Rivalry Week…………..

 Some of the best match-ups in the state will be played this weekend as there are eight or nine games you’d want to clone yourself in order to get to. Today we take a look at six games across all three divisions as we near the midway point of the regular season (crazy but true…)

 We want to thank John Welch and the Sanborn football program for reaching out to us about supporting our team of Pete, Jen, Jon, Eliot, Justin & I as Gold Level members.

 Thank you to the Sanborn football boosters, Coach Welch & his staff!

 We will be out at two games on Friday night including our second LIVE broadcast when Londonderry travels down the road to Derry to take on Pinkerton Academy. Pete Tarrier and Jennifer Chick-Ruth will bring you the game live, the video highlights and a post-game interview with the winning team. We may need to borrow a camera from NASA to get the entire Pinkerton team on camera (if they win..) but we’ll give it a try.

 Meanwhile The Great Jon Kesty & I are headed out to Claremont as defending champion Stevens takes on undefeated Newport. We will bring you all the highlights and I guarantee you…an interview with the entire winning team.

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 Division I

 Winnacunnet (3-0) at Exeter (2-1)

 The coverage of Exeter is sponsored by Sandy Healy of REMAX on the Move

 Ok so maybe we underestimated Ron Auffant’s football team…..in particular their defense.

 Bedford knew they had to make a move late and couldn't do anything about it. When is the last time you read a line like that about the Bulldogs?

 The Warriors went toe to toe with Bedford and had the conditioning & depth to be the better team for four quarters. This was no mirage; on this night the better team won and we have the highlights to prove it.

 Winnacunnet’s defense, which now faces an ornery Exeter Blue Hawk team on a home field they rarely ever lose on, has been led by a number of players. Those playmakers include defensive end Joe MacDougall, media star Ryan Hanson (are kids taking the mic from us now? Happened to me at Pinkerton and McIsaac at Winnacunnet? Did they secretly plan this on Snapchat?), Andrew Mills, Cam Strukel, James Phennicie and sophomore Jordan Fuller in the secondary.

 The Warriors have two monster games in a row, with Goffstown looming next week, before they will be heavily favored in their last four games of the season. None of that will enter their minds as Exeter Week means a lot in Hampton..take it from someone who lives a half a mile from the high school.

 Exeter will look to beat Winnacunnet with their depth and by wearing the Warriors down at the line of scrimmage. For Exeter, Bill Ball’s wants to keep QB Patrick McDougall or Billy Powers from making the home run play that turns the tide. They’ll want to force Winnacunnet to grind it out 5 yards at a time.

 Expect a packed house and a very good football game Saturday afternoon at Bill Ball stadium.

 

 Londonderry (3-0) at Pinkerton Academy (2-1)

 Our coverage on Friday night of this game will be sponsored by Betley Chevrolet

 The Lancers are coming into this one with a lot of confidence and it’s safe to say they feel like they can go to Pinkerton and win this one.

 That has been easier said than done…as it has been a very long time since the Lancers beat the Astros. Alec Baldwin once jokingly referred to the Red Sox rivalry with the Yankees as ‘Like saying lawnmowers have a rivalry with grass’. I’m not going anywhere near there but just know Londonderry feels like they are finally going to get Pinkerton and it may come sooner than you think.

 Both Jeff Wiedenfeld (458 YDs on the season) and QB Michael McAlister (280) have been very good running the football for Jimmy Lauzon’s team and the defense made plays when it had to against previously unbeaten Nashua North last week. Jack Ogden, Ben Psaledas, Pat Hagearty and Jake Dionne all stepped up and made huge plays in what was a statement win for Londonderry.

 The Astros will run Ty Hicks to the outside and Terrell Hicks & Gannon Fast between the tackles. Coming off a loss at home to Salem Brian O’Reilly’s team will be ready Friday night with their place in maybe the best conference in the state very much at stake.

 

 Nashua North (2-1) vs Nashua South (1-2)  at Stellos Stadium

 Scott Knight’s Purple Panthers had to have that game against Merrimack last Friday night and credit to them, behind a monster game by QB Sean Holland (Box Score), they went on the road and got it.

