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 7 of the 2013 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:
 

1. Concord, 7-0 (6/60)

2. Nashua South, 7-0 (54)

3. Bedford, 6-1 (47)

4. Pinkerton, 5-2 (41)

5. Bishop Guertin, 5-2 (26)

6. Portsmouth, 6-1 (23)

7. Keene, 5-2 (21)

8. Trinity, 6-1 (13)

9. Plymouth, 6-1 (11.5)

10. Exeter, 4-3 (3.5)

Also receiving votes:
Monadnock (3); Spaulding (2); St. Thomas Aquinas (1)

Here's how I voted...

1. Concord...the Tide proved their #1 status with the win last week vs Bedford.  It wasn't easy, but now Concord just needs to hold serve these next 2 weeks in the regular season against West and Goffstown before earning a likely top overall seed in the D1 playoffs and home field advantage throughout.

2. Nashua South has quietly climbed to the 2nd position in the Power Poll thanks to the outstanding play and leadership of quarterback Trevor Knight and a talented group of complimentary teammates who just seem to like playing...and winning together.  Hope they enjoy road trips because they've got a big one to the west in Keene on Friday night.

3. Bedford...the Bulldogs showed they are not a team that is going to quit as they rallied 3 times from double digit deficits in the 2nd half against Concord and still had a chance on the final play of the game before falling 34-27.  In order to get another shot at the Crimson Tide in the playoffs, Bedford needs to hold serve against Merrimack this weekend and then beat surging Manchester Central in the regular season finale.

4. Pinkerton...the Astros bounced back nicely from the OT loss to Concord with a rocking chair easy win over Manchester West.  With 2 games remaining against Goffstown and Merrimack, nothing has been clinched yet, but Pinkerton appears to have the least treacherous road to the Final Four in this new playoff format where they would meet either Goffstown, Merrimack or Londonderry for the right to advance.

5.  BG...the Cards showed they were not quite ready to battle the real cream of the crop in D1 when they got crunched by Nashua South in the renewing of the Gate City rivalry last weekend.  I still think they are very good, and the #5 ranking I'm giving them should prove that.

6. Keene...hard to believe that a team ranked this high is currently on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.  That's the downside of being in a really top heavy conference with South and BG.  But all is not lost for coach Luopa and the Blackbirds yet who need to beat South and Alvirne and hope either Nashua North or Timberlane can take down BG...or have Winnacunnet upset South on the final weekend.  Is that too much to ask for?

7. Portsmouth...the Clippers staged a big time 4th quarter comeback in the Land of Lenahan(copyright longtime Union Leader scribe John Habib) on Saturday to swipe away what was thought to be certain home-field advantage for the Plymouth Bobcats in the D2 playoffs.  I don't know what was more impressive for the Clippers in the win...the ability to recover and take the lead after falling behind 22-7 early in the 4th quarter, or stopping the vaunted Plymouth running game not once, but twice on 3rd & 1 and 4th & 1 from midfield when the Bobcats had to ice it. 

8. Plymouth...like we've seen in D1 with Exeter's once mighty defense, did Portsmouth expose a weakness in the Plymouth armor?  Can teams pass their way to victory against Plymouth in the same way Exeter has been exposed?  And on the offensive side of the ball, will coach Lenahan have to start working in the pass a little more to keep opposing defenses honest?  With a big target like TE Kyle Reisert it probably wouldn't hurt to try to use him a little more thru the air. 

9. Trinity...Speaking of opening up the playbook a little, I would love to see coach Burns bring back a little of that spread offensive approach like I saw against Portsmouth in Week 1.   It helps to have Carmen G back at QB who has sat out the last 2 games as a precaution with an arm injury suffered against Plymouth that isn't deemed too serious.  I'm told be people in the know that he should be back in time for the tough road ahead against Windham this weekend and St. Thomas in the regular season finale. 

T10. Exeter...have you ever hit "send" on an email and then wished you could take it back?  That's exactly what happened to me on Sunday when I submitted my Power Poll ballot with a dreaded tie for the 10th spot between Exeter and Spaulding.  I credit Union Leader Deputy Sports Editor Vin Sylvia for calling me a "wimp" for not manning up and picking 1 team for the spot.  If I could do it all over again I would have left Exeter in my Top 10 despite the head to head loss to Spaulding.  The Blue Hawks may be slumping down the stretch, but I'll put my money on Bill Ball's team over Spaulding or anybody else in the hunt for the 10th best team in the state mix(Manchester Central/Monadnock/Windham are teams that come to mind here).

T10. Spaulding...I gotta admit I was very surprised the Red Raiders were able to knock off the Blue Hawks 17-7 last week.  GREAT win for Jeff Hunt's team and players like outstanding running backs Trey Scott and Tyler Snow.  But as I said earlier, to be really Top 10 worthy you just can't get blown out 40-0 like we saw Spaulding do earlier this season in a stinker against Keene.