UNION LEADER/WMUR/ESPN NEW HAMPSHIRE FOOTBALL POWER POLL Sept. 29, 2015 ( Week 4 )
 

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR-TV and ESPN New Hampshire, with record, first-place votes/points in parentheses, plus previous week's ranking:

1. Pinkerton, 4-0 (5/59), 1st

2. Goffstown, 4-0 (1/51), 2nd

3. Bedford, 4-0 (50), 3rd

4. Exeter, 4-0 (44), 4th

5. Salem, 3-1 (35) 5th

6. Winnacunnet, 2-2 (22), 9th 

7. Manchester Central, 3-1 (20), NR 

8. St. Thomas, 4-0 (17), 8th 

9. Timberlane, 2-2 (11), 6th 

10. Bishop Guertin, 2-2 (8), 10th 

Also receiving votes: Windham, 4-0 (6), NR; Concord, 2-2 (4), 7th; Merrimack, 3-1 (2), NR; Lebanon, 4-0 (1), NR. 
 

Here's how I voted...

1. Pinkerton...the Astros continue to roll along thru the 1st 4 weeks of the regular season, dispatching rival Londonderry 35-20 last Friday night on Mack Plaque weekend.  The biggest surprise for me about Pinkerton came on Saturday morning when fellow Power Poll voter and Pinkerton alum Jamie Staton of WMUR revealed on The New Hampshire High School Football Show that he actually voted for Goffstown at number 1 instead of his beloved Astros.  

2. Goffstown...speaking of the Grizzlies, they put up 51 on Alvirne last Friday and moved another step closer to their D1 North conference Armageddon game vs Bedford in Goffstown on Columbus Day weekend.  Here's hoping the boys from my current hometown will take it easy on the boys from my old hometown when the Grizz travel to Stellos Stadium in Nashua for a Friday night game against the South Panthers this week.

3. Bedford...48, 69, 43 & 49...those aren't lottery numbers.  That's the amount of points scored over each of the 1st 4 games this year by the Bedford Bulldogs.  That's an average of 52.25 PPG for Bedford.  The Bulldogs take on Keene this Friday night in Bedford.

4. Exeter...The name Evan Royer will be forever remembered in Exeter and hated in Hampton after the senior booted the game winning 25 yard field goal in the final seconds of Exeter's 21-20 win over rival Winnacunnet on Saturday.  The 4-0 Blue Hawks have been living dangerously so far this season with 3 of their 4 wins coming down to the wire, and they have another tough test ahead of them this Friday night when they take on Salem at Grant Field.

5. Salem...I got to see the Blue Devils in person on Friday night and came away impressed after they held a good Timberlane offense to just 1 score in a 17-7 win in Plaistow.  Salem has a really good defense led by lineman Sean Nartiff and an offense where running backs Charles Sibanda, Nick Shumski and James LeBlond can all make plays.  Salem's sophomore QB Matty Soldano is also developing nicely under 3rd year head coach Rob Pike.

6. Winnacunnet...the Warriors crack my Top 10 for the 1st time this year...and they do it in a big way at my number 6 spot.  Why did I give them such a high ranking despite a 2-2 record?  Their 2 losses came by 1 point to my #4 team Exeter last weekend and by 5 points to my #5 team Salem in Week 1.  Their 2 wins were both resounding, a 44-19 whitewashing of 3-1 Merrimack and a 40-0 shutout over Dover.  Big test this Friday night on the seacoast as Timberlane pays a visit.  

7. St Thomas...I figured we might actually get to see Stephen Hedberg and that high flying Saints offense play an entire game when they traveled into the Land of Lenahan on Saturday afternoon, but when I saw the 43-0 halftime score on Twitter during my son's fall league baseball game I was glad I decided not to make the trip to Plymouth.  All due respect to the next 3 teams on the Saints' schedule(Laconia, West and Kingswood) but I think it's safe to say Trinity, who hosts STA on Friday October 30th, is the only team that has a realistic shot at keeping St. Thomas from running the table in D2 during the regular season.

8. Bishop Guertin...Justin McIsaac will be happy to see I have a 2-2 BG team on my ballot instead of a 3-1 Central team the Cards beat 54-13 back in Week 1.  I really like this BG team who has an outstanding offense with playmakers all over the field.  The question is can BG play good enough defense to beat the upper echelon teams in D1?

9. Windham...big match-up on Saturday on Mount Jaguar when the 3-0 Souhegan Sabers come a calling to Windham.  Winner of this game takes control of a very tough D2 South conference.  I've said it here before that the Jags are not the same type of team that went undefeated last year on the way to a State Championship, but that's just fine with coach Bill Raycraft and company.

10. Lebanon...a 3rd D2 team on my ballot?  The rest of the voters obviously don't think as highly of Divsion 2 as I do because St Thomas is the only D2 team to make the official poll so far every week this season.   Windham has bounced in and out of the bottom of the poll on a couple of occasions, but I'm giving my vote to the 4-0 Raiders this week who have quietly outscored their 1st 4 opponents 138-39 so far.  We'll see how good this Lebanon team really is over the next 4 weeks as they take on Milford, Hanover, Kennett and Kearsarge.

Just missing the cut...Manchester Central, don't look now but after getting crushed by BG on Labor Day weekend Ryan Ray's team is now 3-1 and is likely to be 5-1 by mid-October with their next 2 games against Nashua North(I'll be there with Jon Kesty and the NH Sportspage video camera on Friday night) and Keene.  Merrimack is another surprising 3-1 team after the opening month of the season.  The Tomahawks are no doubt fired up to host Pinkerton on Friday night.