Let’s kick off our 12th year of football coverage with a warning; try not to read too much into Week 1.

 In most cases, the games didn’t give us enough to learn how these teams are going to be over the next three months and injuries may change the picture even after we think we have things figured out.

 Very few teams have the kind of depth to survive losing two or three starters to injuries and when sophomores start replacing seniors, bad things usually follow.

 Today we’ll take a look at six games from around the state (I’m still interviewing Division IV coaches so expect a deep dive on the division next week).

 For new readers and those who have been with us for years here is the weekly schedule of our content:

 Mondays: The Justin McIsaac Top 10 and The Players Locker Room Performance Roll Call (Lincoln Blodgett of Monadnock just joined today)

  Tuesdays:  The Adrenaline Fundraising/Buffalo Wild Wings Player of the Week Poll will be up at noon with 5 new candidates every week.

  Wednesdays: Statewide leaders and passing/rushing/receiving leaders for all four divisions.

  Thursdays: The Thursday Thoughts and on either Thursday or Friday depending on his UNH football schedule, McIsaac and I will post a weekly podcast previewing & predicting every game in the state.

 Fridays:  Staff Picks and our Game of the Week coverage which blends into Saturdays.

 We will have a podcast up today around noon with Portsmouth Herald sports editor Ryan O’Leary joining us.

 Our Game of the Week will be defending champion Bedford at Concord. Matt Corsetti & ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth will bring you all the highlights and the post-game interview with the entire winning team.

 I want to thank the coaches and programs that have supported our 8-person team as Gold level Coaches/Programs: Ryan Francouer of Winnacunnet, Jimmy Lauzon of Londonderry, Kevin Fitzgerald of Timberlane, Eric Cumba of Dover and Chris Sanborn of Plymouth.

 Each coach/program has access to our full game video library and there are more coaches who are coming on board in the coming weeks. Can’t thank those programs and coaches enough.

 

 Division I

 Londonderry (1-0) at Salem (1-0)   all Salem home games will be played in Haverhill this season.

Londonderry Team Page & Statistics

Salem Team Page & Statistics

 The Lancers won this match-up a year ago behind a big performance from quarterback Evan Cormier in a game we covered (Highlights: Londonderry 28, Salem 21).

 Lancers head coach Jimmy Lauzon knew he was losing a big-time player in Cormier last June but he talked all summer about incoming starter Jake McEachern with a lot of confidence.

 On opening night McEachern put up a Lamar Jackson like 158.3 passer rating, throwing for 3 touchdowns on just 6 pass attempts.

 It’s hard to gleam too much from the one-sided win over Concord. The Tide lost their quarterback to injury a week before the season started and had to move their best playmaker Ronan McGonigle behind center because of it.

 Still, it was crucial for the first-year starter to get a game under his belt heading into an early-season game with playoff implications.

 Salem likewise slammed the door shut on Manchester Central behind a pair of Riley Mulvey first-quarter touchdowns. Salem led 14-0 before they ever possessed the ball on offense, that’s called gently easing into the season.

 The Lancers feature one of the best running backs in the state in Jeff Weidenfeld and a pair of receivers McEachern can look for on 3rd down in Cole Keegan & Alex Tsetsilas, but it might be the defense that turns out to be the more dominate unit.

 Rob Pike’s team is going to run the football and split the carries between three elite backs; Riley Mulvey, Brandon Wall, and Josh Maroun.

 How the Salem offensive line holds up against Londonderry tells you a lot about who walks out of Haverhill with a huge early-season win.

 The winner here earns the tie-breaker for the remainder of the season.

 

 Bedford (1-0) at Concord (0-1)

 Bedford Team Page & Statistics

 Concord Team Page & Statistics

   Well, the Zach Matthews era at Bedford couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. The Bulldogs looked every bit the part of the champion that still has to be dethroned in a win over Windham.

  Expect the quarterback position to continue to be an open competition as it was in the pre-season. Joseph Mikol started against Windham and went 6 for 19 passing for 47 yards. Mikol may end up being the long term starter but I don’t get the sense that decision has been made yet.

 The loss of QB Trevor Smith to an arm injury (suffered against Souhegan in the Queen City Jamboree) was a big blow to Eric Brown’s Concord team. Wide receiver Ronan McGonigle has been forced to bounce between positions because there wasn’t an upperclassman back-up ready to step in if anything happened to Smith.

 Concord has a lot of sophomores & juniors and a game like this is about seeing who can compete athletically against one of the best teams in the state. Opening with Londonderry and Bedford is like opening with the Patriots and the Rams, and so even if Concord falls to 0-2, there is a lot that can be learned in the first two weeks.

 The schedule doesn’t get any easier with Salem coming up in Week 3 but for a Concord team that might be a year away, it’s about finding the core group you are going to go forward with.

