Week one is in the books along with three previews so let’s get back to what we do every Thursday and that’s highlight the biggest games of the weekend.

 A pair of quick notes before we do…we want stats from every team in the state as NHsportspage & ESPN NH is again your only home for Division leaders in passing, rushing, receiving, touchdowns and tackles.

 Coaches or parents can email game statistics to me atdavehaley@nhsportspage.com.

 Also we will be producing a donation video to help support all the work our team does at NHsportspage as we did with our basketball audience. A reminder that all $100 donators, made right on our homepage, become a Gold Level Supporter and receive every single football game we cover in FULL.

 Coaches can see teams from around the state on film and parents can easily burn the videos on to a DVD for their sons.

We want to thank Portsmouth head coach Brian Pafford & Plymouth head coach Chris Sanborn for supporting the work we do for New Hampshire high school sports by becoming our first Gold Level members for football.

 The support is greatly appreciated by our entire team.


 Listen in on Saturday morning from 9 am to 11 on ESPNH NH Radio 900 & 1250 AM or by simply clicking the listen live button right here on our website.

 Pete & I will talk about all the Friday night games and preview Saturday’s contests as well as check in with Justin McIsaac in our weekly segment. Saturday’s guests will be new Bishop Guertin head coach Jeff Moore and Souhegan head coach Mike Lochman.

 On to the games….
 
Division I

Bishop Guertin (1-0) at Concord (0-1)

 Teams that were on opposite sides of blowouts will square off Friday night.

 One week after Goffstown QB Casey Gervais threw for 217 yards (2 touchdown throws) and led his team to 42 points against Concord Eric Brown’s team has to face a BG squad that put up 54 points on Manchester Central.

 BG didn’t participate in front of a big crowd at this year’s Queen City Jamboree but you can’t accuse Jeff Moore’s team of keeping their new offense under wraps. Moore has been graciously willing to do interviews throughout the pre-season to promote his program and he told anyone who would listen that they were running the spread offense. JT Hiscoe got the protection he needed in the pocket and shredded Central up & down the field until Moore called off the dogs.

  A year ago Hiscoe showed a very big arm but too often forced the ball in obvious passing situations. That seems to have changed in the new look scheme and with a years experience under his belt. BG has the playmakers (Chase Hughes, Matt Theriault, Keenan Dwyer, Jackson Housman..) to keep them in any game and the kids have obviously bought in.
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 More concerning for Concord last week may have been special teams and their lack of punch on offense. Jacob Lewis struggled at times in his first start and Goffstown was able to bottle up Leo Sudeih (8 carries for 52 yards, most of it on one run) all afternoon.

 Expect Concord head coach Eric Brown and a very good coaching staff to have the Tide ready Friday night in a game that could tell us a lot about who the top tier teams are in the division.
 
Pinkerton Academy (1-0) at Portsmouth (0-1)

  Do you know what a good boxer does to an opposing fighter that has trouble protecting the body? He punches him in the chest. Why mess around any other way?

 Pinkerton knows that Portsmouth is a smaller defensive line that is vulnerable up the middle, so guess where the Astros are going to run the ball Friday night? Right up the gut.

 We saw a similar approach Friday night as Exeter tried to run the ball over center against Timberlane. The Owls though did a nice job and it was actually Blue Hawks QB Kyle Ball (115 yards rushing) making plays running out of the pocket that led to several 3rd and long conversions.

 The Astros feel confident in Ryan Albrecht’s ability to throw the football but they’ll settle for 7 yards a carry until the Clippers dedicate enough players to the box (Shon Parham, Christian Peete, Joey Auger) to take advantage and throw deep.

 These two teams have scrimmaged in the pre-season the past couple of years so there is some familiarity. The Clippers boast a very good set of receivers and a QB in sophomore Cody Graham who has shown good patience along with an ability to buy time with his legs. Friday night it will be about short passes to the perimeter as the Clippers will try and use their speed out on space.

 Jennifer Chick and I will be in Portsmouth Friday night to bring you all the play by play, highlights and post-game interviews
 

Division II

Plymouth Regional (1-0) at Lebanon (1-0)

 A year ago these two played a Week 2 game that went to the wire before the Raiders pulled out a late win to earn a 2-0 start. That game served as the season opener for Plymouth and new head coach Chris Sanborn, who had a bye week in week one, and ended up contributing to Plymouth missing out on a playoff berth. This time around both teams will have an impressive win on their resume when they kick off.

