WESTWOOD — For a large portion of Saturday’s Northeast 7v7 South regional at Xaverian, the rain poured down in buckets. Maybe for another event, that would be enough to postpone the competition.

But that’s not how Northeast 7v7 owner and Milton coach Steve Dembowski rolls.

At times, play stopped, but the games soldiered on. Eventually the sun came out, and Dennis-Yarmouth and BB&N won titles in the small and open brackets, respectively.

As always, there were highlight plays, and terrific quarterback play. D-Y beat fellow Cape Cod program Mashpee for the title. The two will meet again in the first game of the season.

“I think we do throw the ball a lot during the season, too, so it’s something we practice year round,” D-Y coach Chris Marsh said. “It’s not something that we’re uncomfortable with. Right now, this group of kids just competed really hard. They’ve put in a lot of work. The quarterback, the receivers, the defensive backs, they played really well today.”

That quarterback, Jayden Barber, is a returning Boston Herald All-Scholastic, and had a strong day spreading the ball to receivers Walter Mayo, Payton Kellet, Bryson Garcia and James Barnicle, among others.

A year ago, D-Y lost to D6 state runner-up Salem in the playoffs. If the Dolphins play to the standard they did Saturday, a deep playoff run could be in the cards.

“We lost one game. We were out of focus for a little bit,” Barber said. “The whole team came together. We’ve got some good leaders on this team. We all talked it out. The focus, we all want to win a ‘ship, so we all locked in.”

Mashpee is another team to watch, as the Falcons compete in D7. They are typically a run-first offense, but they proved they can sling it around, too. Quarterback Dominic Matteodo had a nice day, and this should be a dangerous team.

“Just getting better,” Mashpee coach Matt Triveri said. “We have our own 7-on-7 down in the Cape. We’re senior laden. The coverage stuff is much better for us. We’ve gotten better over time. Recognition of formations, recognition of route combinations. It’s good to see (D-Y) here. Cape team, and they’re very good at what they do. Makes week one interesting.”

BB&N was dominant at times, and beat Weymouth in the final. Quarterback Damon Taylor shined, and the Knights will look to him, and players like running back Bo MacCormack, a Syracuse commit, defensive back AJ Azuakolam, who committed to UMass, wide receiver/defensive back Ethan Ortega, wide receiver/linebacker Vince Snoonian, and linebacker/fullback Sam Kelley.

Even though the Knights tend to be run-first, Taylor sees the value in his team competing in 7-on-7.

“Very much so,” Taylor said. “I think 7-on-7 is the best for building chemistry, anticipation, especially for quarterbacks. It’s really good to get to know your receivers, and where they’re going to be. There’s no better activity, and seeing Natick and all those guys was really good today. For how much we run the ball, it’s really great to test our abilities and see what we can do, and see if we can get away from that and just run the ball and do both. It will make each side that much better.”

Weymouth should be strong this season, too, behind running back/defensive back Cam Aieta, lineman Naheem Ridore, tight end/defensive back Michael Farrow, linebacker/quarterback Tom Kelly, and lineman Anthony Marques.

Norwood’s Sam Larkee, left, is tagged by Carver’s Jack Balzarini during the Northeast 7v7 South regional on Saturday. (Photo by Paul Connors/Media News Group/Boston Herald)
East Bridgewater’s Cylas Hickey, right, makes a reception in front of Fairhaven’s Aaron League in Northeast 7v7 South regional play. (Photo by Paul Connors/Media News Group/Boston Herald)