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The Merrimack Valley Sports Thursday Thoughts for 10/17/2019

By Dave Haley, 10/17/19, 6:15AM EDT

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Goffstown heads to Londonderry tomorrow night..and we'll be there (photo by NH Sports Photo.)

 

 Week 7 finds us officially in the stretch run, where games have legitimate playoff implications every week.

  I absolutely believe any of the 8 teams that make the Division II playoffs can win the title, but do you want to make it harder by going on the road?

 The 1 thru 8 seedings will all be decided in the last three games.

 This week we have our Power Rankings for all four divisions plus we’ll give you the results of a behind-the-scenes poll we conducted to find out who are the contenders for Player of the Year honors.

 We asked coaches from all four divisions and one very prominent videographer to give us their Top 3 players in each division, and we’ll share the results with you here.

 I want to thank not only the coaches who have supported our 8-person team as Gold Level Coaches/Programs but the parents that have as well.

 As you can see, just about every newspaper & website covering high school sports is registration only. Whether it is after one article or five, and I support any newspaper or website that feels like that is the route they need to go. I pay for subscriptions to the Boston Globe and The Boston Sports Journal, so if it’s content you value, support it.

 We are a free website, and we are going to remain so for the foreseeable future.

 We decided on that after over 10 years of experience plus a lot of discussions and meetings with consultants as well as our team here at NHsportspage.

 We want to reach as many readers as possible (over 12,500 of you last week alone) and the best way to do that is to be open to anyone.

 That doesn’t mean we don’t pay for the cost of this website (Sports Engine owned by NBC Sports) or that our staff doesn’t get paid.

 So when parents & coaches make the decision to support our team as Gold Level families they not only get 8 years of full game videos, a spot in the Locker Room and listed as Gold Level Members, they are supporting the efforts of our team to bring you stories, videos, podcasts, statistics and content every day.

 So thank you to those families and coaches: Our Gold Level Families & Coaches

 Click to join NHsportspage today

 

 Thank you to Robin Bowkett of Souhegan, Bill Ball of Exeter, Eric Brown of Concord, the Seaman Family of Londonderry and the O’Loughlin family of Londonderry for being Gold Level coaches & families.

 

 On Friday night Pete Tarrier & Nichole Marrero will be in Londonderry when the undefeated Lancers take on 5-1 Goffstown in our Game of the Week.

 As always, we will have all the play by play, highlights and the post-game interview with the entire winning team.

 

 Division I

 Goffstown (5-1) at Londonderry (6-0)

 Londonderry Team Page & Statistics

 Let’s look at our Division I Power Rankings going into Week 7

  1. Londonderry
  2. Nashua North
  3. Exeter
  4. Salem
  5. Bedford
  6. Goffstown
  7. Pinkerton
  8. Nashua South

 

 The team no one should sleep on…..Manchester Central.

 The Lancers are going to be favored by at least two touchdowns in their last 3 games, with the Grizzlies possibly being the hardest (watch out..Ryan Ray has Central playing hard) of the three.

 Cole Keegan has emerged as a contender for Player of the Year honors, with Alex Tsetsilas right with him. Both players are making an impact every week on both sides of the football and two more wins give Jimmy Lauzon’s team home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs.

 Justin Hufft’s Grizzlies have been very good and done so a year earlier than expected. The Grizzlies have improved defensively by the week with Wilton Geissenhainer, Jeff Hager and Brad Baxter each playing a very big role.

 Nate Belanger and Matt Dalton have also been a big part of the defensive improvements and they will be tested on Friday night by the best offense in Division I.

 Coming into the season Jimmy Lauzon had a lot of confidence in first-year starting quarterback Jake McEachern (972 yards passing and 12 touchdowns) and nothing has happened since to change that opinion.

 Jeff Weidenfeld gives the Lancers a big-time back to go with their two all-state receivers Keegan & Tsetsilas.

 

 Bedford (5-1) at Salem (5-1)

 Salem Team Page & Statistics

 Bedford Team Page & Statistics

 Here were the results of our ‘after 6 games’ Player of the Year Poll (we will have the winners after the championships at UNH)

  1. Curtis Harris of Nashua North
  2. Josh Maroun of Salem
  3. Jaedon Cliche of Exeter & Cole Keegan of Londonderry

 Remember that’s just input from five people but it tells you where things stand with 1/3 of the regular season left.

 Coaches I have spoken to feel like Salem is a notch above Bedford but we’ll find out for sure this weekend in Haverhill. The Bulldogs will look to bounce back from their first loss in two years while Salem keeps chugging along behind a very good rushing attack and a terrific defense.

 Why do I feel like we may be headed towards Londonderry/Salem Part II in the semifinals?

