As we all know, Power Polls are silly- some of the voters don’t even watch any games! But people love lists, which is why Buzzfeed is a thing, so here’s Justin McIsaac’s TOP TEN!
 

10. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN DIVISION 1?
Exeter beat Portsmouth Saturday to earn a trip to Derry to take on Pinkerton…. Wait sorry, a trip to Bedford…. Wait, maybe it IS Pinkerton. NOBODY KNOWS. I’ve been bitching about tiebreakers for weeks, and without getting caught up in the 863 tiebreakers in D1 that give you a headache when you try to read them, can we all agree that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the process needs to be simplified a bit? I’m sure Kurt Hines, Bill Ball, Travis Cote and Brian O’Reilly and their hard working staffs would like to know WHO THE HELL THEY ARE PLAYING ON SATURDAY!!!

9. PRIDE AND DEJOIE
It was a rough day for Somersworth on Saturday, getting beat by a white hot Campbell team to end their season. A great accomplishment shouldn’t be overlooked though, as Elyjah Dejoie finished with 2132 yards rushing over just 9 games, and he gained those yards when everyone in the yard knew he was getting the ball about 75% of the time. His O-Line deserves much praise too, kids like Joey Franciose, Drew Colbert and Hunter Kretschmar paving the road.

8.  CHRISTMAS IN HOLLIS…BROOKLINE
D2 West might not have had their strongest year, but Hollis-Brookline shouldn’t be apologizing for anything. HB went into Sanborn and came away a winner, and any time you can win a road playoff game in HS football, you’ve done something special. The reward? A trip to Windham. It’ll need to be a perfect game for HB to advance, but you can’t dance unless you get to the party.

7. A TOUGH BREAK FOR BEDFORD
Bedford won the battle with defending champs Concord on Saturday, but the win was not without casualties. QB Mike Vailas suffered a broken leg in the win, dealing a real blow to Bedford’s offense AND defense. Tyler Cibotti came in and played very well for the Bulldogs, who, ONCE IT’S FIGURED OUT WHO THE HELL THEY’RE PLAYING, will try to win one for Vailas as they go forward.

6. THE 1923 ROCHESTER JEFFERSONS AREN’T WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR
Spin Roy. Darby Lowery. Bob Argus. Not, they’re not characters on “Boardwalk Empire”, they’re members of the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons, who were the last team to surrender 50+ points in 2 straight games, UNTIL the Bears stunk it up last night. Marc Trestman must be updating his resume as we speak, ain’t no way he’ll be coaching the Bears next year.

BTW, The Jeffersons finished 19th in the NFL in ’23, behind the Oorang Indians, but ahead of the Louisville Brecks!

5. THE BOW INVITATIONAL
We can just call the D3 tourney that, right? Don’t get me wrong, I was very impressed with Campbell and the way the executed on both sides of the ball, but Bow is an absolute WAGON. I talked with Somersworth coach Dan Hodsdon before the Somersworth v Campbell game about Bow. After you’ve been doing this a while, you can separate “coach speak” from legit feeling. Coach Hodsdon said “Man they’re reeeeeeeeeal good’, and he meant it, That’s a team that might’ve competed for the D2 title this year.

Of course, now that I’ve said that, Campbell will beat them by 14, just to prove that I’m an idiot.

4. PINKERTON ISN’T JUST WEEZER’S BEST ALBUM
After all the controversy surrounding the Salem/Londonderry game, it was Pinkerton putting a hurting on the Lancers to end all discussion of “What if?”. Duel threat QB Jack Hanaway had a big day, as the Astros advanced one step closer to UNH. Speaking of UNH…

3. DOWN GO THE BISON!!!
North Dakota State FINALLY lost a game over the weekend, meaning when the polls for FCS come out, YOUR UNH Wildcats should be #1 in the media poll (The cats were #2 in the media, #3 in the coaches poll). Not a surprise that this success has come with a NH kid at QB, and 603 kids all over that team.

2. EXETER’S OFFENSE IS REBORN
The Blue Hawks were (Joe Namath Voice) Strug-a-ling on offense earlier in the year, but a change at QB to Sophomore Kyle Ball has turned the season around for Exeter. A convincing win over Portsmouth has the Blue Hawks a tougher out than you might’ve thought 5 weeks ago in D1

1. GAME OF THE DAY WILL BE IN NORTH CONWAY
 Saint Thomas, behind 5 Stephen Hedberg TD passes rolled over Merrimack Valley 50-20 on Saturday. Meanwhile up Rt 16 about an hour north, Kennett was finishing off a game Kearsarge squad to set up a terrific matchup in D2 for the right to play at UNH.

 Kennett hits hard, and plays tough, and QB Will Pollard had a great day, going 11-for-13, 195 yards, three TDs. With a high octane spread offense, you might be tempted to call Saint Thomas a finesse team, which would be a big mistake. Kids like Jesse Quintero will remind you of that quickly. This game will be a SLOBERKNOCKER, and I can’t wait for it. Dave is sending the NH Sportspage Camera, and I’ll be broadcasting the game live on WTSN AM 1270.

ALSO RECIVING VOTES: Unless Greg Olsen has a -20 point night my fantasy team will finally have won a game… beating another 0-9 team in the process, Peyton Manning waving off the backup to pad his stats, BG will be a tough out this weekend, Windham rolls again, Carson Palmer’s ACL