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The York County Community College Thursday Thoughts for 9/22/2022

By Dave Haley, 09/22/22, 6:15AM EDT

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Dylan Welch and the Plymouth Bobcats head to Laconia (photo by John Scott-Sherburne)

 

 Week four of the regular season is when teams start to separate themselves and the results from the first few weeks have a bit more clarity to them.

 Maybe that loss in Week 1 wasn't a bad loss after all or the win in Week 2 might not be as impressive as we first thought.

 Today we’ll rank the top teams in all four divisions in our weekly Thursday Thoughts.

 Our column today is brought to you by our partners at York County Community College, right over the border in beautiful Wells Maine.

 Check out their video above!

 We will be out at two games tomorrow night:

 Theo Wolfe and I will be in Dover for a Division II showdown with playoff implications as the Kennett Eagles take on the St Thomas Saints.

 Pete Tarrier and Colin O’Neil will be in Merrimack for a big Division I match-up as the 2-1 Tomahawks take on undefeated Bishop Guertin.

 We’ll have all the highlights plus the post-game interview/celebration with the winners!

 Thank you to our newest Gold Level member/programs for their support!

 Sam Cavallaro of Hanover, Scott Stearns of Kennett and Tiger An of Windham!

 

 Division I

 Division I Standings and Statistical Leaders

 Gold Level Coaches/Programs: Brian Pafford of Portsmouth-Oyster River, Ryan Francouer of Winnacunnet, and Jack Bryne of Windham.

  1. Londonderry- The Lancers survived the mother of all trap games with a win over a good Windham team (in a game we covered) leading up to this week’s showdown with arch-rival Pinkerton Academy. Nathan Pedrick and Jack Drabik combined for 12.5 tackles in the win over the Jaguars.

  2. Exeter- Ethan Moss ranks sixth in Division I rushing with 360 yards as the Blue Hawks hit the toughest stretch of their schedule; at Winnacunnet, at Timberlane, Bedford, and at Dover, a game we plan to be at. The Warriors defensive line, led by Jake Fredericks will be a good test for Exeter’s running game.

  3. Bishop Guertin- We know how good BG’s offense is (answer: very) and this week we see the defense tested against Kip Jackson’s 2-1 Merrimack team and Division I’s leading passer Trent Jackson. Sam Ronzio had seven tackles in the win over Goffstown and both Jakob Baker & Chase Amaral are players to watch on the defensive side of the ball.

  4. Pinkerton Academy- This is a big one for the Astros, who have lost five games in a row to their arch-rivals. A win in Londonderry Friday night changes the outlook on their season and scrambles the Top 10.

  5. Nashua North- To repeat what I said on the Sunday morning podcast, the Titans looked balanced and solid at all three levels of the defense. Quarterback Derek Finlay ranks seventh in Division I rushing yards and Jordyn Raisanen-Andino is a big-time weapon out of the backfield.

  6. Dover- Credit Manchester Memorial, who is a better team with Erik Seymore back in the lineup, for putting a scare into the Green Wave. Eric Cumba’s team now plays arch-rival Spaulding in front of what promises to be the biggest home crowd in Rochester in some time. Defensively Liam Gannon (LB), Josh Stanley (DL), Kyle Merrill (DL) and Matt Proulx (DL) have all been contributors to a much-improved defense. As a group, they have fifteen tackles for losses and 6 sacks on the season.

  7. Bedford- That was a really good win over Thornton Academy (Maine) last Saturday afternoon. Ledger Russell has become to lead running back while Colby Snow ranks third in Division I receiving yardage.

  8. Timberlane- That was a good win at Winnacunnet last week (28-12) against a Warriors team playing for their playoff lives a lot earlier than expected. 

  9. Concord- As someone said on one of our Instagram stories; the Elia Bahuma train keeps rolling. He leads all of Division I with 536 yards rushing and six touchdowns. Next up for Jim Corkum’s team is a trip Friday night to play Alvirne.

  10. Windham- I’m giving the Jaguars the edge for the 10th spot over Salem….but save any angry tweets or emails, it will be settled on the field Friday night when the two teams meet.


 

  Division II

 Division II Standings and Statistical Leaders

 Gold Level Coaches/Programs: Robin Bowkett of Souhegan, Chris Sanborn of Plymouth, Sam Cavallaro of Hanover, and Scott Stearns of Kennett.

