Today we take a look at all four divisions as we head into the final weeks of the fall sports season.

 The championships will be played at the site of the higher seed (determined by either record or coin toss) and we plan to have coverage of all four championship games.

 Our preview today is sponsored by our friends and partners at NHTI in Concord. Click on any of their banner ads for information on classes, registration, and open house dates!

 I want to thank two coaches who reached out to us last week to support the coverage of the kids and our team at NHsportspage.

 Thank you to both Steve Abraham of Salem and Bill Ball of Exeter!

 All of the coaches, who have supported our team and have access to our library of full game videos, is listed below each of the division standings.

 We will be out at two games on Saturday:

 Pete Tarrier & Colin O’Neil will be in Salem when the Blue Devils take on defending champion Londonderry.

 Ian Melewski & I will be back at my favorite spot to cover a playoff game; Plymouth high school when the Bobcats take on Kennett in what should be a terrific Division II playoff game.

 We’ll have all the highlights plus the post-game interview with the entire winning team.

 

 Division I

 Division I standings, leaders, and playoff brackets

 Exeter at Winnacunnet

 Box score of the first meeting: Winnacunnet 16, Exeter 13

 Expect another defensive battle. Ryan Francoeur’s Warriors turned Spaulding into a one-dimensional team with their run defense last weekend as Kevin Casey, Danny Fogarty, and the Red Raiders rushing attack went for minus yards.

 Exeter was terrific defensively in the 14-0 win over Dover and also the beneficiary of a couple of big calls against the Green Wave, including one that took a Luke Geppert touchdown off the board.

 The Blue Hawks though made two big red zone stands to earn the win. Bill Ball’s team has gotten better by the week and goes into this one a slight favorite over their arch-rivals.

 My pick: Exeter with the over/under on points being 25

 

 Bedford at Goffstown

 Box score of first meeting: Goffstown 26, Bedford 21

  This one will come down to Bedford’s defense because I wonder if the Bulldogs have enough offense to keep up with the Grizzlies?

 Give Zach Matthews team a lot of credit for going into Manchester in tough (cold, snowy, and windy) conditions and beating a good Memorial team. They showed a lot of heart after the surprising loss to Nashua South to close the regular season.

 They will face another big challenge on Saturday in Goffstown. The Grizzlies offense has hit its stride in the last few weeks and with Zach Picard, the leading rusher in Division I, really coming into his own Nick Hammond’s team can beat you in several different ways.

 Bedford’s defense has been led by Fin O’Neil and Dylan Kumbani at safety and Colin Chandonett at linebacker. They will need to hold Goffstown in the ’20s for a chance to pull off a huge playoff road win.

 My pick: Goffstown in a terrific game

 

 Merrimack at Nashua North

  These two teams did not meet during the regular season. Kip Jackson’s team turned in a great performance in coming back to beat Nashua South 27-26 on Sunday hen it looked like their post-season was about a quarter away.

 Tomahawks quarterback Kyle Crampton was terrific in completing 25 of 34 passes for 289 and 2 touchdowns to go with 2 interceptions. He and a veteran offensive line will face the best defense in the state when the Titans line up across from him.

 Curtis Harris-Lopez seems to be the clear cut choice for player of the year in the division. He has weapons all of the field in Jayden Espinol, Isaac Smith, Anthony Greene, and a defense that has not given up more than 7 points in a game this season.

 My pick: I’m not picking against Nashua North this season.

 

 Londonderry at Salem

 Box score of the first meeting: Londonderry 16, Salem 0

 Tough to try and take too much from the first meeting, especially with no scrimmages and a shortened pre-season. The Blue Devils couldn’t crack 120 yards on the ground against the Lancers' defense but don’t expect that to happen again.

 Salem’s defense has been very good and led all season by Noah Poulin, Tanner Morgano, Jake Brady, and Jack Milos. In Dylan McEachern, they face one of the best running quarterbacks in the division and a play-caller in Jimmy Lauzon who does a great job of attacking your weakness.

 Look for Dante Fernandes and Aidan McDonald to be more effective the second time around and…..

 My pick: I’m going with Salem in a close one…

 

Division II

Division II standings, leaders, and playoff bracket

Kennett at Plymouth

Box score of the first meeting: Plymouth 21, Kennett 20

 Unofficially Saturday will be the 7th playoff game I’ve covered in Plymouth. There is no place I enjoy covering a big game more and it is worth noting the Bobcats are 6-0 in those games.

 I say all this for a reason; along with the 2013 Plymouth/Portsmouth championship game, I’d say this is this the best chance an opposing team has to come in and knock off the best football program in the state.

 Kennett has all the pieces; a smart, talented & well-coached team that can match up in the trenches and knows, after their 21-20 tussle in North Conway earlier this season, that they can win on Saturday.

 That all being said, it is not because of luck or a statistical anomaly that I’ve never seen the Bobcats lose at home. They have a tremendous home-field advantage and the reason they won in Kennett when they were down two scores late was because they never actually thought they were going to lose.

 That’s DNA built and earned over decades. Can’t wait to cover this game on Saturday.

 My pick: I’ll go with Plymouth in a close one

 

 Lebanon at Bow

  This will be a really fun match-up Saturday morning (the game will be played at 10 am) between two very good teams with very good coaching staffs.