 

 Division II

 Souhegan (4-2) at Hollis-Brookline (4-2)

 Hollis-Brookline Team Page & Statistics

 Souhegan Team Page & Statistics

 Let’s look at our Division II Power Rankings going into Week 7

  1. Milford
  2. Alvirne
  3. Bow
  4. Pelham
  5. Souhegan
  6. Kennett
  7. Plymouth
  8. St. Thomas
  9. Hollis-Brookline

 These are my rankings based off of resumes, and if you feel like 1 & 2 should be flip-flopped I wouldn’t argue, to date the Spartans have the better resume but Alvirne gets to settle that in the season finale on November 1st where a top seed could be at stake.

 Why is Bow 3rd even at 6-0? Because the South is much better than the North this year (see: Milford 42, Kennett 21).

 That doesn’t mean Bow won’t be the last team standing and they may be the best team today, but to date, they have only beaten one team with a winning record (Plymouth 8 to 7) and the other teams they have beaten are 10-19.

 Teams in the North just don’t have the four-quarter slugfests that teams in the South are having nearly every week.

 Pelham is the team no one wants to face in the playoffs (a Plymouth/Pelham game might end 3-0…………in overtime) because they can shut down your offense, and any kind at that.

 They’ve shut down both rushing attacks and spread offenses, and Tom Babaian might be the Coach of the Year in the division.

 Chris Lones’ Cavaliers need a big win, whether it is this weekend against Souhegan or next week against Alvirne. If they lose both, the season finale against St. Thomas would essentially be a play-in game.

 I don’t see any way Chris Sanborn’s Plymouth team climbs high enough (a 4-seed) to get a home playoff game. You could see Kennett and the 3-time champs playing again in the first round as a 4/5 game.

 Alvirne still has to be considered on the short list of teams to beat and it’s been a nice program resurgence under Head Coach Tarek Rothe.

 The Broncos are being looked at to go back to Division I when re-alignment comes around again after this year. For a program that hasn’t won a title since 1973, it would be a shame to see them bumped back up. We saw a lot of momentum built by Jeff Baumann at Timberlane before his basketball program was knocked back up when re-alignment sent the Owls back to Division I.

 Alvirne has built local rivalries already with Souhegan and Milford, here’s hoping those match-ups don’t go away.

 Here were the results of our ‘after 6 games’ Player of the Year Poll (we will have the winners after the championships at UNH)

  1. Gavin Urda of Milford
  2. Steve Guerrette of Bow (everyone we talked to had them 1/2 in some order)
  3. Sander Wimmer of Hollis-Brookline & Luke Manning of Souhegan

 

 

 Division III

 Lebanon (6-0) at Stevens (5-1)

 Lebanon Team Page & Statistics

 Stevens Team Page and Statistics

Let’s look at Division III Power Rankings going into Week 7

  1. Lebanon
  2. Trinity
  3. Campbell
  4. Monadnock
  5. Stevens
  6. Hillsborough-Deering Hopkinton
  7. Laconia
  8. Somersworth

 

 My apologies to Newport for giving them the absolute kiss of death last week….

 Paul Silva’s Stevens Cardinals got a lot better with the return of Quentin Bicknell (who had 10 tackles and a sack on Friday night) and he gets back just in time for a very tough stretch of games.

 Stevens’s last three games will be against undefeated Lebanon, Trinity (who they knocked out of the playoffs last season…in other words…that game has been circled on the Pioneers calendar all year) and Hillsborough-Deering Hopkinton.

 Campbell dodged a bullet when Carter Vedrani was able to return to action last week while Monadnock picked up a win they needed to have, both in the standings & psychologically, against Hillsborough-Deering Hopkinton.

 Jay Woods’ Red Hawks are battling injuries right now but the schedule isn’t going to wait for them. They face Trinity in Manchester this weekend before closing the season against Epping-Newmarket and Stevens.

 Here were the results of our ‘after 6 games’ Player of the Year Poll (we will have the winners after the championships at UNH)

  1. Jon Willeman of Lebanon (unanimous)
  2. Lincoln Blodgett of Monadnock & Keegan Mills of Campbell
  3. Colby Quiet of HD-Hopkinton and John Thibeault of Trinity

 

Division IV

Winnisquam Team Page & Statistics

Fall Mountain Team Page & Statistics

Newfound Team Page & Statistics

Let’s look at Division IV Power Rankings going into Week 7

  1. Winnisquam

 

 

 

    2. Raymond

    3. Fall Mountain

    4. Bishop Brady

 Yes, the gap is that big.

 The Bears can wrap up the top seed with a win against Bishop Brady on Saturday. Raymond already owns wins over Fall Mountain (back in Week 1) and Bishop Brady so expect them to host a semifinal game.

 Some coaches I’ve spoken to feel like Fall Mountain has closed the gap on Raymond, and may be the better team today.

 If Orion Binney’s team takes care of business against Mascoma and Newfound to close the season, they’ll get another shot at the Rams in the playoffs….and avoid a semifinal trip to Tilton to play the defending champs.

 Here were the results of our ‘after 6 games’ Player of the Year Poll (we will have the winners after the championships at UNH)

 

  1. Phil Nichols of Winnisquam
  2. Jakob Beaupre of Franklin
  3. Gunner Horman of Winnisquam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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