 

 We will bring you all the highlights from this game along with the post-game interview with the entire winning team.

 

Spaulding (0-1) at Nashua North (1-0)

Nashua North Team Page

Spaulding Team Page and Statistics

 Some quick thoughts on Nashua North after covering them last weekend:

 Curtis Harris throws the ball better than I expected, he has good zip on the ball (no surprise there) but also a nice touch when throwing to the sidelines.

 Head coach Dante Laurendi didn’t have Harris passing out of the pocket very often, he usually threw on designed roll outs. Harris can throw the football very well, and that ability along with the fact he might be the best runner in the state makes North a contender to get to UNH.

 Max Ackerman is a force in the middle of the Titans defense and Winnacunnet had very little success running between the tackles. Spencer Whiting did a nice job on the offensive line, which wasn’t as dominant as the North defensive line, but they have good size in the trenches.

 Xavier Provost returned a kickoff 96 yards and Anthony Greene gives the Titans a big back to go along with Harris in the run/pass/option offense.

 North faces an up & coming Dover team next week before a huge September 27th showdown against Exeter.

 

 Division II

 Alvirne (1-0) at St. Thomas (0-1)

 Alvirne Team Page & Statistics

 St. Thomas Team Page & Statistics

 I’m going to follow my own advice and not overreact to Week 1.

 That being said…

 The upcoming schedule for St. Thomas makes this an important game in the playoff race, yes….in Week 2.

 After a game at Sanborn, next week that they will be a favorite to win the Saints then face a very good Milford team at home before traveling to Plymouth, where the Bobcats haven’t lost in 4 years.

 A week ago in a 34-25 loss to Souhegan, first-year starting QB Cam Paquette threw the ball 54 times, and that’s a little alarming.

 The Achilles heel for this team a year ago was its inability to run the football against playoff level teams and on Saturday they face the team that knocked them out in the semifinals a year ago in a game we covered. (Alvirne 22, St. Thomas 19)

 The Broncos only scored 15 points in an opening night win over Pelham but I think that may say more about the Pythons defense than any struggles offensively for Tarek Rothe’s team.

 The Alvirne secondary features Morgan Williams, Grady Hudson & Alec Prescott and is among the best units in the division. They will try to slow down Paquette, player of the year candidate Will MacLean and the Saints spread offense.

 Look for Alvirne to try and wear St. Thomas down over the course of four quarters by running the football and forcing the Saints to become one-dimensional on offense.

 This is a veteran St. Thomas team, and they won’t let the Week 1 loss affect them. The margin of error going forward gets razor thin though if they fall to 0-2.

 

 Plymouth (0-1) at John Stark (1-0)

 Plymouth Team Page

 John Stark Team Page and Statistics

  The Generals earned a good opening weekend win over an improving Merrimack Valley team but the big news of the weekend was Plymouth losing to Bow 8-7 to break the school’s 27-game winning streak.

 Plymouth took the opening drive of the game all the way down to the Bow 1 yard line but an off-sides penalty set them back and they were stuffed on 4th & goal from the 1.

 Amazingly Plymouth only got the ball three more times on offense…..for the remaining three-quarters of the game. Bow beat Plymouth at their own game, with methodical drives and a clock eating running game. Steven Guerrette was every bit as good as advertised for the Falcons and Paul Cohen’s team picked up a terrific win.

 Here’s why I think it was actually a good thing for the 3-time defending champs.

 This is almost entirely a new cast for the Bobcats and carrying the pressure of a winning streak created and maintained by Garrett Macomber, Owen Brickley, Colby Moore, etc. wasn’t helping them.

 Head Coach Chris Sanborn knows he has a lot of teaching left to do with his excellent coaching staff but what he did find out last Saturday afternoon was that his new team will compete. They did that all the way until the end as they drove to try and win the game.

 Kevin McGinty’s Generals have several all-state standouts including Nikos Biskaduros, Jake Ridenour and QB Nate Tower. Their issue on Saturday is going to be protecting Tower long enough for him to throw against the Plymouth defense and getting the Bobcats offense off the field on 3rd down.

 This is a Stark team with a lot of inexperience on the lines. They’ll be tested by a Plymouth team looking for their first win of the season.

 

 Division III

 Trinity (1-0) at Lebanon (1-0)

 Lebanon Team Page and Statistics

  The Lebanon Raiders showed flashes a year ago, an upset win over Campbell was a shocker at the time, but look more capable of backing up their pre-season hype than they were then.

 In Week 1 they rolled through Newport but now comes a big test against John Thibault and the Pioneers. The defensive line led by Noah Tyler, Josh Mondragon, and Mason Adams will be tested by a Trinity team competing for a spot at UNH in November.

 Wade Rainey ran for over 100 yards in the opener for Lebanon and Jon Willeman was incredibly efficient in completing 9 out of 10 passes for 3 touchdowns in the victory.