The final Thursday Thoughts of the regular season, playoff previews will be out a week from today, ranks the top teams in each division, and gives you our candidates for both player & coach of the year.

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 We are monitoring the weather regarding our Friday night coverage. Still, we can announce that we will be covering two playoff games next weekend, four on November 13th, including both the Division III & IV championship games and both championship games on November 20th.

 

 Division I Standings & Statistical Leaders

 IN: Winnacunnet, Londonderry, Pinkerton Academy, Bishop Guertin, Salem, Exeter & Bedford.

 Who still can get in: Goffstown & Portsmouth Oyster River

 Player of the Year Candidates: Matt Alkire of Winnacunnet. Joe Mikol of Bedford, Matt Santosuosso of Bishop Guertin, Colby Ramshaw of Londonderry, Darian Lopez-Sullivan of Dover & Peyton Strickland of Goffstown.

 Coach of the Year Candidates: John Trisciani of Bishop Guertin, Jimmy Lauzon of Londonderry & Ryan Francoeur of Winnacunnet.

 

Week 9 Power Rankings

1. Winnacunnet- Ryan Francoeur’s team is about to finish off an undefeated season led by one of the best defenses we have seen in the last ten years. The Warriors have given up 59 points in 8 games and will be the favorites heading into the post-season.

2. Londonderry- The Lancers were solid at #2 even with the loss at Salem. They face a Nashua North team capable of pulling the upset this weekend, but Londonderry has earned the right to begin to prepare for the rematch with Salem next week.

3. Pinkerton Academy- The Astros lost to Nashua North on Thursday night but are just a week removed from beating BG. What does it tell us? It tells us this division is as deep as we thought it was in the pre-season preview.

4. Bishop Guertin- They have arrived a year ahead of schedule, and next week they’ll very likely take on Pinkerton in what would be a great rematch.

5. Bedford- Gaining confidence by the week, and they likely host Exeter next weekend, three weeks after beating them on the road.

6. Salem- Steve Abraham’s team answered the bell and beat previously undefeated Londonderry as Tommy Ahlers was a monster on both sides of the ball. The Blue Devils have secured the fourth and final playoff bid on their side of the bracket. Did we mention the playoffs are going to be wide open?

7. Exeter- That was an impressive bounce-back performance last week at Portsmouth. The Blue Hawks owned the line of scrimmage.

8. Portsmouth-Oyster River- The Clipper Cats have been hit with the injury bug, like many teams this time of year, meaning sophomores are stepping into bigger roles at a critical time of the season. Will Hindle & Max Lalime are still up & running, though, and so are the playoff chances of Brian Pafford’s team. It all comes down to Saturday; win at Goffstown, and they are in.

9. Dover- The Green Wave won’t be going to the post-season, but they’ll remember the win over Goffstown as the high point of a pretty good season.

10. Goffstown- They have been struck by injuries on the line, the defense, and at the skill positions. Do they have enough depth to beat Portsmouth-Oyster River and earn the 8th and final playoff spot?

Dropped out: None

 

Division II Standings and Statistical Leaders

In: Timberlane, Lebanon, Milford, St. Thomas & Plymouth

Who still can get in Hanover, Souhegan, Gilford-Belmont, Bow & Manchester West

Player of the Year Candidates: Jackson Stone of Lebanon, Cooper Kelley of Timberlane, Logan Barnhill of Milford, Ryan Lover of Bow, and Icean Taylor of Manchester West.

Coach of the Year Candidates: Chris Childs of Lebanon, Ed McDonough of St. Thomas, Keith Jones of Milford, and Kevin Fitzgerald of Timberlane.

 

Week 9 Power Rankings

1. Lebanon- They’ve passed every test, Jackson Stone found the endzone four times against Hanover last week, and now they’ll sit back and pay particular attention to the Timberlane/Milford score tomorrow night.
2. Timberlane- The offense has suffered some significant injuries but the defense, led by Cooper Kelley & Evan Roeger, remains elite.
3. Milford- The #2 spot gets decided tomorrow night. Logan Barnhill hasn’t missed a snap all season for the Spartans. Milford could drop to #4 with a loss.
4. St. Thomas- You can interpret their closer than we would have guessed 18-8 win over Hollis-Brookline in one of two ways; 1) St. Thomas was suffering a Plymouth win hangover or 2) the West is just better than the East. For now, I’m going with 1.
5. Plymouth- They took care of business in Gilford last week and even got Eddie Camp & Calvin Swanson back in the lineup. I still believe strongly that the Bobcats are going to be a tough out.
6. Bow- They beat Manchester West and St. Thomas beats Gilford-Belmont, and they’re in.
7. Souhegan- The Sabers should be back in, and I wouldn’t expect them to go out quietly. A win over John Stark clinches a berth to defend their title in the post-season.
8. Hanover- As it turns out, their biggest two wins, so far, came in Weeks 1 and 2 when they beat Bow (in a game we covered) and Manchester West. They will face a test from an improving Hollis-Brookline team this weekend.
9. Manchester West- They have fought for a chance to be there in the end, and now they are one win away as they head to Bow on Saturday.
10.  Gilford-Belmont- Still alive, and a win over St. Thomas could punch their ticket to the post-season. Gilford’s best offense last week was dropping Isaiah Reese back and just letting him create. The sophomore is pretty fun to watch.

Dropped out: None

 

Division III Standings and Statistical Leaders

Player of the Year Candidates: Kevin Bodenrader of Pelham & Jimbo Thibault of Trinity

Coach of the Year Candidates: Tom Babaian of Pelham and Rob Cathcart of Trinity

In: Pelham, Trinity, and Campbell

Who still can get in Kearsarge and Monadnock

 

Power Rankings

1. Pelham-Where would the Pythons rank in Division II? I’d like to see them match up with Souhegan…can we set that up, please?

2. Trinity- Laconia led that game late in the fourth quarter last weekend, and now they have a showdown with a Kearsarge team that will play with their season on the line.

3. Campbell- A win over Laconia this weekend wraps up the #3 seed, a loss, and a Kearsarge win over Trinity, and the Cougars would end up at the 4-seed.

4. Kearsarge- Winners of five in a row, they’ll go into Manchester believing they can win.

5. Monadnock- The Huskies haven’t had the depth at running back they have in the past.

 

Dropped out: None

 

Division IV Standings and Statistical Leaders

Player of the Year Candidates: Devyn Heino of Newport and Calvin Lambert of Somersworth

Coach of the Year Candidates: John Proper of Newport & Nick Derocher of Epping-Newmarket

Power Rankings

1. Newport- Let’s talk about the job John Proper has done this year at Newport. Having to replace 14 seniors off of last years undefeated championship team the Tigers have hardly skipped a beat and will be the top seed when the playoffs begin next week.
2. Somersworth- The Hilltoppers offensive line of Jean-Marc Thelusma, Dante Guillory, Jack Welch, Jacob Gibson, Cam Dubois, Guards Owen Clark, Gio Arscott and Center Jeremi Morse helped them rack up 537 rushing yards this past weekend in a 51-14 win at Raymond.
3. Epping-Newmarket- A win over Somersworth and they are back at home next weekend for the rematch.
4.  Fall Mountain- Play in game this weekend at Mascoma..win or go home.
5.  Mascoma- The playoffs begin Saturday for the Royals.