For those of you that missed the game or simply want to relive it, we are making the full game video available here on NHSportspage.com.

The video includes play by play by WGIR's Pete Tarrier and commentary and expert analysis by NH Sports Page's Dave Haley.

Half time interviews include Bedford quarterback, James Caparell and the New Hampshire Football Report's Roger Brown. 

Enjoy!

Trinity defeated Central for their first Turkey Bowl victory since 1997.

Check out highlights of the game that was broadcast on WGIR with play by play by Pete Tarrier and expert analysis by Dave Haley of the NH Sports Page (NHSportspage.com)

A full game video will be available on the nhsportspage.com web site over the weekend.

 We finish our postseason awards today with Division I & II and present our 2012 football season highlights video.

 The popular opinion back in August was that it would come down to Exeter vs. Pinkerton for a second straight year in the title game and neither team disappointed. The Blue Hawks won their second consecutive Division I title under Bill Ball and the gap between #2 (Pinkerton) and #3 and 4 (Nashua South & Manchester Central) proved to be a bigger gap than any other division in New Hampshire. Division II was the deepest and most competitive race in the state but the team that rose to the top spot early would hold it through the entire season as Winnacunnet won their first football title since 2000.

 Today we take a look a look back at what we learned in the 2012 football season as well as recognize the top players, coaches and the game of the year in Division I & II.

 Division II

 Player of the Year: James Caparell of Bedford

 Completed 153 of 233 throws for 2,265 yards and 25 touchdowns (both best in the state). Also rushed for 536 yards and 11 touchdowns on 87 carries.

 Caparell will end his career as one of the all-time leading passers in New Hampshire football history. A Gatorade Player of the Year candidate, he was the best player among a group of very worthy Division II standouts.

 We start our postseason awards today with Divisions V & VI. The top seeds in each division survived all the way until the final Saturday of the season but when it was over Monadnock had won their first football championship in school history and Franklin had won their first title since 2008.

 Today we take a look a look back at what we learned in the 2012 football season as well as recognize the top players, coaches and the game of the year in Division V & VI.

 Division VI

 Player of the year:  Jesiah Wade of Campbell

 211 carries for 2,204 yards & 28 touchdowns

 Wade was the Campbell offense, often times carrying the ball over 35 times a game, and it was the best offense in the division. In addition to his state leading rushing numbers Wade was the best kickoff & punt returner in the division as well and led his team to the semifinals before they were beaten by eventual champion Franklin.

 Runner-ups: Cody Benwell & Jameson Smith of Franklin, Spencer Pierce & Chris Sanborn of Mascoma, Hunter Karwocki of Winnisquam and Tyler Mavicki of Newfound.

 We continue our postseason awards with Divisions III & IV. Souhegan and Plymouth both went undefeated in division play but that is where the similarities ended. Souhegan was upset in overtime by a single point against Goffstown in the semifinals while Plymouth hung on for a 7-0 title game win over a very good Trinity football team in a game that wasn't decided until there was less than a minute to play.

 Today we take a look a look back at what we learned in the 2012 football season as well as recognize the top players, coaches and the game of the year in Division III & IV.

 Division IV

 Player of the Year: Brandon Goodale of Plymouth Regional

 161 carries for 1389 yards and 19 touchdowns

  The talent and work ethic were always there for Goodale but as a freshman and a sophomore he had to bide his time while Taylor Newberry got the bulk of the carries for the Bobcats. The breakout year really came in 2012 as Goodale led the defensive secondary and finished 9^th in the state in rushing as Plymouth won their 19^th division title under Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Lenahan.

 Runner-ups: Carmen Giampetruzzi & Romeo Masuku of Trinity, Joe Lorenz & Danny Cannone of Windham, Ryan Monette of St. Thomas, John Thomas of Plymouth and Cyrus Rothwell-Ferraris of Hanover.

 Before we get to the final Top 10 of the Football season we are happy to announce that after long & contentious negotiations WTSN's Justin McIsaac will be returing in December for a weekly Top 10 for high school basketball. The over/under on terrible officating mentions is set at 7.

Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them..

10. GAHHHHHHHHHHHH NOT GRONK!              

I was rooting for the Pats to go for 2 up 58-24, mostly because I can't stand the calls of Bob Lamey, the Colts radio play by play guy. The pats kicked the PAT, and Gronk broke his right forearm. I'm way more bummed out about this injury than I should be. Not "Wife just left me" upset, more like "Showed up at a wedding and found out it's not an open bar".  Here's to a speedy Gronk recovery.

9. PARTYING LIKE IT'S (THE YEAR AFTER) 1999

.... Which would be 2000, the last time the Winnacunnet Warriors brought home a state title (a 10-9 win over Exeter).  QB  Ing Hao Veasna went 8-11 for 163 Yards, and the Warriors survived a game Bedford squad, 21-13 to win the D2 title. Winnacunnet might have a claim to the overall crown to, but more on that in a moment.

8. MOTHER NATURE

She's a cruel mistress most of the time, but Saturday we were provided with a Chamber of Commerce day for Championship Saturday. Nice work, Dollface. Now knock it off with the hurricanes.

 The Exeter Blue Hawks are Champions once again thanks to a 31-21 victory over Pinkerton in the D1 title game.  It was a packed crowd at Bill Ball Stadium and they were treated to a good one as Astros star running back Manny Latimore kept his team in it with 2 long scoring plays.  Blue Hawks quarterback Ethan Joyce completed only 1 pass all game, but the 27 yard TD strike to Colby Swane with 4:47 to play all but iced it for Exeter.  Galen Antolino led an effective Exeter running game with 111 yards on 14 carries.  His 5 yard TD run in the middle of the 2nd quarter that made it 13-7 Exeter came just 3 plays after a costly Latimore fumble on his own 19.

   Tyler Grant also scored a TD and added a 2 point conversion catch and finished his high school career with a 20 carry, 94 yard day.  James "The Wrecking Ball" Vogt had some crushing hits on defense and also scored on a 7 yard TD run.  Latimore ran the ball 21 times for 183 yards, including an 84 yard run that gave his team the early lead and a 78 yard 4th quarter punt return that made it 24-21 Exeter with 9:22 remaining.  Here's the video highlight package of the game as well as our postgame coverage featuring interviews with coaches Bill Ball and Brian O'Reilly, plus a group conversation with Grant, Vogt, Joyce, Swane and Antolino.      

