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!

 

 Back in August, I was sitting in the Salem football offices with head coach Rob Pike and his staff after finishing up their pre-season fundraiser. As I spoke to the coaches I mentioned that Salem might be my pre-season #1 team when my previews were posted at the end of the month.

“Where do you have Winnacunnet on that list?” one of the coaches asked me, “because they just handled us pretty easily in a scrimmage last week!”

 Who could have guessed that three months later those two programs sit on top of their sides of the bracket, two wins away from a rematch in Durham? One that would count for everything the second time around.

 Getting there won’t be easy, not with defending champion Bedford, an Exeter team that has advanced to two straight title games, a Goffstown team just two years removed from their title and a Pinkerton team with only a single loss on their resume.

 Nashua South has won seven games in a row coming into a home game this weekend and Londonderry is a playoff worthy team capable of giving Salem all it can handle this weekend.

 It is a long march from August to November but for eight teams, all that's left is three more wins for a title that remains for a lifetime.

 Today we look at the four games in Division I taking place this weekend in the first of our three playoff previews this week.

 

(4) Bedford at (1) Winnacunnet

Box Score of the first meeting

Video highlights of the first meeting

 

 Bedford’s defense is good enough to keep them in this game for four quarters; but is their offense good enough to win it?

 Connor Robert was playing quarterback the first time these two teams met but a season-ending injury gave Thomas Morgan (763 YDs passing 7 TDs and 5 INTs) the keys to the offense around mid-season. The Bulldogs have been in a win or go home mode for the past three weeks and earned good wins over Dover & Manchester Central. Two teams who were fighting for their own playoff lives.

 This isn’t the dynamic offense we’ve seen from Bedford in the past but they have a group of good running backs led by Thomas Norfleet (676 YDs) and Demetri Anagnost (402) capable of controlling the clock and moving the chains against what many consider to be the best defense in the state.

 The key Saturday will be taking care of the football. In other words..if Bedford turns the ball over 3 times they’re not getting out of Hampton with a win.

 The Warriors feel like if they get to 20 points, and they have an offense more than capable of going there, then they’re going to beat you. Joe MacDougall, Andrew Mills, Cam Strukel, James Phennicie and sophomore Jordan Fuller have all been excellent on defense this season for Ron Auffant’s team who will have a huge crowd on hand Saturday to serve as the 12th player on the field.

 Evan Welch is a player his teammates tend to rally around, and he’s made big plays all season long at the receiver spot. Billy Powers has shown the ability to break one for 75 yards and the all-state play on both sides of the ball from Jordan Fuller plus the steady hand of three year starting QB Patrick MacDougall (789 YDs passing and 7 TDs against just 2 INTs) makes this team as good as advertised.

 They’re going to be a tough out, possibly all the way to Durham in three weeks.

 

(3) Exeter at (2) Goffstown

The coverage of Exeter is sponsored by Sandy Healey at Re Max

Box Score of the first meeting

 I told Pete Tarrier on the radio show Saturday morning that I’d be surprised if one team scored over 20 points in this one and shocked if both teams did. Two very good football teams are going to play for field position and try to win with their defense.

 Cody Morissette has played better by the week at quarterback for the Blue Hawks while his counterpart Charles Keith has been very solid for Justin Hufft’s Grizzly offense.  These are two very well coached & very physical football teams. Get ready for hitting on both sides and in Andrew Duval, the Goffstown safety, you are talking about one of the best defensive players in the state.

 Brayden Lowery & Zach Tucker have been very productive running the football for Bill Ball’s team and in addition to Duval, they’ll need to navigate around & through linebacker Joey Poisson as well.

 Liam McILveen & Bobby Cliche have big game experience on the Exeter defense and they’ll have to watch for the plays where Duval gets the ball out of the backfield or on direct snaps.

 As far as coaching match-ups, this is as fun as it gets. Expect adjustments galore and a very good football game in Goffstown Saturday afternoon.

 

(4) Londonderry at (1) Salem

Box Score of the first meeting

 

 We can argue who has the best defense in the state but there is no argument when it comes to the top offense. That distinction belongs to the Salem Blue Devils. Josh Sibanda won the Division I rushing title with 1,121 yards even though he missed 3 games.

 The Blue Devils averaged 44.5 points per game and only scored under 40 points twice all year; once in 35-20 win over 8-1 Pinkerton and last weekend when they took the starters out against Londonderry.

 The Lancers have a good offense, Jeff Wiedenfeld was the only other Division I rusher to go over 1,000 yards, and between Mike McAlister & Evan Cormier Londonderry can send a change of pace duo at quarterback at defenses, but the Lancers don’t have the offense to win a 45-42 shootout.

 That means Jimmy Lauzon and his staff have to find a way to keep the Salem offense off the field. Whether that is going for it on fourth down in your own territory or staying inbounds any chance you get…Londonderry cannot let Salem get into their usual rhythm or this game could be over by halftime.

 

(3) Pinkerton Academy at (2) Nashua South

Box Score of the first meeting

Video highlights of the first meeting

 The Panthers haven’t lost since a trip to Derry in Week 2 and now they get their shot at revenge on their home field Saturday afternoon.

 It would be very easy to advise you to just throw out everything we saw when these two teams met in Week 2 but the truth is Nashua South is going to have to figure out how to get their receivers more touches in the second meeting.

 The Astros, who have one of the best secondaries in the state led by Ryan Auger and Kayden Baillargeon, were able to contain South’s receivers in space. South all-state QB Sean Holland did find Derek Downing & Alex Amigo a total of ten times but none were for big plays and Pinkerton’s zone defense had them well contained.

 Holland did take two shots down the field with Taevon Olson and should again when they meet on the field turf at Stellos.

 Pinkerton’s offensive line wore South down over the course of the game with Gannon Fast & Terrell Hicks running between the tackles and Ty Hicks on sweeps to the outside. Hicks is averaging 13.1 yards per carry on the season. It only feels like he’s averaging  45.

 Pinkerton wants another shot at Salem next weekend and for a very deep junior class (Pinkerton is your 2018 pre-season favorite) this is their first playoff game together.

 South will be one of the trendy upset picks of the weekend, Justin McIsaac already went there in his Monday Top 10, but a lot of things will have to change from the first meeting to the second for South to move on to the semifinals next weekend.