UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL Oct. 5, 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 5, with first-place/points in parentheses:

1. Pinkerton, 5-0 (5/50)

2. Bedford, 5-0 (45)

3. Salem, 4-1 (40)

4. Londonderry, 4-1 (33)

5. Windham, 5-0 (24)

6. (tie) Concord, 4-1 (22)

6. (tie) Portsmouth, 4-1 (22)

8. Exeter, 3-2 (12)

9. Kennett, 5-0 (8)

10. Nashua South, 3-2 (7)

Others receiving votes: Bow, 4-0 (4); Goffstown, 3-2 (2); Manchester Memorial, 3-2 (1).  

Here's my ballot...

1. Pinkerton...with what seems like the toughest part of the schedule already in the rear view mirror, Brian O'Reilly and the Pinkerton Astros coaching staff have 4 regular season games left against Nashua North, Timberlane, Keene and Merrimack to get healthy and fine-tune everything before the playoffs.

2. Bedford...the Bulldogs showed they could win a low-scoring, grinder of a game in the rain on Saturday night in Exeter and have emerged as the most serious threat to Pinkerton outside the D1 South conference.  Two tough ones coming up over the next 2 weeks with Goffstown and Concord paying visits to Bedford before finishing on the road at winless Dover and Manchester Central.

3. Salem...the Blue Devils burst the bubble of an Alvirne team that came into the game with a surprising 3-1 record.  And it happened pretty quickly in a 2nd quarter flurry of turnovers and touchdowns that saw Salem take a 29-0 lead at halftime.  The game ultimately turned into running time before the Broncos made things a little more respectable with 2 4th quarter scores to account for a 36-14 final.  

4. Windham...Credit goes to Souhegan for giving the 5-0 Jags their toughest test of the season so far in a 35-21 win in Amherst Friday night.  The Sabers actually led 14-13 after 1 before Windham scored the next 15 points to pull away.  The 21 points by Souhegan was the 1st time anyone has broken 20 on Windham all year.  I'm still holding out hope that my idea for a Thanksgiving Day meeting between Salem and Windham will come to fruition!  

5. Londonderry...the Lancers bounced back from the loss to Pinkerton by traveling to Keene and winning 41-7.  Now they've got to get by Merrimack, Alvirne and Nashua South to set up a potential winner moves on to the playoffs and the loser goes home scenario @ Salem in the regular season finale...on Halloween night.  Talk about trick or treat if that happens!  

6. Concord...the late game magic wasn't there this time for Concord as Manchester Memorial picked up their biggest win in several years by beating the defending champs 14-13 on Friday, snapping the Tide's 18 game winning streak.  Next up for Concord is Spaulding in the capital city, before a tough 3 game closing stretch @ Bedford, vs Portsmouth and @ Exeter.  

7. Exeter...the Blue Hawks gave Bedford their closest challenge of the season Saturday night at the stadium named after their coach, Bill Ball.  I couldn't convince myself to lower the ranking of Exeter, and I actually moved them up a spot to 7th despite the loss because no one else has been able to stay within 3 touchdowns of the Bulldogs including my #8 team Portsmouth who lost 37-7 to Bedford in Week 2.

8. Portsmouth...speaking of the Clippers, they have a big time test this weekend in an East Conference showdown with Exeter in Exeter Friday night.  The winner likely gets home field advantage in the playoffs if the two teams meet again in November.  We'll have the NHSportspage.com video camera in the house for our "Game of the Week".

9. Goffstown...I hadn't seen the Grizzlies in person yet this year prior to the game against Winnacunnet on Saturday, so when they got down 21-0 by the 1st play of the 2nd quarter I was starting to wonder what all the hype was about.  Slowly but surely, Goffstown was able to take control of the game by leaning heavily on Junior QB Casey Gervais & his classmate RB Connor Bourque on the way to a 50-34 come from behind win.  

10. Bow...when St Thomas lost to Laconia I dropped the Saints off my ballot from the 7th spot.  That allowed Exeter and Portsmouth to move up a spot and for Goffstown to move back in.  I gave some thought to 5-0 Kennett and even 3-2 Nashua South in this slot, but I'm sticking with the D3 Falcons who have given up a measly 13 points thru 4 games.