Between the Uprights

Almost everybody we talked to had Exeter and Pinkerton penciled in to the Championship game, which was no different from our panel who all picked them as winners.  Winnacunnet did their job vs. BG and Plymouth won the Division IV State Championship, finishing off a perfect season.  

Wide Right

I’d love to pick on Justin McIsaac over his Keene pick, but if you’ve seen the video (HERE) you’ll know this game was anything but a gimmee.  Great play down the stretch by Bedford allowed the Bulldogs to move on, and save 4 of us a little face in our weekly picks.  The most surprising pick had to be the Division VI Championship, where each and every one of us had Mascoma Valley defeating Franklin.  Mascoma had been rolling through their competition winning by double digits every week and had even beat Franklin back in Week 1.  But Franklin came to play, to the tune of a 20 point win while proving our entire panel wrong along the way.
 

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Nov. 12, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 11 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

THIS WEEK / LAST WEEK

1. Exeter, 10-1 (8/80) / 1. Exeter, 9-1 (8/80)

2. Pinkerton, 10-1 (72) / 2. Pinkerton, 9-1 (70)

3. Winnacunnet, 10-1 (61) / 3. Winnacunnet, 9-1 (62)

4. Bedford, 9-1 (59) / 4. Bedford, 8-1 (60)

5. Keene, 8-3 (39) / 5. Keene, 8-2 (45)

6. Plymouth, 11-0 (28) / 6. Nashua South, 6-4 (36)

7. Nashua South, 6-5 (25) / 7. Souhegan, 9-1 (28)

8. Portsmouth, 8-2 (19) / 8. Plymouth, 10-0 (21)

9. Goffstown, 6-5 (17) / 9. Manchester Central, 6-4 (16)

10. Bishop Guertin, 5-5 (13) / 10. Bishop Guertin, 5-4 (10)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Manchester Central, 6-4 (10); Souhegan, 9-2 (8); Trinity, 9-2 (6); Monadnock (3)

 (2) Bedford at (1) Winnacunnet

 The coverage of Bedford High school is sponsored by Bedford Dental Care Associates & HK Photography

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=497&Hteam_id=500&game_id=13498&year=2012-2013

 The two best teams square off in a final every bit as good the one taking place down the road in Exeter.

 There hasn't been a team all year long that has shut down the Bedford offense the way Winnacunnet did in the first meeting between these two teams back on September 7^th in holding the Bulldogs to only 55 yards rushing and 111 passing. So it is fair to say that if they are able to duplicate that effort in the championship they will be Division II champs by the end of Saturday.

 Don't count on it though. The Warriors still possess the best defense in the division but Bedford has learned to adapt to what the defense has taken away and head coach Kurt Hines has done a great job in showing the patience to stick with the run even when it is not initially working.

 (2) Pinkerton Academy at (1) Exeter

 The coverage of Exeter is sponsored by Chad Fletcher at Blue Water Mortgage

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=493&Hteam_id=481&game_id=13476&year=2012-2013

 A match-up of the two best teams in Division I (some would argue the state..) and probably the first time in their four meetings dating back to last September that Exeter will actually be considered the favorite going in.

 Or are they? If you look at Pinkerton's body of of work it has been another dominating season. They opened with a convincing win over Bishop Guertin,  lost a close game to Exeter in week two and then ripped through the Division I schedule with an impressive road win over Brockton (MA) mixed in. Manny Latimore has become the bona fide star we thought he would be two years ago and when head coach Brian O'Reilly describes his two stud linebackers Matt Madden and Matt St. Onge as two of the best he has ever coached you stop and take note.

 Division III

 (4) Goffstown at (3) Portsmouth

 The coverage of Portsmouth is sponsored by Craven, Sullivan & Splendore PLLC.

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=499&Hteam_id=502&game_id=13603&year=2012-2013

 So a funny thing happened on the way to that Souhegan/Milford championship game..

 We'll start with Goffstown who pulled the one legitimate shocker of the 2012 playoffs with their 54-53 overtime victory over top seeded Souhegan. Connor Benjamin, Peter Shea and Ashton Florence kept chasing the Sabers all day long and on this occasion it was Benjamin doing it with his arm as much as his legs.

 The all-state quarterback completed 15 of 28 passes for 306 yards, four touchdowns and absolutely, positively, most importantly....no picks. Benjamin had thrown three interceptions the week before against Souhegan and we told you last week a repeat performance would punch their ticket home. Three times Souhegan failed to convert extra points after scores and in the end that was the difference in a one pint game. Lounge member Tyler Ford (313 passing yards) was every bit as good as Benjamin but the conversions cost them in what would be highly respected head coach Mike Beliveau's last game.

 Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them...

10. GOING FOR 2

Goffstown pulled the upset in Amherst by going for the deuce in OT, and it LOOKED like Keene was moving on up after going for 2 with about 45 seconds to play in Bedford. I love it when coaches take risks like that. Good on ya!

9. DEFENSE

Portsmouth was able to lock up Milford and keep them scoreless to move on to a 5^th straight title game, and Plymouth was able to keep Trinity off the board in D4. The D5 title game was a defensive minded coaches dream, with tons of hitting and only 9 total points (all scored by Monadnock). There should be a cliché about defense helping to win championships. Maybe I'll come up with one!

8. NUMBERS ON HELMETS

I'm not a fan of having nothing on the side of the helmet. I know it can be cost prohibitive for some schools to put decals on the headgear, but still- if you're not going with a logo the number is a fine replacement, as Monadnock has (I think Concord does too?). That , and the paw print decals for big plays the Huskies had gets a thumbs up from McIsaac.

I knew going into the game that I'd be watching a good one between #3 Keene and 2nd seeded Bedford in the Divsion 2 semis. Turns out I got an instant classic!  Bedford pulled off a miracle comeback on the final play of the game as quarterback James Caparell led his team down the field in the final minute for a thrilling 20-15 win.  

