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| By Dave Haley, Posted 11-08-2011 |
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Division IV (2) Plymouth Regional at (1) Trinity The coverage of Trinity High school is sponsored by Edible Arrangements Box score of the first match-up: Add a fake punt to the memorable plays that ended Laconia's season when they traveled in the postseason up to arch-rival Plymouth. All the momentum was with the Sachems when Taylor Newberry took a fake punt 68 yards to the house to give the Bobcats a 21-14 lead they never gave back. Newberry carried the ball 37 times, gained 205 yards on the ground and likely slept very well Saturday night. Now Plymouth gets another shot at a Trinity team they feel like they never should have lost to in the first place. Plymouth dominated the line play on both sides of the ball in the first meeting (in Plymouth) and carried a 7-0 lead late into the second half. Realizing they couldn't find any running room for the duo of Josh Hughes and Adam Chambers the Pioneers went to the air behind the left arm of sophomore Carmen Giampetruzzi. The southpaw connected with Hughes and tight end Andrew Lauderdale for two long scoring plays as Trinity escaped with a 12-7 that left them relieved and Plymouth stunned. Every game since that night has been a march toward this rematch and with all due respect to a very good Laconia team; these are the two teams and the only two that should be here in the end. Chuck Lenahan of Plymouth and Gary Leonard of Trinity are two excellent coaches, expect some tweaks to the game plan but when you get this far you are obviously doing something right so as we repeat ad nauseum ‘You dance with who brought you'. Trinity will pound the ball behind Hughes, Chambers and Ryan Carrier and expect their defense to give up 14 or fewer points. The Bobcats will try and get Newberry and Cole Brooker out in space and win the battle of field position. Of all the playoff games on Saturday this is likely to be the game of the day. Division V (3) Windham at (1) St. Thomas note: the game will be played at St. Thomas H.S Box score of the first match-up: A funny thing happened on the way to that Kearsarge/St. Thomas title game rematch. The new kids on the block crashed the party and now a program that existed only at the JV levels three years ago gets a shot at the title under head coach Bill Raycroft. The questions about Windham never centered around their offense; this is a team that averaged a league best 37.9 points per game (interesting stat of the week: total points for the season including playoffs; Windham 379, St. Thomas 378). Windham features playmakers in QB Joe Lorenz (909 yds. passing), CJ DiPrima (688 yds. rushing), Kenny Padin (475 rushing & 215 receiving) and Kevin Cooney with a team best 818 yards on the ground. If it's a shoot-out you want it's a shootout you're going to get against Windham. They'll come in Saturday knowing they need to score 30 plus points to win and they are capable of doing it. Problem is the team they are facing can go for 50 plus. Few teams in any division have the kind of weapons Eric Cumba's St. Thomas team has and it starts with their quarterback Scott Munroe. The Saints have won playing ball control and pounding the football in the past but Cumba was smart enough to look around the field at players like lounge member Ryan Monette and wide receivers David Rogers, Tylor Buckley and Andrew Kahr and realize that if he spread his playmakers out across the field they were going to be nearly unstoppable in one on one match-ups. The result is the aforementioned 378 points and good football teams like Somersworth and Bow just did not have enough firepower to keep up. While the Saints will air it out and get as many touches as they can for Monette Windham will run their option offense and try and keep the St. Thomas offense off the field. This is all new for Windham and so it's an exciting time for their parents and friends. For St. Thomas this is entirely different; they are here to complete the final step they were unable to in last year's championship game. Anything less and the 10-0 start didn't mean anything to this team. St. Thomas has been the best team in Division V all season long. Now they just have to hold up that distinction for one more game. Division VI (2) Epping-Newmarket at (1) Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough Box score of the first match-up: Two good offenses face two great defenses in what should be a grind it out old school affair in Meredith Saturday afternoon. Head coach Ryan Francoeur leads his team to their first ever title game appearance against a Lakers team that won the title just two years ago. With Epping it begins with the defense and they have been led this season by Jacob Valinski (102 tackles), Robert McGloughlin (82 tackles) and Dustin Jaross's four interceptions. Offensively they feature a three back attack led by Dan Espo (898 rushing yards), Brandon Carleton (475) and Bernie Hutchinson (456). The offense has gotten hot on occasion but its Francoeur's defense that has been among the stingiest in the state. Epping has given up over 10 points in a game only three times all season long and they were the only team all season to hold the unbeaten Lakers to under 20 points. Inter-Lakes now faces the team that gave them their toughest battle all season long for the championship. Few players if any have been better than Connor Donovan and Mitchell Jurius is considered by many to be the best quarterback in the division. The 3-0 win earlier this season over Epping was on the road, how much of a factor is home field (and field turf) to the top seed? Expect both coaches to play this one conservative & close to the vest as a key turnover could swing the direction of the game. If either team is able to get to 20 points, there is a very good chance they'll be celebrating Saturday afternoon. Coming tommorow: The Division I, II & III Semifinal Previews.