Another big weekend of games and we will bring you coverage of three of them, including the LIVE broadcast of Dover vs Spaulding on Friday night.

 Devin Poslusny and I will be in Laconia on Friday night when Craig Kozens and the Sachems take on Rod McQuarrie and the John Stark Generals. Then on Saturday afternoon Jennifer Chick-Ruth & I will be in Dover for a huge Division II clash when St Thomas takes on Bill Raycraft and the Windham Jaguars.

 We want to give a special thank you to Coach McQuarrie and the John Stark boosters as well as Jimmy Lauzon and the Londonderry boosters who each became Gold Level Members last week in support of our team at NHsportspage.

 We also want to thank Angela Hutchinson ( a long time supporter of ours) and Cody & Josh Morissette for becoming the latest readers to become Gold Level Members!

 Every player, coach & parent who becomes a Gold Level member has access to every full game video we produce for 12 months.

 The Thursday Thoughts are sponsored by our partners at Great Bay Community College. Click on one of our Great Bay ads to visit their website and get information on open houses & programs today! Great Bay is an outstanding option for high school students around the state to consider, visit their website for more information.

 

 Division I

 Goffstown (4-0) at Winnacunnet (4-0)

 The Beach Boys nickname is taking off, Ryan Hanson is taking the mic out of Justin McIsaac’s hand and if you’re looking for the #1 team in the state based on who they have beaten….it’s the Winnacunnet Warriors. It’s a fun time to be Ron Auffant & company.

 What we learned in their wins over Bedford & Exeter is that if you plan to beat them by running the football you’re going to have a very hard time doing it. When Bedford’s Connor Robert & Exeter’s Cody Morissette were forced to start throwing the football Winnacunet took control of the ballgame.

 Goffstown has a balanced enough offense where Charles Keith can beat you with his arm if need be and if you are listing off the 10 best football players in the state Andrew Duval is in that conversation every single time.

 While Goffstown still has games remaining against defending champion Bedford and a high scoring Manchester Central team the Warriors will be heavy favorites in every game from here on out (even at Central), meaning if they can get a win on their home field on Saturday…..this might be your #1 seed in the Division I playoffs.

 

 Exeter (2-2) at Bedford (3-1)

 The coverage of Exeter is sponsored by Sandy Healy at Re-Max

 Since when does the rematch of the Division I championship game take a backseat to another Division I game??

 When Winnacunnet has beaten both teams and Exeter is staring a sub .500 record in the eye. Ready to give up on Bill Ball and the Blue Hawks because their defense isn’t elite and their offense looks one dimensional at times? Neither am I.

 They can bounce back in a hurry with a win at Bedford on Saturday afternoon. The health of Connor Robert will be something to keep an eye on for Derek Stank’s team. Thomas Morgan stepped right in and looked very good in going 11 for 15 for 173 yards and 3 touchdowns last week but that was against Spaulding.

 Let’s leave it at that…McIsaac is reading this..

 Lucien Mumpini had a breakout game at receiver last week (6 catches for 126 yards and two scores) so look for Bedford to test the Exeter secondary early. The Blue Hawks are still finding their way as an offense, as is first year quarterback Cody Morissette. Don’t expect either team to have to get into the high 20’s to win this game. The title game last November was 7-0…I’d expect this one to fall in the 21-14 range.

 Also if Exeter does fall to 2-3..I wouldn’t panic,….they won’t be under .500 for very long.

 

 Division II

 Windham (4-0) at St Thomas (4-0)

 Feels like a good time to announce that we will be producing a 30 for 30 style video chronicling the Four Greatest Football Games we have ever covered on NHsportspage. The follow-up to our ‘Four Greatest Games Basketball special Click to view the special will again be produced by ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth and will include commentary from Pete Tarrier, Justin McIsaac, Jennifer & myself looking back on the greatest games we have ever covered on video.

 Spoiler alert: you’ll be seeing Windham vs St Thomas from a championship games a few years ago in the documentary.

 As for the match-up on Saturday, that Jen & I will be covering, Shawn DeKorne currently leads Division II in passing yards with 740 yards. The thinking on Windham is you have to be able to throw on them to beat them.

 Look for first year head coach Ryan Brown to test a very good Windham secondary with DeKorne, wide receivers Lucas Banaian (259 yds. receiving) and do everything play-maker Tim Bouchard, who currently ranks 3rd in Division II in rushing (436 yds.) and 5th in receiving (186).

 He also may be the best football player in the division.

 

 John Stark (3-1) at Laconia (2-2)

 I hesitate to label this a loser leaves town match-up (trademark Cousin Sal) but the team coming out on the short end of this Friday night match-up is going to have a tough time getting into the post-season.

 The Generals lost in Week 1 to Souhegan 14-7 in a game that certainly felt like an upset at the time but doesn’t necessarily look that way now (We still think John Stark is pretty good but we underestimated Souhegan).

 Parker McQuarrie is one of the elite passers in the state but he’s more of a pocket passer than his brother and former QB Drew (currently playing for Boston College) meaning teams do not have to game plan for him tucking the ball and running for the sticks. Running back Bo Lyons is a sophomore to watch but he isn’t yet the kind of player you hand the ball off to 20 times a game. Meaning the Generals are more one dimensional than they were a year ago.

 Craig Kozens Sachems have beaten the teams they should have beaten and lost (at Hanover and at Plymouth) to the teams we expected them to lose to. Friday night will tell you a lot about what tier they belong in as they bring in a very capable defense supported by an offense featuring the leading rusher in Division II in Drew Muzzey (595 yards and 7 TDs).

 Look for Laconia to try and win the line of scrimmage against a good John Stark line and run Muzzey over & over with the occasion deep ball threat by quarterback Riley Roy.

 Winner here makes a statement that they’ll be in the mix for one of the eight hard to come by playoff spots in Division II while the loser will have little room for error the rest of the way.

 

Division III

Monadnock (4-0) at Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough (2-2)

 With a game at home against Ryan Avery’s Huskies on Saturday followed by a game at Stevens next weekend ( by the way A plus experience in Claremont last Friday night…just a great rivalry game to experience in a really fun atmosphere) this season could get away from the Lakers pretty quickly. The body language doctors I talk to don’t like what’s going on with the two time finalist and after blowout losses against Campbell (42-0) and Newport (28-0) there aren’t many ‘prove it’ games left on the schedule.

 For the Huskies it’s run the ball with Chandler Matson (532 yards) and Tim Hart (406), rinse wash & repeat. If Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough can’t stop the run the way they couldn’t against Campbell & Newport this will be a very quick football game.

 Do the Lakers have one last stand in them before Division III completely separates the have’s from the have nots?