Rushing leaders              

 (4) Goffstown at (1) Souhegan

 One week after the Sabers beat the Grizzlies 32-27 at Goffstown the two teams will meet again in Amherst for a spot in the Division III championship next weekend.

 In a game where Souhegan was playing for neither their playoff lives or a chance at a top seed (they had clinched both weeks before) Goffstown was able to move the ball up & down the field all afternoon as all-state quarterback Connor Benjamin would rush for 211 yards and running back Peter Shea would go for 101. Goffstown scored three rushing touchdowns and stayed in a back & forth game throughout.

 Things are going to get a lot tougher the second time around and the vanilla defense they ran roughshod over will not be making a semifinal appearance.

 Benjamin did throw three interceptions in the game and that kind of turnover rate would punch a ticket home on Saturday. This is a tough Souhegan defense that is able to take chances because of their explosive offense.

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Nov. 5, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 10 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

THIS WEEK / LAST WEEK

1. Exeter, 9-1 (8/80) / 1. Exeter, 8-1 (6/78)

2. Pinkerton, 9-1 (70) / 2. Pinkerton, 8-1 (2/73)

3. Winnacunnet, 9-1 (62) / 3. Bedford, 7-1 (60)

4. Bedford, 8-1 (60) / 4. Winnacunnet, 8-1 (59)

5. Keene, 8-2 (45) / 5. Nashua South, 6-3 (43)

6. Nashua South, 6-4 (36) / 6. Keene, 7-1 (39)

7. Souhegan, 9-1 (28) / 7. Souhegan, 8-1 (30)

8. Plymouth, 10-0 (21) / 8. Plymouth, 9-0 (22)

9. Manchester Central, 6-4 (16) / 9. Bishop Guertin, 5-3 (19)

10. Bishop Guertin, 5-4 (10) / 10. Trinity, 8-1 (7)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Trinity, 9-1 (6); Milford, 7-3 (2); Portsmouth, 7-2 (2); Somersworth, 8-1 (2)

 (4) Bishop Guertin at (1) Winnacunnet

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=498&Hteam_id=497&game_id=13514&sport=Football&year=2012-2013

 A rematch of a game we covered with video highlights last weekend. Winnacunnet cruised to a 28-14 win in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates. The Warriors were stopped twice inside the BG five yard line in the final minute of the first half and then chose to kick a short field goal on third down with time winding down. The kick barely missed right and BG was lucky to only be down 21-7 at the half.

 As the second half opened Ben Franzoso took all the mystery out of the preceding with his second ‘turn the corner and go 70 plus yards' job of the game and at 28-7 it was over. The Cardinals would tack on a touchdown late for the fourteen point difference.

 Travis Cote's defending champions still play sound football and are capable of playing with the best in the state but what they are missing is the home run threat Winnacunnet has with Franzoso, Keene has with Lucas Luopa or Bedford has with James Caparell & his talented group of receivers. CJ Boykins is explosive coming out of the backfield but with his lack of size you need to get him open in space because tacklers aren't going to have a very tough time taking him down as soon as they get their hands on him. Nick Marino has been playing at an all-state level all season but he isn't a 25 carries a night type of running back either. Tom Hurley has a very good arm but does he have great talent at receiver to complement him?

 Last weekend I took over as the new co-host of the New Hampshire High School Sports Show with Pete Tarrier on WGIR Radio 610 AM and 96.7 FM on the seacoast. We will be previewing all nine playoff games on Saturday morning from 7 to 9 am and you can listen in online at this link http://www.wgiram.com/pages/nhhssports.html

 (4) Manchester Central at (1) Exeter

 The coverage of Manchester Central is sponsored by 900 Degrees Pizzaria
 The coverage of Exeter is sponsored by Chad Fletcher at Blue Water Mortgage

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=485&Hteam_id=493&game_id=13477&year=2012-2013

 So when two teams that were involved in a 49-0 game meet again in the same season there is only one rational question to be asked; does Manchester Central have any chance to win this football game on Saturday?

They certainly have a punchers chance but they are going to have to play their best game of the year to even give themselves that shot. They'll also likely need a lot of bounces to go their way.

 Last weekend I took over as the new co-host of the New Hampshire High School Sports Show with Pete Tarrier on WGIR Radio 610 AM and 96.7 FM on the seacoast. We will be previewing all nine playoff games on Saturday morning from 7 to 9 am and you can listen in online at this link http://www.wgiram.com/pages/nhhssports.html

 (2) Trinity at (1) Plymouth Regional

 The coverage of Trinity is sponsored by The Auburn Pitts Bar & Grill and Edible Arrangements

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=523&Hteam_id=512&game_id=13733&year=2012-2013

 A rematch that Trinity fought very hard to get to and one Plymouth knew was almost inevitable.

 Plymouth needed to get the Trinity monkey off their backs after dropping every game to the Pioneers since they moved up to Division IV three years ago. They did exactly that with a 36-14 win on September 15th and go into Saturday's final as the clear favorite.

 After a tremendous battle with Windham in the semifinals Trinity returns to the Division IV title game for a fourth straight year. The Pioneers have run Lounge members Romeo Masuku and Ryan Carrier with tremendous success in recent weeks and showed faith last weekend in their offensive line by going for it on 4th down deep in their own end of the field with the games outcome still very much in doubt.

 (2) Franklin at (1) Mascoma

 Three years after their neighbors at Lebanon high school came seemingly out of nowhere to win the Division IV championship it is now Mascoma of West Canaan, playing in their first championship game ever, that stands one win away from an improbable title. Much like that Lebanon team this is a Royals squad with a group of seniors that has steadily improved over the past three seasons.

 They will play their first ever title game down the road at Hanover high school due to poor field conditions but last week's win at Hanover should ensure they'll be comfortable on the Maruaders field turf again.

 (3) Monadnock at (1) Somersworth

 Box Score from the first game: Monadnock 21, Somersworth 14

 September 22nd seems like a long, long time ago during this fall HS Football season, but it was a weekend Somersworth hasn’t soon forgotten. The 21-14 loss to Monadnock provided a wake up call for the Hilltoppers, something their team needed to get to where they are today.

