UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL Oct. 26, 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 8, with first-place/points in parentheses:

1. Pinkerton, 8-0 (6/60)
2. Bedford, 8-0 (54)
3. Salem, 7-1 (46)
4. Londonderry, 7-1 (43)
5. Concord, 6-2 (32)
6. Exeter, 6-2 (31)
7. Windham, 7-0 (24)
8. Kennett, 7-0 (15)
9. Portsmouth, 5-3 (12)
10. Memorial, 5-3 (8)
Others receiving votes: Bow, 7-0 (4); St. Thomas, 6-1 (1).

Here's how I voted...

1. Pinkerton...the Astros have pretty much been on cruise control since late September when they beat Salem and Londonderry in back to back weeks to take control of the Division 1 South conference.  While they await the winner of the Lancers/Blue Devils game in the playoffs, Pinkerton will look to wrap up a perfect regular season on Friday vs Merrimack.

2. Bedford...the Bulldogs can also finish the regular season undefeated on Friday if they beat a Manchester Central team that has played much better of late.  You can bet Bedford won't be taking the Little Green lightly after they were shocked in Bedford by Jesiah Wade and company in the final game of the season last year.

3. Salem...there was a little bit of controversy brewing in Salem when QB John Cerretani was sat down for the Blue Devils 12-7 win over Nashua North last Friday.  After the game, Coach Rob Pike didn't give any details on why his senior leader was dressed for the game, but did not play. Reports surfaced on Monday that Cerretani was punished for being late for school last week.  The guess here is that Cerretani plays this week vs Londonderry.  We'll have the NHSportspage.com video camera at Grant Filed to bring you our "Game of the Week" coverage.

4. Windham...after seeing the Jags take apart Milford in person 41-0 last Friday night I felt vindicated in voting for Windham as the 4th best team in the state.  Offensively, there isn't
a team in all of NH that has the same kind of weaponry across the board as Windham does.

5. Londonderry...I've already gone on record as saying I like Londonderry to win the showdown with Salem on Friday night.  I know I just ticked off a bunch of readers in Salem, but I just have a feeling that Eric Fairweather gives the Lancers the advantage.  Don't get me wrong, I think Salem is a very good football team too.  The bottom line is it's a shame 1 of these teams won't be in the playoffs.

6. Concord...the Tide took care of business against Portsmouth last week and got the help they needed when Exeter beat Memorial giving the defending Champs the inside track on the 2nd postseason spot in D1 North.  Now all Eric Brown's team needs to lock up a playoff rematch with Bedford is another win this week at Exeter.  No easy task.

7. Exeter...speaking of the Blue Hawks, they are certainly looking a lot better these days than the team that had great defense, but couldn't score earlier in the season.  That all changed when coach Bill Ball inserted sophomore QB Kyle Ball into the starting role and now the Blue Hawks are a team that has to be considerd a major threat come playoff time.

8. Kennett...good late-game, clutch win for the Eagles vs Laconia last Friday night rallying back to win 30-20 after trailing the Sachems 20-16 with just over 4 minutes to play.  Now Kennett gets to wait and see who comes out of a 3 team scrum between Laconia, Lebanon and Kearsarge for the other playoff spot in D2 North.

9. Portsmouth...the Clippers knew going into their game at Concord last week that they were already in the playoffs no matter what happened in their final 2 regular season games(they finish with Dover this Friday).  So instead of going all out for potential home field advantage vs Exeter in the conference Championship Game, the somewhat banged up Clippers are taking a cautious approach trying to go into the playoffs as healthy possible.

10. Bow...I could have 7-1 St Thomas in this spot, but when you look at the way Bow has flat out dominated D3 this year anyone who gives me grief for voting the Falcons as my #10 team should take a look at this stat.  Thru 7 games this year, Bow has scored a total of 301 points, while giving up only 25.  The Falcons can solidify their ranking this Saturday afternoon when high scoring Somersworth and Elyjah Dejoie come to town for a big regular season finale matchup.