As we do for each of our semifinal previews we hand it over to the people who know these teams best; the coaches that face them during the season.

 We had four Division IV coaches’ breakdown the four teams and the match-ups for tonight’s Division IV semifinal at Plymouth State University.

 Lance Legere, Lisbon head coach Sam Natti & ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth will bring you all the play by play and highlights of both games plus the post-game interview with both winning teams.

 Today’s semifinal scouting reports are brought to you by our friends & partners at White Mountains Community College!

 

 (5) Pittsfield vs. (1) Littleton

 Pittsfield team page

 Littleton team page

  The Crusaders advanced to their 10th straight final four with a 10-point win over Colebrook while Pittsfield picked up a hard-fought 31-30 road win at Sunapee to advance to their second trip to Plymouth State in three years.

 We asked the coaches to breakdown both teams and the match-ups. Starting with Trevor Howard’s undefeated Crusaders.

 “They have very good chemistry and they understand exactly what Trevor wants from them,” said one head coach we spoke to. “They have played a lot more man to man defense this year but I’ll be interested to see if they go back to a zone if a team makes a run on them. I wonder how committed they are to man defense?”

 Another coach talked about the Crusaders players. “Parker Briggs might be the player of the year, to me it’s him Bryson Lund (PCA) or Josh Wheelock (Groveton). He creates for himself and can knockdown jumpers. Their most dangerous player is Todd Krol-Corliss. He killed us when we played them and he just does not miss 3’s from the corner.”

 “A lot of teams will turn it over in Division IV but what Littleton does better than anyone is turn those turnovers into points,” said another coach. “You see a lot of quick timeouts because they can run off 8 straight points so fast.”

 “Todd Krol-Corliss is their best player,” said another tournament coach. “Briggs is very good but he will have stages of the game where his attitude changes because of calls he thinks he should be getting. Briggs is easier to take out of the game because he does not like anyone being physical with him. He gets very frustrated while Parker Paradice, Krol-Corliss, Landon Bromley and especially Josh Finkle don’t worry about that at all.”

 What about Jay Darrah’s Pittsfield Panthers?

 “Tough kids. You have to be mentally tough to play them because they are physical and Jay runs a lot of good stuff.”

 “From coaching in this division there are nights where you tell your kids late in games that the other team is about to give up. I’ve never seen that with Pittsfield, they keep coming and that will be a key for them against Littleton.”

 “Quinn Bissonnette is the X-factor because Littleton hasn’t seen anything like him (6’9) all season long,” said another coach. “Now I didn’t see a lot of Pittsfield but whether they have the outside shooting to take advantage of all the attention being paid to Bissonnette will be a key in this game.”

 “I think the key is Pittsfield being able to handle the Littleton traps,” said another tournament coach. “If you turn it over too often you are not beating Littleton. I also think Jay will have to manage Bissonnette’s minutes because he is going to get tired on that bigger college floor.”

 “Devin Bedell is really good and he’s a tough kid,” said another coach. “He’s been through a lot and is not going to let anything phase him at Plymouth. I also love the (Tyler) Prentice kid. That kid is really good; I voted him second-team all-state. He could play for me any day of the week.”

 So what about the match-up?

 “Trevor is going to make Bissonnette guard Josh Finkle on the perimeter. Finkle showing the ability to hit jumpers makes that a certainty. Now how does Littleton defend Bissonnette? That will be interesting to watch.”

 “Colebrook was able to get to the rim a lot against Littleton in the quarterfinals. I think that could be an issue because Prentice and Bedell love to drive to the rim.”

 “Krol-Corliss is shooting it unbelievably well, I mean as well as I’ve seen anyone shoot in ten years in the North Country. You have to take away Briggs shooting 3’s at the top of the key. That’s where he wants to shoot it from. Paradice is very fast but isn’t going to take those jumpers. Bromley is very good from the corner and the wing so you need to defend those spots on the floor.”

 “Jay will guard Littleton man to man and Trevor will do anything he can to draw the big man away from the paint.”

 “Littleton does not have a good history at Plymouth. They’ve only won one title in about ten trips, so when does that become a factor? That is something to watch for, especially going against a program that won the title two years ago.”

 So who wins the game?

“I think it is a lot closer than people think, the best game of the night, but Littleton will win.”

 “I think its close for a while but Littleton runs away with it at the end.”

 “I think its very close, might even go overtime, but I’ll go with Littleton.”

 “I think the best player usually wins and in Briggs & Krol-Corliss Littleton has maybe the best two on the floor.”

 

(3) Groveton vs. (2) Newmarket

Newmarket team page

Groveton team page

 Newmarket blew out Woodsville to advance to their 8th Division IV final four while Groveton earned a double-digit win over Portsmouth Christian to return to Plymouth State for the first time since they won the title in 2017.

