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Our second of our three semifinal previews takes a look at the final four teams in Division II.

 Raise your hand if you had either Hanover or Bow getting to Durham on November 19th back in September?

 Stop it, you didn’t….

 Jennifer Chick-Ruth and I will be out at Mount Jaguar Saturday afternoon when Windham takes on Plymouth. We will bring you all the highlights & post-game interviews with the winning team.

Division II

(4) Plymouth Regional at (1) Windham

What does Plymouth have to do to beat Windham?

 I tried for five minutes to come up with something more creative than ‘stop the run’ but when you face a team that ran for a ho-hum 342 yards in their first round win over Hollis-Brookline (Box Score ) and have gone over 500 yards rushing in a game already this year, well sometimes stating the obvious is effective too.

 Plymouth was able to stop the run against defending champion St Thomas, holding them to 114 yards last weekend Box Score: Plymouth 28, St Thomas 6. On Saturday their task is to keep Victor Pizzotti, Jake Aleksa & Parker Belsky from controlling the clock and giving the guys working the first down markers cramps from going up & down the field all day. Drew Hodges had a big day for Chris Sanborn’s defense and will have to come up huge again if Plymouth is going to take out the top seed.

 The Bobcats didn’t attempt a pass in their quarterfinal win and frankly never needed to. Plymouth got a combined 250 yards out of Division II rushing champion Garrett Macomber and Owen Brickley, who scored twice and at times lined up at quarterback. Plymouth bled the clock running the ball as the Saints tried to get back in it in the fourth quarter.

 Saturday they put that rushing attack up against the best defense in Division II.

 What does Windham have to do to beat Plymouth?

 Plymouth isn’t going to come out and throw the ball like Con Val and Hollis-Brookline did in the last two games. The Jaguars can afford to give up chunks of yards to Macomber but they have to be sure neither, he, Brickley or Colby Moore get loose for big touchdown runs.

 Windham also needs to take care of the football. Plymouth took control of the game partly due to three St Thomas turnovers and an inability to take advantage of their scoring chances. Windham has confidence in QB Cody Potter (535 yds. passing & 7 TDs) so look for them to take shots down the field looking for Micah Sundman and Parker Belsky.

  (7) Bow at (3) Hanover

  What does Bow have to do to beat Hanover?

  By taking their chances throwing the football against the Marauders.

 I’m not suggesting a team known for their rushing attack turn into Merrimack overnight but Hanover was able to hold Lebanon’s Ryan Milliken to 64 yards on 20 carries last Saturday. Bow has been able to throw the ball more often this year (likely because they had to diversify in Division II...) and tight end Nate Alford made John Stark pay to the tune of 11 Receptions for 181 Yards and a touchdown reception in the quarterfinals.

 QB Matt Harkins did throw two interceptions last weekend as Bow clawed their way back from a fourteen point deficit but a healthy dose of play action passes to go along with Justin Mooney, Jack Corriveau, Mark Borak and Harkins carrying the football gives this offense enough punch to beat Hanover on the road and punch their ticket to Durham.

 What does Hanover have to do to beat Bow?

 John Stark proved you could beat Hanover through the air in their one sided season finale but Sam Cavallaro’s team did a nice job bottling up Lebanon all-state receiver Nate Perkins (4 catches for 49 yards) last Saturday afternoon. Ryan Milliken shook loose for an 82 yard touchdown reception down the sideline late but for the most part Hanover’s D was terrific all day. Against Bow it will be about getting that defense off the field on third down.

 Caleb Putnam has become the workhorse of their offense (30 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown against Lebanon) since Reed Winter went down with an injury. Alex Mosenthal carried 13 times for 87 yards and a score as the three seed was able to control the clock late in the game with Lebanon desperate to get the ball back.

 Saturday afternoon they’ll need similar production to advance to the Division II championship next weekend.