 Since that game the ‘Toppers have won 6 straight scoring a whopping 186 points (31/game) while giving up only 42 (7/game).  It certainly hasn’t been without hiccups for the #1 seed and Championship favorite.  Namely this past weekend when they came out flat and allowed Stevens to take a 10-7 lead early in the 3rd Quarter before both their offense and defense woke up and put away the Cardinals 27-10.  All season long, when the sledding gets tough they turn to their lead dogs in Preaseason POY pick QB Drew Francoeur and RB Josh “ The Mike Alstott of Somersworth” Ream to power their offense to the goal line.  

 As we do every week we highlight the performances of our Players' Lounge members.

 Athletes can join the players' lounge by registering on our website at a cost of just $25 a year. Becoming a member is a way to have your performance highlighted to over 3,000 daily readers and it also supports the work we do in covering New Hampshire high school sports. Lounge players are also eligible for our Recruiting videos done by our videographer Jon Kesty.

This week's featured Youtube video is of Souhegan's Tyler Ford

Drew Francoueur & Somersworth will move on to the Division V championship with their come from behind 27-10 win over Stevens. Francoueur rushed for 82 yards and completed 3 of 9 throws for 42 yards in the victory.

CJ Gosselin led Stevens in tackles Saturday and to a lead over top seeded Somersworth at the half. It would not be enough though as the Hilltoppers rallied and ended the season for the Cardinals.

QB Logan Batchelder led his team on two long drives to end the half and had a 40 yard run negated by a holding penalty in Stevens' semifinal loss.

Tyler Ford and Souhegan are the #1 seed in Division III and ended their regular season with a32-27 win over Goffstown. Ford completed 11 of 16 throws for 208 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 41 yards and two scores.

 Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them...

10. HURRICANES

Sorry there was no Power Poll last week. I was drafted into anchoring our Hurricane Coverage all night on Monday (A Summary: Power is out! It's Raining!), and the rest of the week it was all Charity Food Drive, All The Time at WTSN. Hopefully you and your loved ones got through Sandy unscathed. And, hopefully The Scorpions get some residuals from Rock You Like A Hurricane being played ad nauseam.

9. LAST SECOND WINS

I'll be honest, I was getting a little worried that we weren't going to have a thrilling last second win this year during any football broadcasts on WTSN. That all changed when St. Thomas went to Hanover. Probably the Game Of The Year as far as excitement goes, as STA erased a 28-10 2nd half deficit, including converting on TWO 4th downs on the final drive to get Hayden Middleton in to FG range:

 REGULAR LINK- http://snd.sc/YdBt8L

STA moved on to face Plymouth in the playoffs with the win

Speaking of which...

 Ben Franzoso is back and he is back in a very big way.

 Two long touchdown runs and more than 225 yards rushing in the first half of a season ending showdown with the defending Division II champions shoud ease any and all concerns about the star running backs recent groin injury.

 BG fell behind 21-7 at the half and all their hopes for a big win on the road ran in the other direction when Ben Gareau intercepted a Tom Hurley pass and took it the house for a 28-7 lead that was going to be too much for Bishop Guertin to overcome.

 The Winnacunnet Warriors secured the top seed in Division II with the convincing win and will face the Cardinals at home again next weekend.

 The Trinity Pioneers are headed back to the D4 title game for the 3rd straight season thanks to a hard fought 20-13 win over Windham in the league semi-finals at Gill Stadium on Saturday.  The 2nd seeded Pioneers twice had to come from behind to beat #3 Windham just 8 days after crushing the Jaguars 42-7 in the regular season finale in Manchester last Friday.  

Today's show marked the debut of Pete's new co-host, Dave Haley, of NHSportspage.com.

Today's guests included Plymouth head coach Chuck Lenahan, Roger Brown of the Union Leader and the NH Football Report and Winnacunnet head coach Ron Auffant.

 Just because you're supposed to win doesn't mean its going to come easy, just ask the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who had all they could handle Saturday afternoon from the University of Pittsburgh.

 Number four seed Stevens returned to Somersworth looking for a bit of payback from their Week 5 shutout loss but came up less than a half short as the top seed defeated the Cardinals 27-10 Saturday afternoon in a Division V Semifinal.

 The early possessions were primarily played between the 30's. With Somersworth holding a slim 6-0 lead (thanks to a Josh Ream rushing TD) Stevens made an impressive drive that culminated in a 30 yard TD around the left side by Donald Pellerin whose diving attempt at the pylon was briefly debated. The TD was ruled good and the ensuing extra point gave the Cardinals a 7-6 lead at the half.

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Oct. 29, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 9 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

1. Exeter, 8-1 (6/78) / 1. Exeter, 7-1 (5/76)

2. Pinkerton, 8-1 (2/73) / 2. Pinkerton, 7-1 (3/75)

3. Bedford, 7-1 (60) / 3. Bedford, 6-1 (61)

4. Winnacunnet, 8-1 (59) / 4. Winnacunnet, 7-1 (57)

5. Nashua South, 6-3 (43) / 5. Bishop Guertin, 5-2 (44)

6. Keene, 7-1 (39) / 6. Nashua South, 5-3 (36)

7. Souhegan, 8-1 (30) / 7. Souhegan, 7-1 (28)

8. Plymouth, 9-0 (22) / 8. Keene, 6-2 (27)

9. Bishop Guertin, 5-3 (19) / 9. Plymouth, 8-0 (17)

10. Trinity, 8-1 (7) / 10. Manchester Central, 5-3 (11)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Manchester Central, 5-4 (5); Milford, 6-3 (2); Portsmouth, 6-2 (2); Somersworth, 7-1 (1)

The NHIAA Football playoffs have finally arrived and this kicks off one of my favorite times of year.  Gridiron action is in full swing, the NFL is in mid-season form and the NCAA and NBA are kicking off their basketball seasons.  

