As we do every week we take a closer look at the biggest games from around the state this weekend.

 We will bring you coverage of three games this weekend; Friday night Jennifer Chick-Ruth’s dreams are realized when she gets to work with (and heavily edit) Justin McIsaac & I when we cover Winnacunnet at Portsmouth. Across the state Pete Tarrier and The Great Jon Kesty will be making the trek to Lebanon when the Raiders take on fellow unbeaten John Stark in a huge Division II match-up.

 Finally on Saturday afternoon Pete Tarrier & I will bring you LIVE coverage of Timberlane at Goffstown. We will provide a link right here on the site where you can watch the broadcast live on your phone or computer.

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 On to the games of the week;

 

 Division I

 Winnacunnet (1-1) at Portsmouth (1-1)

 Proof once again that not all .500 records are created equally.

 The Clippers gained a lot of confidence with a hard fought road win at Keene in the opener. That’s a good win, Keene is never an easy place to win at and that bus ride alone (3 hours from the ocean) has the coaches playing amateur psychologist days before the bus pulls into the school parking lot.

 Any air earned from that win was popped pretty quickly when Portsmouth lost to Dover a week later at home. The Green Wave came in with a chip on their shoulder and QB Carson Webb (263 yards passing and four touchdowns) made sure Dover’s road woes were coming to an end. Now Portsmouth, who gets all-state performer Christian Peete back at halftime, is staring at an 0-2 conference record, and yes I’m mentioning tie-breaker scenarios on September 15th. I’m not happy about it either.

 The Warriors on the other hand lost a heartbreaker to Bishop Guertin in the final minutes of Week 1 (a loss that looks pretty good right about now) and then had a take care of business win over Alvirne in Week 2. Goffstown was the anointed ‘Best team not to make the playoffs’ in 2014 and in 2015 it was Ron Auffant's team. The health of their best two way player Players Locker Room member Liam Viviano is still at issue but Billy Powers (309 yards in 2 games) has picked up where Brian Auffant & Mike Lewis left off.

 This game is about Portsmouth asserting itself as a playoff caliber team after a disappointing 2015 season. For Winnacunnet it’s an opportunity to put some space between themselves and their closest rival in the conference.

 

 Timberlane (1-1) at Goffstown (2-0)

 This game will be aired LIVE by our partner NSN Sports and can be viewed on Saturday right here on NHsportspage.

 Did we underestimate both of these teams heading into Week 2?

 The Nik Moquin that Goffstown head coach Justin Hufft spoke so confidently about in the pre-season arrived last week in Derry, putting up 24 for 29 388 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Pinkerton Astros. Yes those Pinkerton Astros..

 Timberlane at the very same time was giving #1 Bedford everything it could handle (seven Division I teams could be the last one standing, let’s get that out of the way now) before dropping a 38-32 heartbreaker.

 The Grizzlies defense (which includes Jake Cuddy, Joey Poisson and Jack Stinnett) held all-state back Nico Buccieri in check and will hope to do the same against Jakob Post. First year QB Dan Hayes threw for 271 yards in the loss (Pinkerton & Timberlane combining for 623 yards passing in the same weekend is like Justin McIsaac & I doing a four hour podcast where ‘Well this weekend when Notre Dame plays’ and ‘ In my amateur wrestling days..’ never comes up. It might…might….happen once….but it is not happening twice.

 Goffstown’s schedule is the equivalent of Notre Dame’s (see..) ..how does at Bedford, Memorial, at Concord, Manchester Central, Salem and at Merrimack sound? ( four of those teams are in the Top 10 of the Power Rankings and don’t sleep on Concord).

 So every week is a test…a big one comes Saturday afternoon when the Owls come into the home of the champs.

 

 Salem (2-0) at Pinkerton (1-1)

  An annual battle of Wing-T offenses gained some intrigue when Brian O’Reilly had to call on backup quarterback Aiden Goujon to step in for second year starter Ryan Albrecht (who went down with an injury) and preceded to watch him throw for 352 yards in a down to the wire loss to Goffstown.