 We asked our four coaches to breakdown both teams and the match-ups. Starting with Jamie Hayes’ Newmarket Mules.

 “The biggest issue for teams in Division IV is lack of depth, and Newmarket might be the one team that has it,” said one coach we spoke to. “Hayes will pressure you for 32 minutes because he can play 10 guys and bring in a fresh player when someone gets winded.”

 Another coach talked about how Newmarket looked in the quarterfinals in dismantling Woodsville. “I saw some of the Littleton/Colebrook game and Littleton played like a team that knew there was no way they were going to lose to Colebrook.”

 “Newmarket, on the other hand, played with an edge to them. They are playing like a team with a lot to prove and maybe to end the stigma that they can’t win at Plymouth.”

 “Their rotations defensively are tighter and they play very unselfishly. If they shoot the ball well at Plymouth then no one is beating them.”

 Another coach talked about how inter-changeable the Newmarket lineup is. “They have a lot of players who play alike and are about the same size so they can switch or substitute pretty freely.”

 “They don’t have a selfish player on the team. Will Chase is a worker who gets his baskets off smarts & effort, the rest of the team seems to fall in line behind that. It’s a credit to Jamie.”

 “What is going to be tough for Groveton is Newmarket’s inside game and their size on the perimeter. They are not going to let Matt St. Cyr get off good looks in the half-court so he is going to have to get his shots in transition.”

 Another tournament coach agreed but didn’t see that as a problem. “St. Cyr is always running to get open in transition. I tell my kids ‘You are jogging while he is running’. He is a catch & shoot guard and a very good one. Now, you can turn him over if you make him put it on the floor because he is not a great dribbler.”

 Two of our coaches brought up a big X-factor for Newmarket. Someone who will not play a single minute tonight.

 “ I think Jamie having John Langlois helping him is a huge factor for Newmarket. John is a really good coach and he’s sort of legendary for his scouting. Having his insight is going to be big for them.”

 Another tournament coach agreed. “ How big of a factor will John (Langlois) be? I think he could bring a lot of value because Jamie played for him and there is a lot of mutual respect. Having John as a second set of eyes is a very big advantage.”

 What about Mark Collins Groveton Eagles?

 “I think there are four really good coaches at Plymouth but Mark to me is the best. He’s the Bill Belichick of our division. Can they keep it close until the end? I’m not sure but if they do Mark can win it for them.”

  Another coach talked about all-state forward Josh Wheelock. “He’s a terrific player. He is a very good scorer and rebounds very well. He was as good as any player we saw this season.”

 Another coach spoke about Wheelock’s game. “He has kind of an unorthodox offensive game where he takes shots from spots a lot of players wouldn’t. He’s very good on the baseline and at the elbow.”

 “The X-factor is Julian Kenison. When he had that really good game at Littleton and was a pre-season second-team pick everyone assumed he was going to start being their best player but that hasn’t happened. He didn’t even score against PCA and he disappears for minutes at a time out there. It’s confusing because you can see how talented he is.”

 A fellow coach agreed, Kenison has to play well if Groveton has any chance to pull the upset. “ He has to be a big factor because he has the size to go against the Newmarket guards. They cannot win if he is scoring in single digits.”

 Another coach agreed. “ I think Kenison is in that transition time between being a solid player and an all-state player. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the best player in our division next year but right now he just hasn’t played very well for the last month.”

 How do the two teams match-up?

 “ I think Mark is going to be very limited in his substitutions because I think he’s going to have to play big. That means Brandon Laundry and Chris Corliss are going to have to play big minutes, Groveton doesn’t have any size off the bench. In that scenario, and I don’t see any other way it plays out, Jamie will play 10 guys and just wear Groveton out by the second half.”

 How would you guard Newmarket if you were Groveton?

 “ I would take away their bigs (Owen Tower & Logan Willey) and Will Chase,,, dedicate your defense to the paint and leave Owen Hayes, Amar Phoubaykham & Alex Sensemboth open. I’d take my chances with them hitting shots.”

 Another coach brought up Newmarket’s history. “ Obviously the big topic is that the two best teams have time & again not been the last team standing at Plymouth. So although Littleton and Newmarket are clearly the two best teams I don’t know how you can feel that confident that they’ll both win on Monday night.”

 So who wins the game?

 “ Newmarket by a lot. Groveton will hang in there for about a half but Newmarket has too much depth. They’ll wear them out and there is nothing Mark can do about it with his bench.”

 “ I think Newmarket wins with their depth but Groveton stays in it until the fourth quarter.”

 “ I think Newmarket is winning it all.”

 “ I think Groveton will compete but they are going to need their big 3 of Wheelock, St. Cyr and Kenison to play really well to win it. I’ll pick Newmarket to win.”