UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL Sept. 21, 2014
 

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 3, with first-place/points in parentheses:

1. Pinkerton, 3-0 (6/60) 

2. Concord, 3-0 (53)

3. Bedford, 3-0 (48)

4. Londonderry, 3-0 (41)

5. Salem, 2-1 (35)

6. Goffstown, 2-1 (28)

7. Windham, 3-0 (24)

8. Exeter, 2-1 (19)

9. (tie) Nashua South, 1-2 (6)

9. (tie) St. Thomas, 3-0 (6)

Others receiving votes: Kennett, 3-0 (5); Winnacunnet, 1-2 (4); Portsmouth, 2-1 (1).

Here's my ballot...

1. Pinkerton...the Astros survived a late threat by Salem on Saturday night in Derry to stay undefeated, stopping Blue Devils receiver Kenny Calabrese on the 1 yard line in the final seconds to hold on for a 14-7 win.  It doesn't get any easier for a banged up Pinkerton team that takes on their rivals in Londonderry this Friday night.  Hopefully TJ Urbanik is OK after leaving the Salem game early with what was reported as a shoulder injury.

2. Concord...the Tide rolled to a blowout win @ Dover last week, but they too were hit by the injury bug, losing stud WR Jacob Szulc to a broken leg after being taken down awkwardly at the end of a big punt return vs the Green Wave.  

3. Bedford...the Bulldogs defense shut out a pretty good Winnacunnet offense in Bedford on Friday night and got another fantastic performance on offense by QB Mike Vailas who is looking like a potential Player of the Year candidate early in the season.

4. Salem...they gave Pinkerton a better game than I thought they would and despite the disappointing loss, I'm guessing they probably did a lot for their own confidence heading into the middle part of the schedule.

5. Windham...I said it last week and I'll say it again now.  This team is running the table the rest of the way in the regular season.  They are just too good and too deep for anybody left on their schedule to lose.  St Thomas might have something to say come playoff time, but the Jaguars are looking very much like the class of D2.

6. Londonderry...I'm starting to think I might have the Lancers a little low on my ballot.  I almost moved Salem down and Londonderry up after the loss to Pinkerton, but I decided to keep the Blue Devils and Lancers where I had them last week based on strength of schedule.  The botton line for me is Salem has played much tougher competition thru the 1st 3 weeks(South, @ Keene, @ Pinkerton) compared to the Lancers(BG, Timberlane, @ North).  That changes for Londonderry on Friday vs Pinkerton and we'll have the NHSportspage.com video camera in the house for the game.

7. Goffstown...I gotta give Bedford coach Kurt Hines a lot of credit for boldly predicting a Grizzlies win over Exeter on Twitter before the game.  I always enjoy reading his inspiring tweets, but this one was unique because most coaches wouldn't be caught dead on Twitter and even if they were, they definitely wouldn't share their emotions on social media.  Now I imagine some of you are wondering why a coach is going on Twitter and making picks on a game his team isn't even involved in, but you should know that Hines' son Brock plays for Goffstown and this was simply a case of a dad rooting for his kid's team.  No harm done whatsoever.  Oh by the way, this Goffstown team is pretty darn good!

8. St Thomas...hard fought win by the Saints on Saturday at Merrimack Valley.  Ivan Niyomugabo and the Pride were the 1st team to score on St. Thomas this year after 2 straight shutouts to open the season.  The seemingly inevitable rematch in the D2 East Conference Championship game is now in question after the news broke that Niyomugabo has been lost for the year because of a wrist injury suffered in the game.  

  
9. Exeter...the Blue Hawks dropped down quite a bit, and almost off my ballot altogether after Goffstown beat them 28-14 on Saturday.  And they may have trouble staying in the Top 10 with a 3 game stretch coming up that goes like this...@ rival Winnacunnet, home vs Bedford and then home vs Portsmouth.  And they also have to play Concord in the last week of the regular season.

10. Portsmouth...the 10th spot on my ballot is always the hardest place to rank for me.  I'm rewarding Portsmouth this week over teams like Merrimack, Alvirne and Nashua South.  South(1-2) got their 1st win of the season against their neighbors to the North, Merrimack(2-1), while Alvirne(2-1) continues to surprise/impress.  But I'm going with Portsmouth thanks to their 2 wins vs D1 competition Spaulding & Memorial.