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...I mentioned on my radio show the other day how I thought Bedford had just completed one of the "quietest" unbeaten regular seasons I can remember.  I mean, it's not like they've been overlooked, as the Bulldogs have been #1 all season long, but I kind of feel like a lot of people think Merrimack might be the better team right now.  We'll probably find out in 2 weeks if they do end up meeting in the Division 1 Semifinals as expected.  Bedford will have to get by Salem in the 1st round to get the opportunity.

2.       Merrimack...of course the Tomahawks also have to take care of business on their end to get another shot at knocking off Bedford in the playoffs...and it won't be easy as Merrimack takes on defending Champs Goffstown this Saturday.  Justin Grassini has tied the state record for TD passes in a season and he will likely break the record in the game against the Grizzlies.  That would be nice, but I'm sure Grassini and the rest of his teammates would take a playoff victory over Goffstown no matter how it comes. 

3.       Windham...the Jaguars ended their regular season unbeaten for the 2nd time in 3 years and they will host 8th seeded Hollis/Brookline in the Division 2 playoffs on Saturday afternoon in Windham.  The Cavs gave Windham some problems with their excellent passing game as Joey Delaney threw for 336 yards when the teams met way back in Week 1.  We'll see what happens this time around. 

4.       Exeter...the Blue Hawks will host my old high school, the Nashua South Purple Panthers on Saturday in the playoffs.  Exeter's lone blemish this season was a surprising 21-14 loss at home against Portsmouth.  Bill Ball's team has been playing their best football ever since and they look like the favorite to emerge from the East/West playoff bracket and get to UNH for the title game.   

5.       Goffstown...the defending Champion Grizzlies will face Merrimack for the 2nd straight week, but this time the game which kicks off Saturday at 1pm actually means something.  Last week Merrimack won a 39-16 game where both teams went to their back-ups before halftime.    If there's a team besides Bedford that can knock off this Merrimack team, Goffstown certainly has what it takes to get the job done. 

6.       Salem...the Blue Devils started 6-1, but Rob Pike's team dropped their final 2 games of the regular season to finish 6-3.  There's no shame in that as both games were very close, a 39-35 loss in the final seconds at Goffstown 2 weeks ago followed by a 12-7 setback against #1 Bedford last Friday night.  It'll be interesting to see how that Salem rushing attack led by Josh Sibanda fares on the artificial turf in Bedford this Saturday.  Kickoff for that game is at 4pm so don't be surprised to see the Goffstown/Merrimack winner show up to see who they will play the following week.

7.       Nashua North...the Titans are making people remember them after they went 7-2 and won the regular season crown in the West Conference of Division 1 with a 67-36 beat down of Bishop Guertin last Friday night.  They did it with a rushing attack that amassed almost 450 yards and 10 touchdowns against an injury riddled BG defense which can't be too excited about having to play Nashua North again this week in the playoffs. 

8.       John Stark...who knew the Generals had another McQuarrie that could step into the starting quarterback role and lead the team to an impressive 42-19 win on the road against previously unbeaten Hanover last Friday night?  That's exactly what sophomore QB Parker McQuarrie did in replacing his big brother Drew McQuarrie who is recovering from a bruised rotator cuff on his throwing arm.  Parker threw for 339 yards and 3 TDs in the game, 1 of them to Drew who was moved to receiver and caught 7 passes for over 100 yards.   

9.       Monadnock...the fact that this Huskies team that just went 8-0 in Division 3 outscoring their opponents 311-31 along the way are not getting enough votes to be inside the Top 10 heading into the playoffs shows me most of the other voters simply do not consider a D3 team worthy of a spot on their ballots. I say that because Monadnock is outside the poll in the "others receiving votes" column, while 2 pretty good, but still flawed 6-3 Division 1 teams(no offense BG & Nashua South) are in.  Look, I grew up in Nashua and lived there for 25 years before moving to the Manchester area 20 years ago so it's not like I'm anti-big schools here.  I'd just like to see how BG's defense would hold up against the big offensive line and pounding run game of Monadnock.   

10.   St Thomas...all year long people including me doubted this Saints team was even close to the type of team that made back to back appearances in the D2 State Title Game the last 2 seasons.  They're still not at that level, but a 4 game winning streak to close the regular season leaves them with a 7-2 record and the 5th seed in D2 with a playoff date at Plymouth this weekend.  I think it's safe to say even top seed Windham wouldn't be thrilled to see the Saints again in the playoffs this year considering St Thomas was the only team to stay within 3 touchdowns of the Jags this season.