Division II
(4) Sanborn at (1) Plymouth Regional

 The moment you heard it was going to be Chuck Lenahan’s last season as Plymouth head football coach a lot of us couldn’t help but envision it coming down to one last Saturday afternoon with a championship at stake. A final title game that would book end a forty one year coaching career, with his team on the sidelines alongside him and scores of alumni coming out to honor him in his final game. Well here we are on November 14th and we’re one win away from that reality.

 But before you go booking your B  & B’s in the greater Plymouth area for next weekend we need to take a moment to recognize the team that makes the trip up 93 North Saturday afternoon to try and send him home one weekend early.

 Sanborn had evidently seen enough of Monadnock in their regular season meeting to believe they could beat the lone undefeated team in the Division and last Saturday afternoon they did just that. In a game that featured a Monadnock player fumbling away a long touchdown run with no one within 15 yards of him and a Sanborn player fumbling the ball on the one yard line after going 60 yards for an apparent touchdown it was Sanborn’s defense that ultimately won the game.

 A Monadnock rushing attack that featured two 1,000 yard rushers could never find a rhythm, couldn’t wear Sanborn down and when it mattered most couldn’t get their best runner Drew Bolewski safely out of his own end zone with the game on the line. That safety seemed to single an upset was about to be realized and so on Saturday afternoon they arrive in Plymouth carrying house money and nothing to lose. Not a single person outside of their school district thinks they have a chance to win. You have to imagine that is just the way they want it.

 Plymouth is almost surgical in their precision offensively and a loss at home to Portsmouth a month ago gave them all the evidence they needed that it can end at any time. Sanborn was successful against Monadnock getting Mike Rich free down the sideline for big gains (5 catches for 107 yards) and that balance allowed them to run between the tackles with success behind Zach Matthews (21 carries for 103 yards).

 The task will be even tougher Saturday against a defense led by Kyle Reisert, a player whom two prominent Division II coaches named as the best football player in their league. Sanborn needs to stay in it for a half and then try and pull the rabbit out of the hat late. It’s a game no one thought they would even be in, a game they earned their right to be in, and win or lose they are now a part of maybe the most interesting narrative of the 2013 postseason.
 
(3) Trinity at (2) Portsmouth
 The coverage of Trinity high school is sponsored by The Auburn Pitts

 Only days after Trinity had ruined Portsmouth’s opening night with a 58-37 shellacking a longtime Clippers assistant coach lamented to me ‘ The worst part is now if we see them again we’re going to have to go down to Manchester to face them.’

 Oh if the Trinity regular season had only been that predictable…

 Blow out wins were mixed in with surprising losses and punctuated with an absolutely dominant playoff performance when their backs were squarely against the wall. Head coach Steve Burns and his staff were able to block out the noise and get back to what they did best as a football team, the same football team that ran Merrimack off the field at Gill Stadium at the Queen City Jamboree in August and looked like the 2007 Patriots in their opening win on the seacoast. The resulting 36-0 win at Windham (two weeks after Windham had beaten the Pioneers 52-20) brings them back to the scene of their high point of their regular season, maybe a little wiser for the trip, but back none the less.

Justin McIsaac and I will cover the game live on WTSN 1270 AM radio, if you download the Tune In radio app.  and search ‘WTSN’ you can listen to us on your phone live while you’re at other games around the state. You can bet the FCC will be listening..

 Both teams can score in a hurry and so no one should be fazed if one team is suddenly up two scores. Portsmouth sets up the pass by running it while Trinity throws the ball just to keep the defense honest. Each team has looked dominant at times and unfocused at others. Brian Pafford has done a terrific job in his first year as head coach and Steve Burns is crafting a pretty nice resume early in what could be a very long coaching career.

 There are playmakers all over the field (Austin Chambers, Ian MacDonald, Mike Toar, Ian Landry, Zach Poole, Brad Rhoades, Donovan Phanor, Nate McFarland, Jack Young and Carmen Giampetruzzi to name just a few) and each team believes whole heartedly that they are going to be lining up in Plymouth in a week. Both teams have every right to feel that way…one of them is right.