 The Bobcats went over the border and beat Rutland, VT 54-28 behind 185 yards rushing from Garrett Macomber and 139 yards & 4 touchdowns from Sam Slaughter. Lebanon went up to Laconia and walked out with an impressive 28-6 win that gives them a tie-breaker advantage over a Sachem team with similar post-season aspirations.

 Every game means something but conference games are very much like a playoff game when you compete in a division with the likes of Kearsarge, Hanover, Laconia and Kennett. A win by Chris Childs’ team would give them the tie-breaker edge over two teams and last week their offense featuring Caleb Broughton (88 yards rushing & 2 passing touchdowns) and Ryan Milliken ( 137 rushing and a 75 yard TD called back) looked vastly improved from a year ago.

 Plymouth has their reputation as an elite program to stand behind but this is a mostly unproven group. Only veterans like Aaron Evans contributed to the championship win over Portsmouth two years ago. This is a very deep and talented group, as Chris Sanborn has done a terrific job preparing them for the regular season. Their first major road test needs to be passed Friday night.
 
 Windham (1-0) at Trinity (1-0)

 Both teams cruised to easy wins in week one, although Hollis-Brookline hung with the Jaguars until the fourth quarter. Friday night in a game Pete Tarrier and The Great Jon Kesty will have full coverage of Trinity head coach Steve Burns will have his football team ready to make a major statement early in the season. The Pioneers are going to run their three headed monster of Saikou Bah (85 yards rushing in limited action last week), Will Sheppard and Nick Perdue at a very good Windham linebacking group led by Victor Pazzati.

 Trinity is a team of veterans that wasn’t quite good enough to get into the playoffs a year ago while Windham has replaced most of their starters off of an undefeated championship team. What we do not know about them outweighs what we do at this point. Bill Raycraft’s team will look to pound the ball with Matt Shea and Shane Lafond while having confidence in first year QB Griffin Lippold’s ability to throw the ball.

 Look for Windham to try and rotate a lot of players in along both lines to keep players fresh. Trinity has talent all over the field but not the depth of a program like Windham. Weather could play to Trinity’s advantage with the forecast calling for a cool night but Windham has the ability to run fresh bodies in all night to try and wear the Pioneers down as the game goes along.
 
Division III

Campbell (0-1) at Newport (1-0)

 Our first championship rematch takes place in Newport where the Tigers looked as good as we had predicted in their opener.

 Before we overreact too much to Bow beating Campbell 42-6 in the opener understand that it was 7-0 at halftime before Bow returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown and then recovered fumbles on three consecutive Campbell possessions. The Cougars didn’t play well but the final score doesn’t always tell you the entire story.

 Either way they’ll have to play much better to stay with Newport on Saturday, a team that will have revenge on their mind.

 Greg Gush’s team had the ability to keep your linebackers honest by throwing the ball a year ago. In Week 2 that might be an asset they don’t yet own. It will take time for the offense to come together while across the ball Newport boasts a defense that features hitting machine CJ Lawrence and a secondary led by Cam Ackerman.  The Tigers will look to get Noah Wade outside and loose down the sidelines and have confidence in Dylan McNamara throwing the ball to wideouts like Stephan Nix.

 This is cross over week in Division III and Newport has an opportunity Saturday afternoon to make a major statement for the North.
 
 Bishop Brady (1-0) at Franklin (1-0)

 One of the best match-ups of cross over week in Division III.

 Bishop Brady head coach Matt Shaw and his defensive coordinator Chase Phaneuf did a terrific job adjusting to an Epping-Newmarket offense that scored 14 first quarter points last Saturday before being held scoreless the rest of the way.

 All-state back Moses Murenzi was spectacular in rushing for 263 yards on 21 carries against a Blue Devils defense that he took on with power running the entire second half. Murenzi broke a late run and then played well enough on the other side of the ball to keep a good Epping-Newmarket team out of the end zone to preserve the win. Matt Fogarty was a beast for Brady all afternoon defensively in a win that could be a huge one come late October.

This weekend they face a Franklin attack led by quarterback Kenny Torres and an offensive line, led by Patch Kaplan, that pushed Gilford around on their home field last Saturday.

 Franklin’s 28-0 win over the alma mater was aided by some early Gilford mistakes but could have been much worse if the Golden Eagles hadn’t kept Franklin out of the end zone on several long drives. Against Bishop Brady it will be imperative to finish those drives and contain Murenzi.