Today, we look at the Division V race which has been a 4 team race pretty much from the get-go.  Somersworth and Kearsarge proved all year they are the top two teams in Division V and Monadnock and Stevens are not far behind.  Playoffs kick off Saturday afternoon at the home of the top two seeds and NH Sports Page will be back in Somersworth for the rematch with Stevens, who’ll have a healthier Logan Batchelder and revenge on their mind.

Lets take a quick look at how these teams got here... 

Welcome to the 2012 Playoff Edition Staff Picks.  We’ll throw in some of the key Division I, II and III matchups that close out the season, but the real focus is on Division IV, V and VI playoffs.  We now know 9 weeks of information about these 20 teams we’ll pick this week, but that doesn’t mean anything when the playoffs come around.  It’s anybody’s game and some teams step up for the postseason, and other’s fold.  Be sure to read up on our playoff previews this week for the following Divisions: 

• Division IV Playoff Preview by Dave Haley
• Division V Playoff Preview by Eliot Bless
• Division VI Playoff Preview by Dave Haley

 Division IV

 (4) St. Thomas at (1) Plymouth

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=518&Hteam_id=512&game_id=13735&year=2012-2013

 Remember when we told you in the pre-season this had a chance to be as wide open a division as any in the state? A division with seven good football teams competing for only four playoff spots?

 Yeah we were wrong about that..

 Plymouth Regional has dominated the division for two solid months and although Windham & Trinity are capable of knocking the top seed off there can be no question that the Bobcats have run the table with relative ease to this point.

 Kennett didn't have enough offensive weapons to feature around Nick Massa, Laconia lost pre-season player of the year David Mahoney for a good chunk of the season and a young undersized line got bowled over in the first month of the season. Lebanon continues to look like their championship two years ago was an anomaly and Hanover didn't have enough depth to surround two of the better playmakers in the division.

 Before we get to the biggest games of the week  I want to wish Marc Thaler all the best as he moves on from his post as the head football writer at the Manchester Union Leader, the author of his own website NH Game day  and the co-host of the successful Saturday morning New Hampshire High Sports Show heard on WGIR AM 610 and 96.7 The Wave FM.

 I've enjoyed getting to know Marc this past year and the numerous times I've been a guest on his show. He's one of a handful of the best sportswriters in the state and writers that good are hard to find. I wish him all the best and hope to work with him again somewhere down the line in the future.

 Pete Tarrier will be joined by his still unannounced permanent co-host on Saturday morning between 7 & 9 am and you can listen live online on this link; http://www.wgiram.com/pages/nhhssports.html

 Division I

 Pinkerton Academy (8-1) at Nashua South (6-3)

 A win by Nashua South gets them the #2 seed and a home playoff game with the Astros next weekend.

 I know I was surprised as you were...

 Maybe it just feels like Exeter and Pinkerton wrapped up the top two playoff sports weeks ago but Scott Knight's team has won 4 of 5 games and an October 5^th victory over Manchester Central came at a time when we all believed Central was the better team. We now know that is not the case.

 (4) Newfound at (1) Mascoma

 Box score of the first meeting: http://www.nhsportspage.com/football/game_stats.php?Ateam_id=533&Hteam_id=532&game_id=13663&year=2012-2013

 The Newfound offense rode the combination of Tyler Maviki (1,293 yards rushing) on the ground and the arm of Jared Dearborn (1,268 yards passing) to the best start in school history. That kind of balance helped Newfound average 34 points per game during a 6-0 start.  It should come as no surprise then to learn their offense has fallen on hard times since Maviki went down with an injury that may keep him out of Saturday's rematch with Mascoma.

 Newfound has scored just 21 points in their last 12 quarters of play and against an offense as good as Mascoma 21 points in one game wouldn't cut it. Newfound has to find ways to get that balance back (Maviki's ability to play will likely be a game time decision) if they have any chance to beat Mascoma. A week ago Dearborn put the ball up 29 times and that's just too one dimensional. Newfound has to move the ball on the ground against the best defensive line ion the division or their playoff stay will be a very short one.

 As we do every week we highlight the performances of our Players' Lounge members.

 Athletes can join the players' lounge by registering on our website at a cost of just $25 a year. Becoming a member is a way to have your performance highlighted to over 3,000 daily readers and it also supports the work we do in covering New Hampshire high school sports. Lounge players are also eligible for our Recruiting videos done by our videographer Jon Kesty.

 This week's featured Youtube video is of Plymouth's Brandon Goodale

CJ Gosselin again led the way for the Stevens defense but the Cardinals were beaten by Kearsarge Regional 37-16 as Gosselin and QB Logan Batchelder take on Somersworth in Saturday's Division V Semifinals.

Brandon Goodale & Plymouth wrapped up an undefeated season with a 35-21 win over John Stark as Goodale ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns on only 6 carries.

Portsmouth QB Travis MacDonald completed 6 of 13 throws including a touchdown but was re-injured in a loss to Milford.

In a game that would determine home field advantage for the Division 4 semifinals next week, the Trinity Pioneers(8-1) showed D4 newcomer Windham(7-2) they’ve still got some work to do if they’re going to compete for a Championship this season.  The Pioneers made a statement right from the opening drive as they marched down the field for a touchdown.  Trinity would keep the pressure on Windham on both sides of the ball throughout the rest of the 1st half, and when kicker Justin Johnson nailed a 32 yard FG as time expired in the 2nd quarter, the lead had grown to 35 to nothing and we were looking at running time and a bigtime blowout.

When the offense wasn’t moving up and down the field, the Trinity defense was absolutely stifling the Windham offense to the tune of only 1 first half 1st down and holding them to under 100 yards total offense on the night.  The Jaguars didn’t get their 2nd 1st down until late in the 3rd quarter, and that came courtesy of a Trinity facemask penalty.  Windham finally broke into the scoring column on a 10 yard Kellin Bail TD run with 2:31 left in the game.  The score came just a few plays after a botched long snap on a Trinity punt attempt that gave Windham the ball on the Pioneers 20.   

Between the Uprights

Pinkerton and Con-Val were the lone correct unanimous selections this week.  Fairly straightforward for Con-Val who won big over Merrimack Valley, and the Astro’s victory over Concord was also another most would have picked.  Pinkerton continues a very impressive string of victories since their early season loss to Exeter, and now looks to be the favorite to meet the Blue Hawks in the Division I finals.  Its shaping up for quite a finish in these last couple of weeks with playoff seedings on the line.

