UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 2 of the 2013 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:
 

 1. Exeter (2-0) (6/60)
 2. (tie) Bedford (2-0) (51)
 2. Concord (2-0) (51)
 4. Nashua South (2-0) (38)
 5. Pinkerton (1-1)  (34)
 6. Winnacunnet (2-0) (28)
 7. Keene (1-1)  (24)
 8. Trinity (2-0) (20)
 9. Londonderry (2-0) (14)
10. Plymouth (2-0)  (10)

Here's how I voted...and why I voted that way....

1.  Exeter...solid win on the road in a very tough environment against a good football team in Keene last weekend.  No time to celebrate as the Blue Hawks host Winnacunnet in another big one on Saturday afternoon.

2.  Concord...I moved them up a spot ahead of Bedford after witnessing the 52-13 trouncing of Salem last Friday night.  They are just loaded on offense and their defense is underrated.  Very interesting match up with high scoring Merrimack on the road this Friday.

3.  Bedford...by flip-flopping the Bulldogs and Tide I simply based my decision on the belief that Concord is a more balanced team offensively and defensively than Bedford at this point.  That's no slight on Bedford because I think it's very close.

4.  Trinity...once again, I have the Division 2 Pioneers ranked way higher than the other voters.  Believe me, I almost dropped them down because they struggled to beat Milford by 10 last weekend, but if you take away the "lower" division bias and simply look at the level of athletes Trinity puts on the field you can certainly make a case they are as good as any team in the state.  The question is can they avoid key injuries and sustain it thru the whole season?

5.  Pinkerton...you knew the Astros would bounce back after the season opening loss @ Bedford.  I think once they figure out their quarterback situation(meaning find 1 guy to be the guy), and come up with a 2nd option to help take the entire defensive attention off of Manny Latimore they will get even better.

6.  Nashua South...nice to see the Panthers could win so impressively against Alvirne without Trevor Knight.  A tougher test comes this week with Timberlane.  Then hopefully Knight comes back healthy so we can see just how far the star QB can take them.

7.  Winnacunnet...they were ticked off by getting snubbed by Power Poll voters(me included) at the end of last season's Championship run when Exeter, a team Winnacunnet beat head to head was given the #1 ranking despite losing the 1 on 1 battle to their sea coast rivals.  Rematch is this Saturday and I can't wait to see it!

8.  Keene...the Blackbirds held the high flying Blue Hawks to only 13 points, but they couldn't move the ball on offense against Exeter in a 13-3 loss.  Big, albeit early playoff implications are on the line in Nashua on Saturday when Keene takes on BG in a juicy D1 West battle.

9.  Plymouth...the Bobcats come a calling to Manchester next weekend for a marquee matchup vs Trinity.  Coach Lenahan would probably scold me for looking past this weekend's game against Kennett.

10.  BG...I have the Cards in the 10 spot ahead of teams like Londonderry(who I will seen on Friday against Bedford) and Merrimack who entertains Concord on Friday. I just like what BG has done without CJ Boykin for both games this season and Tony Reale who sat out last week.  Should be a fun one vs Keene!