sack on third down that put us back. For us, we made a lot of mistakes. A new junior quarterback (Donovan), that it was his first start: big crowd, big team. We obviously going forward, we’ve got to keep getting better. It’s early in the season, but we’ve got to keep getting better and do what you do.

AK: I wanted to ask your about that quarterback. New guy this year, you guys seem to replace quarterbacks pretty well. How did he fare in his first start?

HD: Honestly, when you’re watching the game live, you might be thinking he’s making too many mistakes. But, probably the biggest piece that I saw is he ran the ball a few times, made some really good decisions. The first drive was great, and he had a great running touchdown. The pocket kind of collapsed. He was able to get outside for the touchdown. He made a good throw to Lawson Foley in the third quarter. He did make really good plays. The biggest thing for him is, in our offense, there’s a lot going on: making line calls; making sure you’re making the right calls; making sure you receive the call from our sideline; and, then you’ve got to make sure you’re executing that for your teammates. His first game wasn’t perfect by any means. But I think, overall, compared to some of the quarterbacks we’ve had in the past, in their first games, I think he did above average, some other guys we had in their first start. When you run a spread offense, you play hurry-up, you play fast. I had to slow it down a little bit, bring the reins back a little bit, because I could feel the communication was not perfect, or not great. He did a god job, though. He’ll learn from it, and we’ll get better. I thought he played a good game overall. Linemen made mistakes. Running backs made mistakes. Receivers made mistakes. Not just the quarterback. Anybody in their first game, you’ve got a lot to work on.