Wide Right

What happened to me last week?  3-7 won’t cut it when it comes to this panel.  All of a sudden I’m just trying to stay out of the basement.  As a crew we whiffed on 2 matchups collectively as both Kennett and Bow were unable to win their matchups vs. Laconia and Sanborn.  Bow had won three and a row and really needed this win, at home no less, to try to sneak into that last Division V playoff spot.  Kennett had recently lost to Trinity and Windham but had to feel good about their chances against a Laconia team that had also been struggling.  Tough calls on our part but admittedly, we missed big time.

 Division I

 Manchester Central (5-3) at Pinkerton Academy (7-1)

 The coverage of Manchester Central is sponsored by 900 Degrees Pizzaria

Welcome to the playoff implications addition of the Thursday Thoughts. I was sure I was going to come up with a better name than that but it never came to me...

The Astros playoff ticket is punched but The Little Green still need a win to be assured of a spot and coming off of a loss to Division III leading Souhegan does not put them in the best frame of mind at the most critical time of the season.

 The Souhegan game started on Friday in Amherst and ended Saturday in Manchester with about 10 gallons of rain falling in between. Other than that it was nothing out of the ordinary...

 No matter where it was played and how dry it might have been both teams played their best players and Central was beaten. Now they turn around and play a team a lot of people feel like is only weeks away from a championship game rematch with Exeter and playing their best football of the season.

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Oct. 22, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 8 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

THIS WEEK / LAST WEEK

1. Exeter, 7-1 (5/76) / 1 (tie). Exeter, 6-1 (5/74)

2. Pinkerton, 7-1 (3/75) / 1 (T). Pinkerton, 6-1 (2/74)

3. Bedford, 6-1 (61) / 3. Winnacunnet, 6-1 (57)

4. Winnacunnet, 7-1 (57) / 4 (T). Bedford, 6-1 (56)

5. Bishop Guertin, 5-2 (44) / 4 (T). Keene, 6-1 (1/56)

6. Nashua South, 5-3 (36) / 6. Manchester Central, 5-2 (39)

7. Souhegan, 7-1 (28) / 7. Bishop Guertin, 4-2 (29)

8. Keene, 6-2 (27) / 8. Nashua South, 4-3 (22)

9. Plymouth, 8-0 (17) / 9. Souhegan, 6-1 (18)

10. Manchester Central, 5-3 (11) / 10. Plymouth, 7-0 (9)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Portsmouth, 6-1 (7); Trinity, 7-1 (1)

Rushing leaders              

 It was a tough weekend for the Lounge members as only Tyler Ford, Travis McDonald and the Trinity boys came out on top in their games. Below is a re-cap of all of this week's performances.

 Athletes can join the players' lounge by registering on our website at a cost of just $25 a year. Becoming a member is a way to have your performance highlighted to over 3,000 daily readers and it also supports the work we do in covering New Hampshire high school sports. Lounge players are also eligible for our Recruiting videos done by our videographer Jon Kesty.

 This week's featured YouTube highlight footage is of Hanover QB Shawn Cavallaro, a two year member of the lounge.

 Portsmouth QB Travis MacDonald completed 5 of 6 passes for 83 yards and a score as Portsmouth beat Pembroke in the rain 24-8.

 Tyler Ford of Souhegan guided his team to a big out of division win by throwing for 131 yards and running for two scores in a 35-28 win over Manchester Central.

 Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them...

10. D2's DEPTH

Spaulding was hanging tough with BG on a muddy turf, West (Who go blown out of the building last week by Spaulding) upset Keene, which gives West a shot to get in to the Playoffs if they win out, and Keene stumbles. IT'S ANYONE's DIVISION!

9. RAIN

Mother Nature is a cruel mistress. Most games were rained out Friday night (I could do a whole column about rained out football games, but that's another story) , but I was in Portsmouth for the Clippers contest vs Pembroke- it was a great game to watch inside a pressbox... unfortunately, we were NOT in the refrigerator  sized Portsmouth Press box, and got to experience the elements first hand. In other news, I'm now sending demos to desert states.

8. SENIOR NIGHTS

A fellow NH HS Media member sent me an e-mail with the subject line "The Seniorest of Senior Nights". Evidently a volleyball game covered by our friend had a :30 minute senior night, where the seniors on the team were recognized and honored by their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their uncles, their mailmen.... You get the picture. Even some FANS were recognized for coming to all the games. I'm all for senior night, but let's get these things under control before they turn into "My Super Sweet 16".

Rushing leaders

Passing Leaders

Receiving Leaders

 Division I

 Pinkerton Academy (6-1) at Concord (4-3)

 Two teams with an eye on the playoffs that had very different weekends five days ago.

 Concord gained the upper hand on the final playoff spot a month ago with a win over Nashua South on September 22^nd but gave it right back in dropping a 22-21 decision to Nashua North last weekend.

 What it means is that the Tide no longer control their own destiny and that is not a fun scenario to be facing when you have the Astros coming to town. A loss here means that Concord would have to beat Salem next weekend (likely) and then hope for Nashua South to lose to either Manchester Memorial at home or Londonderry on the road in the final weeks of the season and those two teams have a combined record of 3-8 in division play. That as they say is a lot of moving parts.

 Can we now agree that the loss to Nashua North was a big one?

