We are back with the ninth year of the weekly Thursday Thoughts, a column which highlights the biggest games of the weekend from all three divisions.

 

 After a record breaking week for unique visitors and page views for football season we want to announce two new features we will be rolling out in the next week.

 The first is team pages.

 Football teams can have their team page on NHsportspage loaded by a parent with game highlights, individual player highlight videos, pictures, additional statistics and any videos the team would like to post.

 These parents own the team pages and will have their own login to edit the pages & add content themselves.

 We are opening these team pages to every football team in the state so if you are a parent or coach that would like to hear how the team pages work and the process of owning one, email me directly at davehaley@nhsportspage.com

 These team pages will be part of a tab on our website and feature content for the over 300 college programs, coaches and recruiting services that already follow NHsportspage.

 

 Finally, players will be able to load their own page with pictures, highlight videos and all approved content. Players can then share their individual page with recruiters, family/friends or on social media.

 

 We will have all the details next week .

 Look for a podcast in the next few days from Justin McIsaac, Eliot Bless & I with all the details.

 All players whose parents previously registered as users on NHsportspage will already own their pages and be given full access to their individual page next week.

On to the games;

 

 Division I standings and statistical leaders

 

 Division I

 Goffstown (1-0) at Pinkerton Academy (1-0)

 Londonderry beat Goffstown everywhere but on the scoreboard on the opening weekend of the season. A commentary on how good the division is across the board more than the vulnerability of the defending champs.

 The Grizzlies struggled to run the football against a good Lancer defense set up to make new quarterback Nik Moquin prove he could beat them throwing the football. Moquin threw for 142 yards while wide outs Franklin Castillo-Diaz and Andrew Duval (42 yards receiving) were held in check but the defense kept the Grizzlies in the game until a fumble recovery in the end zone provided the winning margin in the opener.

 On Friday night they face an Astros offense that showed big play ability in a 19-7 win over Concord. Nico Buccieri and Ty Hicks are gone if they are able to bounce to the outside and QB Ryan Albrecht has proven he can make throws to keep opposing defenses off balance. The Astros were outplayed in the 2nd and 3rd quarter by the Tide but made enough plays defensively  in the redzone to walk away with a very good road win.

 Big nose tackle Nick Acciard, Austin Fields , Christian Gendrau and talented sophomore safety Ryan Auger lead a very good Pinkerton defense.

 

 Bedford (1-0) at Timberlane (1-0)

 The Owls have to be hoping that Bedford comes in reflecting on their Week 1 showdown win over Merrimack and not on the 1-0 playoff team of a year ago they face.

 Timberlane let Manchester Memorial, a team with a very big interior line, know early and often that they were going to push the Crusaders off their spot and run the football for four quarters. When it was over Timberlane had put up 48 points and Jacob Post (258 yards) was the leading rusher in Division I.

 Derek Stank and his staff are too smart not to hammer home the point this week that this one has trap game written all over it. Unlike last week when Merrimack all-state quarterback Justin Grassini dropped back to throw fifty plus times this one will be about the aforementioned ground & pound. Timberlane head Coach Kevin Fitzgerald wants to test a new look Bedford defensive line and spread the touches between Post and Farai Zhou (150 yards rushing last week against Memorial).

 The Bedford offense can beat you in any number of ways and with several different playmakers. QB Connor Robert (142 yards passing in the opener) looks very comfortable in the pocket and will make sure Nick Leahy and Sean Tierney are given enough carries to provide a balanced attack.

 

 We will be covering three games this weekend;

 Friday night Pete Tarrier and The Great Jon Kesty will be in Nashua when Bishop Guertin takes on Nashua South.

 Matt Corsetti and Ryan Rogers will be in Concord again this week for a huge Division III match-up when Inter-Lakes Moultonborough takes on Bishop Brady.

 On Saturday Pete Tarrier and Jennifer Chick-Ruth will be in Windham for a big time early season match-up when pre-season #1 Windham takes on pre-season #2 Milford.

 

 Division II

Milford (1-0) at Windham (1-0)

 Just when you were certain Spartans head coach Keith Jones was going to pound the ball on the ground with 14 different running backs his QB Zach King goes out and throws for 210 yards. Milford has a bona fide passing attack? Yes and tight end Ryan Camirand is a big part of it.

 Expect King, Camirand, Jones and everyone living in the Milford postal zone to keep a close eye on where Windham LB and reigning player of the year Victor Pizzotti is pre-snap. Windham has what might be the best defense in Division II and depth that most Division I coaches would be envious of. Milford will try to keep Bill Raycraft and his staff off balance and hope Pizzotti guesses wrong from time to time.

 The Jaguars have equal confidence in their signal caller Cody Potter and will split carries between Pizzotti and Parker Belsky.

 Winner here gets a very early tie-breaker they can hold on to until November.

 

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

 An annual early season rivalry game between two teams leaning on some new faces to get them back to the post-season.

 Tanner Brown led Kennett in a win over Gilford-Belmont with 188 yards on 22 carries while first year QB Brett Miller was  very impressive in completing seven of nine attempts for 163 yards.

 In Plymouth they face a very good team working in new players on the offensive and defensive lines. Garrett Macomber is your current second leading rusher in Division II after a 208 yard performance against Kingswood (Ryan Milliken and his 328 yards rushing & 5 touchdowns lead the division. Seriously will he ever be  allowed in Penacook again?).

 The Bobcats want to establish Macomber, Sammy Slaughter and Nolan Farina and force a young Kennett team to play from behind.

 

 Division III

 Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough (1-0) at Bishop Brady (1-0)

 Big early test in Division III.

 The Lakers feel like they can beat you on the ground (Andrew Brothers ran for 118 yards and two scores in the opener) and throwing the ball (Ryan Kelly was 4 for 4 in limited action). Kelly proved a year ago in a loss to Newport at UNH that he can throw the football and the lone remaining Brothers Brother (I’ll miss saying that five times every radio show..) gives a defense led by Zach Swanson, Noah Sullivan and Brothers a clear goal to simply keep teams under twenty points a game.

 The Giants have rarely had issues putting points on the board and with all-state back Moses Murenzi back (208 yards rushing in the opener) Matt Shaw’s team looks to take a big step towards another playoff berth.

 Playing Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough, Winnisquam and Campbell in the first month of the season will tell you where you stand pretty quickly.

 

 Tune into The New Hampshire High School Football Show on ESPN NH hosted by Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley every Saturday morning. Our guests Saturday will be Inter-Lakes Moultonborough head coach Jon Francis and Plymouth head coach Chris Sanborn plus our weekly visit at 10:30 with Justin McIsaac.

 Listen LIVE on 900AM (Nashua area) or 1250AM (Manchester area) Saturday mornings from 9-11am to catch up on all the HS sports scores, opinions and coaches interviews or you can simply click on the link on our website or find us on your Tunein Radio app.