  1. Souhegan- The high-powered offense has been well documented, let’s talk about a very underrated defense. The Sabers aren’t winning shootouts, they are shutting opponents down while scoring almost at will. That defense has been led by JJ Bright (making his case for player of the year on a weekly basis), Sam Stevenson, Charlie Maroun, Madux McGrath, Brayden Hickman, and Brady Melvin. They’ll take care of business against Lebanon before two big ones at Plymouth and against Hanover.

  2. Gilford-Belmont- The resume of Josh Marzahl’s team puts them at #2. The Golden Eagles won at Kennett and beat Bow decisively at home. Two teams picked above them in the preseason. The offensive and defensive lines have been terrific through three games.

  3. Pelham- I’m going to run out of new things to say about the Pythons…I know they are very good, I know they are very well coached but we won't know how good this team is until the last three games of the season when they face Milford at home followed by games at Souhegan and Hanover.

  4. Hanover- Hanover we were just talking about you! That was a big boy win at Milford last weekend (yes Milford was without Charlie Urda but the Bears put up 40 points…that’s impressive). An improved defense has been led by Matt Brock, Keegan Murphy, Montana Hanchett, Patrick Elder, and Cam Bonner.

  5. Bow- The Falcons travel to Milford with both teams needing a bounce-back win. Bow tends to struggle with speed teams (hello Isaiah Reese) but the ground & pound style of Keith Jones’s Milford team should match up well for them. Expect this one to go to the wire.

  6. Kennett- That opening night loss to Gilford-Belmont doesn’t look too bad on the resume. The offense is clicking behind the running of all-state back Evan Koroski (167 yards rushing and 3 TDs last week against Laconia) and Sean Carrier (187 and 3 TDs). This team is playing hard for first-year head coach Scott Stearns and a win Friday night at St Thomas puts them in very good shape for a return to the playoffs in November.

  7. Plymouth- They’ll need to take care of business against old school rival Laconia this weekend before a pivotal stretch against Souhegan, Gilford-Belmont (I’ll be there for that one), and at Kennett. If the Bobcats can hold off teams like St Thomas and Milford for a playoff berth….well would you want Plymouth coming to you in the first round? Neither would I.

  8. Milford- This is a completely different team when Charlie Urda isn’t under center and that in addition to an early season injury to Trice Cote has this team out of sorts. Keith Jones’ team will be favored in four of their last five games but first, it’s a showdown with Bow on Friday night. A loss sends the Spartans to 1-3 and that’s going to be a challenging hole to dig out of.

Division III

Division III Standings and Statistical Leaders

Gold Level coaches/Programs:

  1. Trinity- We will see the Pioneers next week when they take on Campbell. First up, is pre-season #2 Monadnock. The edge in skill position players goes to Trinity while the edge in the trenches goes to the Huskies. This is a score I’m going to follow all night.

  2. Monadnock- They may have been looking ahead when they escaped Meredith with a 22-20 win over Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough but I credit Paul Lavigne’s team with playing well in the loss. Jack Lorenz has been the best defensive player in Division III this season and will have his hands full Friday night trying to slow down Devohn Ellis and Jack Service.

  3. Campbell- Glen Costello’s team faces Inter-Lakes Moultonborough this weekend before the showdown with Trinity next week. While Scott Hershberger has led the division in rushing, the Cougars defense has been pretty good too. Loki O’Neil had five tackles, three for losses last week while Logan Daigle was outstanding with 11 total tackles in the win over Stevens.

  4. Inter-Lakes Moultonborough-  The first question that came to mind after their 22-20 loss to Monadnock followed up a 35-0 loss to Trinity was, do we have a sizable gap between Trinity and Campbell/Monadnock? We’ll have that answer two weeks from now.

  5. Fall Mountain- With Con Val and Kingswood up next the Wildcats have a chance to get 4-1 and make a push for one of the divisions four playoff spots.

 

 Division IV

 Division IV Standings and Statistical Leaders

 Gold Level Coaches/Programs:

  1. Somersworth- The Hilltoppers starters haven't played in the fourth quarter yet, a trip to Franklkin comes next. We will see the defending champs next Friday night when they host…

  2. Newport- These guys, who have similarly rolled through their first two games. Tyler Gobin leads all Division IV rushers with 306 yards in two games.

  3. Winnisquam- It’s the Bears win at Bishop Brady and not their 48-19 home loss to Newport that keeps them at #3 this week. Duncan Gosselin has played well defensively for Dave Allar’s team, while Brady Palmer and Anthony Boomer have produced for the offense.

  4. Bishop Brady- Good road win at Raymond for the Giants. They face Mascoma at home and travel to Newfound for two games that could be the difference between getting into the playoffs or missing out.

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