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Oct. 15, 2012

 The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 7 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

1 (tie). Exeter, 6-1 (5/74) / 1. Winnacunnet, 6-0 (8/80)

1 (T). Pinkerton, 6-1 (2/74) / 2. Exeter, 5-1 (71)

3. Winnacunnet, 6-1 (57) / 3. Pinkerton, 5-1 (65)

4 (T). Bedford, 6-1 (56) / 4. Bedford, 5-1 (54)

4 (T). Keene, 6-1 (1/56) 5. Keene, 5-1 (44)

6. Manchester Central, 5-2 (39)/ 6. Nashua South, 4-2 (37)

7. Bishop Guertin, 4-2 (29) / 7. Manchester Central, 4-2 (25)

8. Nashua South, 4-3 (22) / 8. Bishop Guertin, 3-2 (24)

9. Souhegan, 6-1 (18) / 9. Souhegan, 5-1 (15)

10. Plymouth, 7-0 (9) / 10. Concord, 4-2 (14)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Portsmouth, 5-1 (4), Concord, 4-3 (2)

 We are very pleased to announce our newest sponsor of the coverage of high school athletics on New Hampshire Sportspage; The Weathervane Seafood Restaurants will be sponsoring our game of the week video coverage as well as articles & columns throughout the year. Look for special announcements and coupons available to our readers from the Weathervane Seafood Restaurants. We are very happy to have them on board.

 We are also very excited to announce a new member to the Players' Lounge for the fifth consecutive week; Souhegan all-state quarterback and basketball stand-out Tyler Ford has joined the lounge.

 We will be setting up Tyler's profile this week and working to get him the recruiting exposure he deserves as well. We want to thank Tyler's parents for supporting the coverage we provide on New Hampshire Sportspage and for helping make that coverage possible.

 Athletes can join the players' lounge by registering on our website at a cost of just $25 a year. Becoming a member is a way to have your performance highlighted to over 3,000 daily readers and it also supports the work we do in covering New Hampshire high school sports. Lounge players are also eligible for our Recruiting videos done by our videographer Jon Kesty.

 This week's featured YouTube highlight footage is of Bedford QB James Caparell, a three year member of the lounge.

 Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them....

10. JOINING GAMES IN PROGRESS

We carry the Yankees on WTSN, so Friday night they were finishing off the Orioles while I was waiting.... and waiting..... and waiting to join the Spaulding vs West game in progress. The first half was a great 24 minutes of Football, with The Red Raiders holding a 21-14 lead. Spulding busted out in the 2^nd half to win 50-22.

9. TREY SCOTT ON TURF

Trey Scott, Spaulding's junior RB/DB, is faster than a reality star's fall from grace, and that's when he's playing on the muddy grass of Hugo Bolin field in Rochester, a surface that resembles oatmeal on it's BEST days (I'm pretty sure every fall team uses the football field at Spaulding, including cross country, and the little known Monster Truck team).  On West's field turf surface, he was UNSTOPPABLE. Running for 147 and 3 TD's, Scott lead Spaulding to a big win.

8. WAIT, THERE'S RULES AGAINST COMPLAINING ABOUT THE REFS?

Winnacunnet coach Ron Auffant was not present for Friday's 20-7 loss at Keene, after being suspended by the NHIAA for one game for saying (in the Portsmouth Herald) "You go over there, you're playing against a lot of factors... It's a long trip. A lot of times officiating doesn't go your way. We've just got to get off the bus and play four quarters."

If you want to compete and be in the top 4 in Division V, you better be able to play defense.  On a cool, blustery afternoon in Kingston the Huskies of Monadnock waltzed in and shut down the Sanborn Indians offense, and rushed their way to a 32-7 victory.  

The win puts the Huskies at 5-1 in the division, with just a opening season loss to the Stevens Cardinals the only blemish on their resume.  Sanborn, desperately seeking that quality win they’ve yet to achieve likely are on the outside looking in when it comes to the Division V playoff picture.

The damage was done early and often on the turf by the Huskies.  Dylan Lane, Drew Bolewski and Dylan Bell combined for 323 yards on the ground and 4 TDs.  In fact, there wasn’t one yard gained through the air the entire afternoon.  The Huskies, who are a much bigger squad in general, controlled the line of scrimmage and were able to gain yards up the middle, off tackle and around the edge at will.

Between the Uprights

We all nailed several games this week including Pinkerton, Newfound, Alvirne, Bedford and Winnacunnet.  A fairly straightforward schedule for Week led to all of us picking at least 8 of 10.  Additionally, the Somersworth pick, despite their 27-0 margin of victory, was a really good pick before the game.  Stevens got decimated throughout the game by injuries and it certainly would have been different if they'd been able to keep their key players on the field.

Wide Right

No question, our unanimous pick of Manchester Central over Nashua South was our biggest miss.  On paper, in the oh-so-popular power polls, and  on the forum message boards, Central was the better team.  Nobody saw the game Trevor Knight had coming.  All he did was account for 4 TDs including a 70-some-odd scamper in the waning minutes of the game.  Not bad for a nights work.  South improved to 3-1 and showed they are for real.

Pick of the Week

Even though we all picked this game right, the Alvirne pick over Con-Val was the pick of the week.  Both teams came in with only one victory, both winning vs. Merrimack Valley.  Really a toss up game where both teams needed a win to stay in playoff contention.  The friendly confines of Bronco Stadium surely paid off in this case.

 Keene celebrated homecoming weekend with an impressive 20-7 victory over previously unbeaten Winnacunnet Friday night at Alumni Field.  Alex Austin scored a pair of quick TDs in a 90 second span at the end of the 1st quarter and early in the 2nd turning a 7-0 Winnacunnet lead into a 14-7 Keene advantage. 

 The Blackbirds defense did the rest holding the Warriors off the scoreboard after Winnacunnet's 1st possesion ended in a 1 yard IngHao Veasna touchdown run.  Both teams are now 4-1 in a very close Division 2 playoff race that also includes 4-1 BG and 5-1 Bedford.  Check out the video highlights of the game courtesy of our camerman Jon Kesty along with a postgame interview with Austin, QB Lucas Luopa and defensive stud Jimmy Heaney and a one on one with coach John Luopa.      

 Division I

 Pinkerton Academy (5-1) at Brockton (MA.) (3-2)

 The Boxers annually give the Astros their toughest game of the season and last year this was the contest that seemed to knock an undefeated Pinkerton team off the rails a bit.

 Pinkerton was 6-0 going into a home contest with a 2-3 Brockton team still struggling to find its way. The Astros were one week removed from a 42-16 shellacking of #2 Exeter and head coach Brian O'Reilly was actually getting asked if this was one of the best Pinkerton teams of all time (he predictably wasn't taking the bait). Remember that was a team that outscored the three other Division I playoff teams 147-44 in their three match-ups. Consider how dominant those numbers are.