 Yes Goujon brings an ability to throw the football Pinkerton did not possess in Week 1 but all you need to do is spend five minutes talking to Coach O’Reilly to know how much faith & confidence he has in Albrecht running the offense. Ball handling & decision making is a huge part of what Pinkerton does and while a drop back passer makes receivers like Kayden Baillargeon more viable it also takes away from the Astros rushing attack.

 Salem is not going to try to pull any slights of hand Friday night. They believe they can knock Pinkerton off their spot and beat them around corner. Josh Sibanda (351 yards) is third in Division I in rushing while James Leblond (193 yards) currently ranks ninth.

 

 Division II

 John Stark (2-0) at Lebanon (2-0)

 Two of the best three players in Division II square off in this one when Generals QB Drew McQuarrie lines up opposite Raiders RB Ryan Milliken in a game we will have full coverage of (Windham’s Victor Pizzotti is the third member of an elite group).

 You can bet on the fact that each coach (Chris Childs for Lebanon and Rod McQuarrie for John Stark) has tried to simulate in practice what it will take to slow down each of the all-state and future CHAD performers but it is easier said than done. Milliken is as good as any punt returner in the state and Boston College thought enough of McQuarrie’s abilities to award him a full scholarship for next season.

 Both teams were expected to come into this one 2-0 and both would quietly admit this was the ‘measuring stick’ game they had circled on the calendar back in July.

 Stark wide receiver Cooper Gorski is coming back from an injury while Lebanon’s 6’4 Matt Eyelander is part of an emerging defensive line.

 Winner here joins Plymouth as the co-favorite in the North conference.

 

Plymouth (2-0) at Laconia (1-1)

 Rivalry game and the Sachems know they can turn the momentum of their season around (they were thisclose to losing at Kingswood) with a W.

 For Chris Sanborn’s team Nolan Farina (136 yards rushing and a team high 11 tackles) has played at an all-state level while a still developing offensive line has held up (as Garrett Macomber and his 208 yards rushing would attest). The Sachems have a good running attack of their own with all-state RB/DB Jacob Filgate (220 yards) and Drew Muzzey while QB Riley Roy has found a very good redzone target in big tight end Carter Doherty, who has scored in each of Laconia’s first two games.

 With playoff caliber teams Milford, Bow, Lebanon , John Stark and pre-season #1 Gilford-Belmont still on the schedule (fine, one of those might not be true..) Plymouth needs this game and a 3-0 start.

 Craig Kozens team always play well at home, this should be a good one Friday night.

 Division III

 (I’m doing a deep dive on Division III next week…I owe them that)

 Newport (2-0) at Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough (2-0)

 If there is a top heavy division it is Division III. As I wrote 1,300 words ago, Division I can be won by any one of seven different teams (I’ve got Manchester Central lurking at #8) and although Windham looks like the clear cut favorite in Division II today I’ll take the field if you are giving me John Stark, Plymouth, Milford ( I still believe..), Lebanon, Hanover, Con Val and oh yeah…undefeated defending champion St Thomas.

 But in Division III I had one prominent coach, whose opinion I value, tell me Monadnock (a Division II quarterfinal team a year ago with 14 starters back) is two touchdowns better than everyone else today.

 Kearsarge is on to their #3 quarterback after two weeks, because of injuries, Bow has moved up while Newport is trying to win in the trenches, and very well may do it.

 Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough passed a road test with a convincing win last week against Bishop Brady NHTI Game of the Week highlights .

Newest players’ locker room members Zach Swanson (DE/TE) and senior starting center Justin Tinker (who anchors a good offensive line) will have their hands full with a good Newport defensive line. The Lakers want to pound the ball behind Andrew Brothers but know they can win through the air behind second year starter Ryan Kelly.

 The North sets up to be much stronger this year than the South conference (Newport, Monadnock, IL-Moultonborough, Stevens and Kearsarge are all playoff teams) which makes this one even bigger. The Lakers want a little payback from last November at UNH. They will be on their home field this weekend to settle the score.

 

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 Timberlane head coach Kevin Fitzgerald and John Stark head coach Rod McQuarrie 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.