Today’s opening edition of the Thoughts will be limited to Division I & II as Division III opens up this weekend and I will be posting my Division III football preview tomorrow morning.
 

 Division I

 Bedford (1-0) at Portsmouth (1-0)
 The coverage of Bedford is sponsored by Bedford Dental Care Assoc. & HK Photography

  Big test for both teams Friday night. With Clippers all-state RB/NT Mikey Toar suspended for the first two games of the season Portsmouth had to get out of a at Spaulding/Bedford at home opening with at least a split. Their win in Rochester last weekend guarantees that and also takes any early season pressure off of this one.

 Connor DiCesare (11 of 25 for 226 yds. and 3 TDs) was terrific at QB in the opening night win but the real revelation was Joey Auger who looked like Lesean McCoy is racking up 272 total yards. With Dicesare comfortable in the pocket, Auger possibly being a breakout star and ‘The Bus’ Mikel Toar back next week this Clippers offense is going to be very tough to get off the field.

 Bedford has a top defense behind Eric Glassman, the questions are how balanced they’ll be offensively. In a lopsided win over Manchester Memorial last weekend they weren’t forced to show their hand but how Bedford is able to throw the ball is still in question. Mike Vailas is a terrific football player and he’ll make good decisions on the field, his last name alone leads you to believe that, but can he throw the ball against a good defense?

 We are seeing less and less of the one dimensional teams that can’t throw once they get down, are The Bulldogs in that category after years of winning behind elite two way threat quarterbacks?

 Pete Tarrier, Jennifer Chick & I will bring you coverage of this game in our Sentinel Title Services Game of the Week.
 
 Concord (1-0) at Winnacunnet (1-0)

  There is no such thing as a bad win; any coach in any sport at any level will tell you that. There can though be a level of concern after a win and that should be the case after Concord opened their title defense last Friday night with a 26-20 home win over Goffstown. A team that happened to be playing without its two best offensive players.

 The Grizzlies are going to be a very good team under Head coach Justin Hufft and even in our pre-season preview we told you Goffstown was a possible playoff team. The fact they were able to play in a back & forth/one score game with Concord, playing without their all-state QB (Casey Gervais..Injury) and All-State running back Connor Bourque (attending a family funeral out of state) makes it all the more impressive .

 Concord head coach Eric Brown warned anyone who would listen not to assume anything about his 2014 team and certainly there is plenty of time to get back to a championship level. Still the fact is they had to fight and claw at home against a team playing without 60% of their offense, and that has to be very concerning.

 Winnacunnet breezed over Dover as expected and now Brian Auffant and the new look offense get a huge test. Derek Clough, Mike Lewis and Christian LaRosa will play a big factor in this one for Ron Auffant’s team from the linebacker position. This is a very good opportunity for the Warriors, a perennial playoff team/contender, to make a big early statement.

 Listen in every Saturday morning as Pete Tarrier & I break down the biggest games of the week and preview the Saturday match-ups as well from 8 to 9 am on WGIR 610 AM or 96,7 FM on the seacoast.

 Listen online on the link below:
  http://www.iheart.com/live/WGIR-AM-610-2752/

 Our guest Saturday will be Windham Head coach Bill Raycraft.
 
 Pinkerton Academy (1-0) at Nashua South (0-1)

  The Astros may be a wagon…we’ll find out more this weekend about them then we did in a blowout win over Alvirne or any pre-season games with purposely vanilla defenses and offenses.

 They can expect Nashua South’s best shot, Panthers Coach Scott Knight will guarantee that after the Panthers were beaten 35-14 by Salem on opening night.

 South was lackluster in the opener but this is a veteran group that has played a lot of football together. Those teams tend to respond quickly, especially under the coaching staff that has been with them throughout their high school careers.

 What was thought to be a very good Nashua South defense allowed Salem to run up & down the field on them. How they compete in the trenches will tell a lot about how well South can compete with the Astros. A loss drops them to 0-2 but that isn’t a start they can’t overcome. Friday night is about seeing exactly how they stack up against unquestionably one of the best teams in Division I.
 
 Division II

 Trinity (1-0) at Windham (1-0)
 The coverage of Trinity is sponsored by The Auburn Pitts

 The Windham Jaguars were a popular pick to win the Division II title coming into the season and I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anyone backing away from that assessment following a 56-0 dismantling of Hollis-Brookline last Sunday. They get a big test Saturday afternoon in a game that is starting to become a very nice rivalry.

 Six different players carried the ball for Windham, three of which scored, while QB Brendan McInnis threw for 224 yards and three touchdowns. The defense was as good as advertised and Saturday they will face Steve Burns’ option attack for the third time in twelve months.

 Saikou Bah gained 240 all-purpose yards for Trinity while Ryan Boldwin helped lead a defensive shutout against Manchester West. This though is a Pioneer group with a lot of first year starters, and Burns’ unhappiness with his team after a Jamboree loss to Salem wasn’t that they lost, it was that they failed to compete as hard as Trinity teams are accustomed to.

 Saturday they get a major test; Windham has been in these kinds of games before and answered the bell. For a new Trinity football team that is the questions for Saturday, and something they need to prove.