 Brockton though beat Pinkerton that day and it seemed to be a big blow to the Astros confidence. They went on to finish the Division schedule undefeated but they got all they could handle in a semifinal battle with Salem where Jerrickson Federick and the Blue Devils were in that game until the end. A week later they faced Exeter again in the championship, and we all know how that movie that ended.

 So does the Brockton game represent an opportunity to get a bounce in the right direction for the Astros this time around? Brockton has been led by senior QB Austin Roberts and has been up (a victory over Xaverian for the first time since 2007) and down (an upset loss to Reading) which pretty much sums up a 3-2 record.

 As we have for over five years we will highlight the weekly performances of our Players' Lounge members by running down their statistical performance as well as their teams. Each week we will also be featuring the highlight video or game footage of a lounge member.

 We have four new members of the Players' Lounge that we are excited to introduce and we will be setting up their profiles this week: Somersworth football & basketball standout Drew Francoeur, Monadnock football standouts Mason LeClair & QB Will Kitterman as well as Trinity running back Chase Hughes.

 We want to thank Drew, Will, Mason & Chase's parents for supporting the coverage we provide on New Hampshire Sportspage and for helping make that coverage possible.

 Athletes can join the players' lounge by registering on our website at a cost of just $25 a year. Becoming a member is a way to have your performance highlighted to over 3,000 daily readers and it also supports the work we do in covering New Hampshire high school sports. Lounge players are also eligible for our Recruiting videos done by our videographer Jon Kesty.

 This week's featured YouTube highlight footage is of St. Thomas's Ryan Monette

 Keene earned a very important 21-20 win over Dover as QB Lucas Luopa played a major role. Luopa completed 16 of 28 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 50 yards in the win.

Rushing leaders              

 Power Polls seem to be all the rage these days- there's two of them just for NH Football alone! So in an effort to keep up with the times, Justin McIsaac of WTSN AM 1270 in Dover is ranking the 10 most important/powerful football type things of the week. At least, how he sees them....

 10. TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITER FIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHTS!!!

 Without getting into any specific details of the awesome Power Poll inspired Twitter rumble that went down, let me just say that Twitter fights are one of my top 5 favorite things about the internet (Also on that list: Drew Magary, Gangnam Style, This Site, and the Chinese sites that I may or may not buy bootleg sports jerseys from). There is never a winner in a Twitter fight, aside from the audience.

 9. BAD NIGHT FOR STEVENS

 Stevens vs Somersworth was probably the most anticipated game of the week, with Chanel 9 on the scene, WTSN carrying the game, Elliot overcoming his fear of being on camera to cover it, you name it. Unfortunately, QB Logan Batchelder was injured early on (He didn't look 100% to start the game), and Stevens had to use a quasi-single wing, and the end result was a 27-0 Somersworth victory. Take nothing away from the Hilltoppers (one of my Homer teams) but I'd like to see a playoff rematch with everyone at 100%

Between the Uprights

Week 5 was probably the easiest of our weekly 10 game slate to date.  With Tarrier and Kesty going 9-1, McIsaac 8-2 and Haley and I going 7-3 (yes, even the Editor finally got 70% correct) there were a number of games we all agreed upon, and picked correctly.  Exeter, Pembroke, Keene, Winnacunnet and Central were all unanimous picks, and all were victorious, and by a good margin in each game (other than Keene who squeaked by Spaulding on a very muddy field).  

Wide Right

From time to time we all go out on a limb, and my picks of Goffstown and Nashua North were off base.  In retrospect I should have  taken the safe play, but thought both teams would step up in what was a big game for both them.  They were on the road against higher ranked teams with better records, so, perhaps I should’ve known better.  My only solace is that Haley also picked North, assisting me in saving face and keeping us both at 7-3 last week. 

Pick of the Week

The Bedford Bulldogs, going on the road, against a higher ranked team shocked a lot of coaches, fans, and of course media members.  In what was their game of the year to date and QB James Caparell and Co. came out and put a 27-13 exclamation point on the Cardinals.  They had no answer for Caparell who had 2 TD’s throwing the ball and 1 rushing. A very nice win for Bedford.  Tarrier and myself were the only to pick the Bulldogs to come out of that one on top.

 The Stevens Football team bus showed up late, just under an hour before kickoff, and things never really got any better from that point on.  Somersworth RB Josh Ream rumbled his way to 198 yards and a touchdown, and the Hilltopper defense held the Cardinals scoreless resulting in a 27-0 victory for the home team Friday night.  

Stevens was playing from behind from the get-go, and halfway through the second half, threatening deep in Somersworth territory after a nice punt return, QB and Players Lounge Member Logan Batcheldor never came out on the field to lead the offense.  His knee injury, coupled with WR Billy Brooks missing the game due to a shoulder injury, really put the Cardinals in a tough spot in this game.  

Check out the game highlights, and interviews with Somersworth coach Dan Hodson and Player of the Game, Josh Ream, in the video below. (Video by NH Sportspage staff videographer Jon Kesty)

Rushing leaders               

 Division I

 Nashua South (3-2) at Manchester Central (4-1)

 The coverage of Manchester Central is sponsored by 900 Degrees Pizzaria

 Here is what we think we know about the Division I race after four games; that we are clear on who three of the four playoff teams are. In fact most of us think we knew that back in late August. Those three teams are Exeter, Pinkerton and Central and today they sit one & tied for two in the standings.

 Here is what we didn't know; who is going to be that fourth playoff team? A lot of those same voices thought it was going to be Nashua South but that may have been before a 20-3 loss at Concord two weeks ago that put them on the wrong end of a tie-breaker with the Crimson Tide.

 What that means is that the Panthers are going to have to steal one from the big three and their best chance may come this weekend.

 Trevor Knight and Co. slogged through the rain on an evening when most people took the night off and gained a nice win over Nashua North (in a game we have full video highlights of). Now they're going to show us if they are the team that beat Spaulding, Salem and North impressively or the team held to under 80 yards in three quarters of play against Concord.