Great Bay Community College will be holding an open house on November 4th from 9 to 11 am at their Portsmouth & Rochester campuses.

 Click on this link for more information or on any of our Great Bay banners ads on our website!

 It doesn’t seem like very long ago that we were out at Gill Stadium covering the annual Queen City Jamboree but August is now far in the rearview as we enter the final weekend of the regular season.

 We’ll be down the road from Gill at Bedford high school on Friday night as the defending champion Bulldogs face off with Manchester Central in a win or go home scenario.

 We’ll bring you this game LIVE right here on our homepage plus all the highlights and the post-game interview with the entire winning team. A team that will have just clinched the eighth & final playoff berth in Division I.

 We want to thank Bill Raycraft and the Windham football program for supporting our six-person team as the newest Gold Level program. Windham now has access to every full game video we produce all the way through the championship games in Durham.

 Gold Level programs are recognized in the division standings page along with the passing/rushing & receiving leaders.

 Division I Standings and Leaders

 Division II Standings and Leaders

 Division III Standings and Leaders

 

 Division I

 Manchester Central (5-3) at Bedford (5-3)

 Bedford Team Page

 Manchester Central Team Page

 It all comes down to Friday night, check back with us on Twitter @nhsportspage and Facebook (under David M Haley because Zuckerberg didn’t like us being under NHsportspage) because we will carry this game LIVE with Pete Tarrier giving you the play by play and Jennifer Chick-Ruth bringing you all coverage.

 Here is your Division I playoff match-ups for next weekend: Exeter at Goffstown, Pinkerton at Nashua South (Conference winner gets the higher seed even though the Astros have a better record than the Panthers and beat them head to head), Londonderry at Salem (for a second weekend in a row, making this Friday’s game meaningless in terms of the standings) and the winner of this game at Winnacunnet.

 Bedford’s Thomas Morgan has settled into the starting quarterback role after Connor Robert was lost for the season with a collarbone injury. His performance will be a key because although Central has been solid against the run teams have proven you can throw on them (Johnny Cantwell of Dover threw for 262 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Little Green earlier this season). Look for Morgan to try and utilize Noah Chaberek (257 YDs and 6 TDs) & Lucien Mumpini (406) to keep the Central defense guessing.

 Central’s Alex Hawkom is the leading passer in Division I with 2,030 yards and 21 touchdown throws. Taking care of the football will be a key as Derek Stank’s Bulldog defense will look to turn Central over and control the clock. Central isn’t the defensive team that Bedford is but they have the quick strike offense to stay in the game for four quarters.

 The winner here travels to Hampton to face Winnacunnet next weekend.

 

Division II

Hanover (7-0) at John Stark (6-1)

Hanover Team Page

John Stark Team Page

 Sam Cavallaro’s Hanover football team only has to hear that they haven’t faced a team over .500 for another two days. The undefeated Marauders can silent a lot of the doubters with a good road win over a John Stark team coming off a big 7-6 win over Bow last weekend. The winner of this one will be playing at home next weekend when the playoffs begin while the losing team will be climbing on a bus.

 Hanover is going to run the football using their Wing-T offense and they will do it behind Caleb Putnam (593 YDs), Griffin Young (325) and QB Alex Mosenthal (232 YDs passing and 172 on the ground). The challenge for a good offensive line will be containing Generals all-state lineman Zach Handy, one of the best run stoppers in the state.

 John Stark QB Parker McQuarrie is more of a pocket passer than his brother Drew (now playing tight end at Boston College). Bo Lyons is a good sophomore running back but Stark will throw the football more than they’ll run it by spreading the ball around to receivers like Jake Cole, Jack Baumann and Manny Biskaduros.

 Expect a low scoring affair on Saturday and if John Stark wins you could even see these same two teams meet up again next weekend on the same field.

 

Souhegan (5-2) at Hollis-Brookline (5-2)

Hollis-Brookline Team Page

 The Cavaliers win over Con Val two weeks ago sure felt like the last step to a playoff berth but a 6-0 loss to Pelham last weekend put everything on hold. Now Hollis-Brookline needs a win to guarantee they’ll be playing next weekend.

 Quarterback Sander Wimmer, the leading passer in Division II, was held in check by the Pythons resurgent defense in completing 13 of 28 passes for a season-low 111 yards and 2 interceptions.

 This weekend Wimmer and a Hollis-Brookline offense led by player of the year candidate Matt Simco (held to 4 catches for 40 yards in the loss) will face a Sabers defense that is known for its ability to not give up the big play. A big reason for that consistency has been the play of all-state safety Kyle Archambault & linebacker Howie Desserault.

 Dante Savo has produced another all-state season at running back for first-year head coach Robyn Bowkett and the Souhegan offense. Junior quarterback John Lohnes has stepped in and played very well in the new spread offense. The Sabers took a few weeks to adjust to their new offense but as the season has progressed a very battle-tested unit has emerged & gained confidence.

 If you’re looking for the possible lower seeded playoff team that no one at the top wants to see coming to them in Round 1 look no further. Teams like Windham & St Thomas will tell you how good this Souhegan team is.

 The results of this game and John Stark/Hanover game will play a major part in setting the Top 8 for the playoff pairings next weekend. Expect Windham & Plymouth to be 1-2 with St Thomas your likely #3 seed (the Saints finished their regular season at 7-1).

 

Division III

Stevens Team Page

Monadnock Team Page

Monadnock (7-0) at Stevens (5-2)

 This is the first match-up between these two very good programs since Paul Silva’s team stunned the undefeated Huskies in last year’s semifinals. A game we covered with highlights and interviews.

 Monadnock will again be the top seed coming out of the North Conference while Stevens will either be the #5 or #6 seed next weekend. That depends on if they can beat Monadnock and/or the result of Epping Newmarket’s game against Winnisquam (1-6).

 From the outside, it’s easy to assume Monadnock, a very good Division II football program before moving down last season, was going to continue to roll through Division III this season. It hasn’t been as simple as that.

 Ryan Avery and his coaching staff had to replace all but a hand-full of starters from last season’s top seed. They’ve been able to plug in new starters all over the place on both sides of the ball and have hardly skipped a beat in doing so. A lot of credit has to go to the Huskies coaching staff and their first-year starters.

 Win or lose they will have a pair of home games in the post-season with the chance to get to UNH for the first time but don’t expect a letdown Friday night. Most of these players were key reserves a year ago when Parker Smith, Henri Bourque and the O’Brien brothers ended their season on the way to an improbable championship.

 Monadnock gets their chance to send a message with a win in Claremont Friday night.

 Listen LIVE to the New Hampshire High School Football Show by clicking the listen live link right on our homepage or on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area Saturday mornings from 9:07am-11am. Get all the football scores from Friday night, a look at the Saturday games and analysis from Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley. Our guests Saturday will be Nashua South head coach Scott Knight and Souhegan head coach Robyn Bowkett.