 The combined record of four of South’s last five opponents after this one is 2-10..so a win here puts them in the pole position to win the division. On the other side Dante Laurendi is once again doing a terrific coaching job and has three big time playmakers in QB Mike Loveless, running back RJ Jenkins and Division I’s leading receiver Austin Ouellette.

 I’d give South the edge defensively and North the edge as far as the offenses go. The North defense has to look for Derek Downing out of the slot on 3rd down, for Taevon Olsen downfield & Alex Amigo pretty much wherever he can find space. When he does he’s very tough to catch.

 Winner here is the favorite to earn a playoff berth by winning the West.

 

 Goffstown (3-0) at Portsmouth (2-1)

 The coverage of Portsmouth football is sponsored by Kane Insurance

 Portsmouth football team page

 This one is all about Portsmouth, we already know what we have in Goffstown. They emphatically showed us last Friday night in Exeter in a game that ended with 60 players celebrating around Pete Tarrier.

 Are the Clippers this season’s good/bad team? The team that beats the team’s they are supposed to (wins over winless Spaulding & Memorial) and can’t compete with the teams better than they are?

 Quarterback Cody Graham is clearly not 100% yet as he recovers from last winter’s PCL surgery but he’s been very good for Brian Pafford’s team (a Division I leading seven touchdown passes). RB/WR Hunter Adams (152 YDs rushing & 140 receiving) has also been as good as advertised but Graham can’t play defense and Adams can’t block or defend on the line. The Clippers have to prove they can at least compete on their home field with one of the best teams in the state.

 This is a very well coached team with some pieces to compete but with the Grizzlies on Saturday, Manchester Central (with their best running back Jerymiah Rivera now back) and Winnacunnet coming up in the next three weeks we are going to find out quickly if Portsmouth is not a legit contender or if the Bedford loss was just one really bad night.

 

 Division II

 Bow (3-0) at Plymouth (3-0)

 A rematch of a fantastic Division II championship game last November.

 We talked about Plymouth at length in last week’s column. You can throw the four yards and a perfectly executed drive block out. This is a team’s with big time weapons and if Colby Moore, Nolan Farina , Jordan Docen & company get loose in space you’re in for a long day. Ben Olmstead is the passing rating leader in Division II (as you saw in our divisional leaders column yesterday) and anyone who faced the Bobcats in the pre-season (like say Goffstown) found that out in August.

 Bow has been rock solid and hardly tested early. They’ll need to hang in this game and I believe they will.

 Matt Harkins threw for 157 yards last week against Gilford-Belmont and you wonder if that wasn’t the Falcons getting their passing attack some live reps for when they are really going to need it this weekend. Plymouth has as good a secondary as any in the state, so Harkins and his receiving group that includes Jack Wixson and Justin Porath will have to be up to the challenge.

 Saturday afternoon in early fall up in Plymouth for a game like this is as good as it gets in New Hampshire.

 

Division III

Newport (3-0) at Stevens (2-1)

 This should be a really fun game on Friday night and Jon Kesty & I will bring you all the highlights.

 The Tigers aren’t even going to think about throwing the ball more than once or twice a game until someone makes them.

 Stevens is a team that thrives because of their play in the trenches so that will be something to watch early in this game; can Newport star sophomore John Thibault, the leading rusher in Division III with 498 yards, move the chains and force the Cardinals to play from behind?

 Paul Silva’s team was even at the half with Somersworth two weeks ago before the Cardinals had three backs go out with injuries, making depth an issue in the second half.

 What will be something to watch Friday night is if Stevens can move the football through the air if they get behind late?

 Newport picked up a signature win last weekend when they beat Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough 28-0 at home and the fact that they shut out Andrew Brothers’ and company is worth noting. This Tigers defense might be underrated after only three games, a win at Stevens Friday night would change that in a hurry.

 We’ve heard for years that the atmosphere at Stevens for home games is one of the best in the state so expect to get a really good sense of it all when we post the highlights Saturday morning.

 

 Listen in on Saturday morning from 9 to 11 as Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley recap all of the games from Friday night and preview the Saturday games as well. We have two coaches on every week plus regular appearances from our own Justin McIsaac, the new UNH color commentator.

 Listen LIVE on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area Saturday mornings from 9:07am-11am or simply click the Listen Live link on our home page.