Every week after I cast my ballot for the Union Leader/ESPN New Hampshire Power Poll I will reveal my personal Top 10...and why I voted that way.

1. Bedford...the Bulldogs have powered their way to an undefeated start thru the 1st 7 weeks of the regular season, outscoring  opponents by a 249-89 margin.  Last week Manchester Memorial was the victim in a 58-0 Bedford blanking.  The Bulldogs hope to remain undefeated and lock up the #1 seed in their playoff pairing with a victory on Friday night vs Concord.     
2. Merrimack...a lot of people are leaning toward the Tomahawks as the #1 team in the state because of the way Merrimack has been blowing teams out ever since the 24-20 opening night loss at Bedford.  One voter in this poll actually has Merrimack ranked 1st after Tomahawks QB Justin Grassini threw for over 500 yards and an amazing 9 touchdowns in a 68-29 win at Pinkerton last Friday night.  You think Merrimack is eager for a rematch with Bedford come playoff time? 
3. Windham...this Jaguars team could definitely compete with the big boys of Division 1...and I'm glad the other voters agree with me about that and have them ranked in the Top 3.  Windham has the Exeter-like, clock killing ground and pound offense that can score in bunches and keep an opposing offense off the field.  They can also hit you with big gainers on the play action pass when they want to and their defense just swarms to the ball.  Just a really good all-around football team.  And deep too, with about 100 kids in the program.
4. Goffstown...don't look now, but the defending champs are defending their title quite well so far with a 6-1 record, the only loss coming at undefeated Bedford a few weeks ago.  They also just got Andrew Duval back from a thumb injury suffered in Week 1 which will be a big help.  They'll need all hands on deck in the final 2 weeks of the regular season as Salem comes in on Saturday afternoon, followed by a big one at Merrimack on Friday October 28th.  
5. Exeter...looks like that loss against Portsmouth woke up a sleeping giant as the Blue Hawks have taken down both Nashua North & Nashua South by a combined 77-20 count over the last 2 weeks.  The Nashua triad continues this Friday night when 6-1 Bishop Guertin comes a calling to Bill Ball Stadium in a game we will cover on video at NH Sportspage. 
6. Salem...like Goffstown, the 6-1 Blue Devils are another team that is having a very good, but under-the-radar season so far.  Salem's only slip up came against Merrimack a couple weeks back.  I guess it's kind of fitting that Salem & Goffstown will be playing in the don't forget about us game on Saturday afternoon in GTown. 
7. John Stark...amazing game last Saturday in Weare as John Stark kept their dream season alive with a thrilling 42-35 win over Plymouth.  The Generals twice had to come back from 2 touchdown deficits in the game...and they won it on defense when David Hewey picked off a Brandon Roy pass and returned it for the game-winning score with just over a minute left. 
8. Plymouth...such a heartbreaker for the Bobcats who for much of the day seemed to have John Stark's number.  A BIG reason why was Plymouth's #48 Garrett Macomber(pronounced May-cumber).  The junior RB carried the football a whopping 45 times in the game, totaling 226 yards and 3 TDs. 
9. Bishop Guertin...BG has shown they can score with anybody, the Cards are tied with Exeter for 2nd in Division 1 in scoring with 254 points(Merrimack is 1st with 327).  The problem for BG has been defense, particularly stopping the run.  That's something they will need to work on this week in practice heading into Exeter for the game on Friday night. 
10. Monadnock/Hanover...for the 1st time ever in my many years of being a Power Poll voter, I am "that guy" who votes for a tie on my ballot.  I have had Monadnock in my Top 10 for a few weeks now, voting the Division 3 Huskies 10th over bigger schools like Nashua North, Dover...and undefeated D2 Hanover.  I figure, at 7-0 the Marauders deserve to be in the poll, but I wasn't about to put them in at the expense of a 6-0 Monadnock team that just beat a pretty good Kearsarge team 64-12.