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TJ's of Portsmouth presents Justin McIsaac's Top 10 of Everything... and Anything....

By Justin McIsaac, 09/30/19, 6:00AM EDT

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The only Power Poll that really matters is what's inside McIsaac's head


That "finally beat Pinkerton" feeling

It's back! The best listicle in NH, the McIsaac Top 10! And I'd like to announce that this year, Jen Chick-Ruth is a Top 10 voter! 

(46 minutes later)

Oops, Austin Grass had a giant screaming fit about that decision, so Jen's out. I guess she had a slice of pizza in a media press box once, and THAT CAN'T BE ALLOWED. 

The Top 10 is brought to you by TJ’S in Portsmouth! My absolute favorite spot in Portsmouth to catch a game. Tell Bethany that McIsaac sent you.

 

10. CHRISTMAS IN HOLLIS

49-0 over West with Sander WImmer tossing 3 TD’s is a nice way to get yourself to 3-1. The Cavs schedule gets pretty stiff down the stretch, take a look:

10/05/19              at            Pelham                                

10/12/19              at            Sanborn                              

10/19/19                              Souhegan                           

10/26/19                              Alvirne                 

11/02/19              at            St. Thomas Aquinas                       

 

Which made this win all the more important.

 

9. THE UNH DEFENSE IS CRAZY GOOD

4 Sacks, 8 TFL’s, 2 INTs, and didn’t allow a score until late in the game when the 2nd unit was in (and even that needed a lucky bounce off a deflection from Tim Bouchard). Duquense is a basketball school but their football team was averaging 31 ppg -  until they ran into UNH. If you like defense, get yourself to wildcat stadium at some point.

8. SPARTY SPARTY, WE LIKES TO PARTY

How about some ancient hip-hop references that only the parents might get to describe Pembroke’s win over Hanover! (All the old people reading: “YESSSSSSS!!!!”)

Good W for the Spartans who got 2 TD’s and an INT from Seamus Murphy, and if Seamus doesn’t have the most pronounced Irish accent this side of Belfast, I’m going to be extremely disappointed.

7. DON’T LOOK NOW BUT KINGSWOOD HAS WON 2 STRAIGHT

A 7 point win over Hanover last week and a 31-0 win over John Stark has the Knights at 2-2 for the first time since…. Well, let’s just say it’s been a while for Kingswood. But there’s a chance to get to over .500 when the Knights head to Gilford for the Dave Haley Anxiety Bowl next week. 

6. WINNACUNNET IS ON THE BOARD

D1 East is a peculiar conference this year – Exeter is the big dog, and Portmsouth-OR , Spaulding, Dover, and Winnacunnet are all talented but young or inexperienced. Aside from the Blue Hawks, there’s a group of 4 that can all beat each other (or lose to each other) on any given night (and I think they all have to potential to play with Exeter too).

On this night, the Warriors were a little bit better than the Greenwave, and it resulted in Coach Ryan Francouer getting his first win, and the first of the year for Winnacunnet.  This whole conference should be fun for the next few years at least.

5. LOGAN GADBOIS TO RYAN LANE

Last year, if you watched Spaulding, you saw a lot of Double-Wing sets with the offense trying to grind out 3 yards at a time. Not so much this year – Logan Gadbois and Ryan Lane look like the NHIAA version of Dante Culpepper to Randy Moss, throwing two lonnnnnnnng TD’s in a loss to Portmsouth-OR Friday night. Spaulding would probably like to have been able to run the ball a bit more, but I’m a fan of the long bombs.

4. MEANWHILE, PORTSMOUTH WAS RUNNING WILD

2 Rushing TD’s each for Jacob Boutin and Jack Russo made the difference in the Clipper-Cats beating my Alma Mater on Friday night (Russo also recovered a fumble for a TD). If Portsmouth-OR can run the ball well, and start limiting big plays, they have a chance to compete with anyone.

3. I HOPE YOU TOOK THE OVER

Milford and STA played under temporary lights in Dover Saturday night, but they might not have needed them since the scoreboard lights kept changing every minute or so, with 105 total points being scored in Milford’s 63-42 win. If you had Gavin Urda on your D2 fantasy team this week, you won, as the Senior QB scored 5 rushing TD’s and a punt return TD with 247 yards on the ground (if you had either of these defenses, you might have lost though). This game was tied at 42 with about 8 minutes left, and then Milford rattled off 21 unanswered, which is banana land.

2. NASHUA NORTH AT THE GUN

Lucas Cunningham booted a 33 yard FG as time expired to give North a HUUUUUGE win over Exeter 31-28 to take control of D1 West, and (looking ahead) maybe give the Titans home field in a possible North Exeter rematch in the Semi-Finals. Media can look ahead, but North can’t, as they have Nashua South staring them in the face next week.

1. 18 YEARS  OF DEMONS EXERCISED

2001 was a lonnnnnnnnng time ago (The original X-Box came out in November of 2001, and Gmail was still 3 years away), and that was the last time Londonderry had bragging rights over Pinkerton in football. The Lancers got rid of all that and then some on Friday, racing out to a 35-7 lead and winning 42-24 to send Londonderry fans into a frenzy. Congrats to the Lancers!

 

 

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: That BG-Keene game is always close, same with Somersworth-Stevens, Kennett probably deserved a Top 10 spot for the W over Plymouth, 40 inches of snow in Montana this weekend

Justin McIsaac writes the Top 10 every week (usually). He is the 2018 NSMA NH Sportscaster of The Year.  He has 1,000 jobs, including radio color commentary for UNH Football, Producer of "NH Today with Jack Heath", HS play by play for MOSN, The McIsaac On Sports Network, college play by play for Dartmouth, St Anselm’s, UNE, Harvard, and whoever else will cut the check. Follow him on Twitter: @justin_mcisaac

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