 Lebanon goes to the beat of their all-state quarterback Jack Stone, who has been terrific all season long. Cole Shambo and Nyeoti Punni give the Raiders a rushing attack that can challenge a very good Bow defense and keep the Falcons offense off the field.

 The Falcons looked rusty on offense last week against Hillsborough-Deering Hopkinton but the defense was in post-season form. Cooper Larrabee, Ryan Nicholas, and Nick Aubrey have all been very good as Bow has held teams to 8 points per game.

 Lebanon has the speed while Bow has the size and these are the best team either one has faced all season.

 Expect this one to be close late.

 My pick: Bow in a one-score game

 

 St Thomas at Timberlane

 Box score of the first meeting: Timberlane 37, St Thomas 7

 I liked Kevin Fitzgerald’s Owls coming out of this region when the brackets were released and now after the Saints win in Pembroke they get a second home game.

 Adam Lambert had a huge game for St Thomas and as we guessed, their tough regular-season schedule had them playoff ready.

The first meeting was lopsided and the Owls strength in the trenches makes them the clear favorite in the rematch, but…this is a different Saints team. They’ve now had 8 weeks under their head coach Ed McDonough as opposed to the two weeks they had when these two teams first met.

 My pick: I’m still going with Timberlane…

 

 Hollis-Brookline at Souhegan

 Box score of the first meeting: Souhegan 20, Hollis-Brookline 0

 Highlights of the first meeting

  I just like the idea of the best team in the regular season having to go through the defending champions in the playoffs.

 We were there for the first meeting so let’s share a couple of observations from that game:

1) The Sabers, and specifically Riley Lawhorn, ran all over Hollis-Brookline’s defense.

2) Souhegan scored 20 points but could have had much more if they were better in the red zone.

3) Souhegan’s defense was better than I had expected, a preview of things to come from Robin Bowkett’s team. They did a good job containing all-state RB Marc-Andre Thermitus.

4) The Cavaliers had several opportunities for big plays in the first half but didn’t execute. On three occasions all-state wide receiver Blake Bergerson beat the Sabers secondary by about 10 yards downfield, only to have his quarterback overthrow him.

  I expect a very good game the second time around but I think Souhegan has been the best team in the division so far and so…

 My pick: I’m sticking with Souhegan as my pick

 

 Division III

 Division III standings, leaders and brackets

 Monadnock at Pelham

 This will be a fun match-up and it will be the defense that can contain the other teams rushing attack that wins this one and advances to the championship game next weekend.

 The Huskies formula is to play good, physical defense and split the carries among two all-state running backs. They’ve done just that behind the running of Justin Joslyn and Aidan Hart and a defense led by Josyln (LB), Victor Lotito and lineman Dylan Cashman (he’s been a tackling machine) and Jack Lorenz.

 Pelham has been a wagon this season in Division III and between their 3-headed rushing attack of Jake Herrling, Ethan Demmons and Kevin Bodenrader and a defense led by Noah Coppinger, Zach Jones and Cam Santolucito.

 I wanted to give Campbell a lot of credit for the way they handled their match-up with undefeated Pelham being moved to Monday night.

 Because of health concerns there were thoughts that game would never be played, which would had advanced the Cougars to a date in Swanzey against the Huskies this weekend.

 There was actually a day or so where that seemed to be the reality but Pelham was cleared to play and Campbell agreed to move the game to Monday night.

 It was the right thing to do and knowing Campbell head coach Glen Costello, it didn’t surprise me at all. Give Campbell a lot of credit for letting Pelham play the game on Monday night.

 I thought it was a classy move by the Cougars.

 

 Stevens at Winnisquam

 Playoff Paul Silva and the Cardinals went for 2 points and the win and came away with a 22-21 playoff victory over Laconia last weekend.

 They now face the two-time Division IV defending champion Winnisquam Bears who are led by all-state QB Phil Nichols, Garrett Mango and Andre Cormier.

 It’s hard to get a read on Derek Hunt’s Bears because it has been such a disjointed regular season for them. They shutout Laconia in Week 1 and then didn’t play another Division III team until they were soundly beaten by Monadnock two weeks ago in a game Nichols didn’t play in.

 This is the weaker side of the bracket, Monadnock would be heavily favored over both teams and Pelham even more so, but it’s also a product of the region schedule.

 Does Stevens have enough offense to keep up with a Winnisquam team that can score 30 points on Saturday?

 My pick: I don’t think they do, and I like the Bears to win

 

 Division IV

 Division IV standings, leaders and playoff brackets

 Fall Mountain at Newport

 Box score of the first meeting: Newport 46, Fall Mountain 0

 There are lots of impressive numbers in the box score above but only two that truly matter:

1. Newport rushed for 326 yards and 4 touchdowns
2. Fall Mountain scored 0 points

 On the plus side for Orion Binney’s team Fall Mountain finally got all-state performer Tyler Swain back last week and the results have him currently in the running for our player of the week poll.

 Will it be enough to knock off the best team in Division IV?

 My pick: No, I’m going with Newport

 

 Winner will face Raymond or Somersworth in the championship