Two games remain in the regular season and little has been decided.

 Plymouth looks like your #1 seed in Division II, Bedford looks like they’ll lock up a pair of home playoff games and the top seeds in Division III (Campbell  & Monadnock) and Division IV (Franklin & Winnisquam) will be decided each of the next two weekends, and we’ll be covering both games.

 Today we’ll look at the biggest games of the upcoming weekend and the playoff implications of each.

 We will be out at two games again this weekend:

 Pete Tarrier & Nichole Marrero will be in Swanzey Friday night when unbeaten Campbell travels to play fellow unbeaten Monadnock for the top seed in the Division III playoffs.

 On Saturday ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth & I will be in Weare when John Stark hosts Hanover in a huge Division II match-up.

 Today’s column is brought to you by The Links at Outlook in Berwick, Maine. Call my friend Jeff Maldonis if your family is planning a wedding or your next golf outing,

 Visit The Links at Outlook Today

 

 Division I

 Nashua North (6-1) at Merrimack (6-1)

 Let’s not hand Bedford the top seed in the North/West bracket just yet….if Merrimack wins the West by beating the Titans they would play Bedford next Friday night for the bracket’s top seed.

 Alternatively, if the Tomahawks lose to North and then fall to Bedford that would leave them in a possible 6-3 tie with Goffstown (who they beat) and Manchester Central (who they did not, in a game we covered)…add to the fact Goffstown beat Central and all three teams would end up 1-1 against each other.

 The immediate challenge is winning the conference and it will be decided in this game. In talking to coaches the feeling is Dante Laurendi’s Nashua North team is at its most dangerous, offensively, when RB Curtis Harris is taking the ball out of the wildcat formation. Mike Loveless is an all-state caliber QB and he plays behind a very physical offensive line.

 Merrimack is very fast, physical and disciplined on defense. Jared Dyer is a difference maker at defensive end and Adam Thornton has put together an all-state campaign as well.

 Offensively Merrimack will look to get their playmakers like Tristan Wood and Ben Eichman is space and take advantage when the North defense is overly aggressive with their blitzing.

 Winner here takes the west conference crown.

 

 Dover (4-3) at Londonderry (6-1)

 Londonderry Team Page

 Dover Team Page

 The playoffs unofficially started last Friday night in Dover when the Green Wave essentially eliminated Exeter from the playoffs in a game we covered (Box Score).

 Ty Vitko, Aaron Oroh, Luc Normandeau, William Federico & company do have a path to the playoffs and step one is raining on the Lancers senior night on Friday. If Dover can beat Londonderry they would host Salem (5-2) with the fourth and final playoff spot in the East/South bracket on the line.

 Londonderry is playing for the top seed in the bracket and their path to getting it is also a sweep of their final two games (Dover & at Exeter) and rooting for Winnacunnet to beat Pinkerton in Hampton on the final Friday night of the season.

 If Londonderry wins then Salem (with a win over Spaulding) clinches the fourth playoff spot in the bracket.

 

Division II

Hanover (6-1) at John Stark (4-3)

Hanover Team Page

 Very little has been decided in this division and for both of these teams they should look at it as the closest thing to a must-win.

 The Division II seedings with two games to go 1) Plymouth 2) St Thomas 3) Alvirne 4) Bow 5) Hanover 6) Milford 7) Souhegan 8) Hollis-Brookline …9)  Pelham 10) (tie) John Stark & Gilford-Belmont

 You think of John Stark as a playoff team, correct? So do I, but as the list above shows you, they have some work to do just to get one of the eight playoff spots. A win over Hanover would go a long ways towards getting there both in knocking Hanover back and the points that would come with a win like this.

 Jake Cole ((Player Profile Page) has been player of the year worthy for Kevin McGinty’s Generals but he isn’t doing it alone. Noah Bellemore is a returning all-state performer at OT/DE and has been excellent this season. Jake Ridnour has been very good on the offensive line and at linebacker while Aaron Bergeron is a playmaker at wide receiver & outside linebacker.

 Stark wants to win the line of scrimmage the way Bow was able to last weekend in a victory at Hanover. For Sam Cavallaro’s Marauders it’s a healthy dose of Simon Roach (881 yards rushing), Mason Winter (472 yards passing) and Jack Loftus behind players like Bobby & Elijah Putnam in the trenches.

 We’ll bring you all the highlights plus the post-game interview with the entire winning team.

 

 Division III

 Campbell (7-0) at Monadnock (7-0)

 Campbell Team Page

 Monadnock Team Page

 First place is on the line and for Monadnock, a little bit of revenge.

 These two played the best game of the day last November in Durham and what will be interesting to see is if the Huskies defense forces Campbell to throw the football to win again. Monadnock smothered Laconia last weekend (the Sachems gained 5 yards on 11 carries) and have been a death trap for rushing attacks all season long.

 A defense led by Chandler Matson, Joey Joslyn and Lincoln Blodgett has been dominant and when these two teams last met at UNH the Cougars had to switch to a spread offense late for the game-winning drive.

 Look for the Cougars to move all-state running back Keegan Mills (1,112 yards rushing) around. They’ll run him between the tackles, try to get him around the edge of the defense and even look for him on swing passes from QB Adam Breton. They’ll also take their shots downfield with either Chad Martel or all-state tight end Carter Vedrani (189 yards and 3 TDs).

 Campbell isn’t easy to run on either, and since a lot of the key players play on both sides of the ball conditioning and depth will be a factor. Neither team has an advantage in terms of conditioning but Campbell has more depth.

 If you had to give an edge to one offense, you’d give that to Campbell. The edge defensively would have to go to Monadnock.

 Whether this is the first of two meetings is yet to be determined but what is known is the top seed goes to the winner,,,the second seed to the losing team…and we’ll be there to bring you all the highlights and the post-game interview with the winner.

 

 Division IV

 Newfound (4-1) at Franklin (5-0)

 Newfound Team Page

 The Newfound Bears have an opportunity to throw the top seed in the Division IV playoffs into chaos if they can go on the road and beat the Golden Tornadoes.

 The Bears will pound the football behind Tieller Mitchell (844 yards rushing and 12 TDs) while getting touches for Mason Dalphonse & Brett Pidgeon. Franklin boasts a defense that has given up only 15 points in the last 3 games and has their eye on a showdown with arch-rival & unbeaten Winnisquam next weekend.

 A win by Newfound keeps them in the conversation for the top seed while a loss means they will travel for the semifinal round to the loser of next week’s showdown.

 

  Listen LIVE to the New Hampshire High School Football Show with Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley every Saturday morning at 9 am.

 You can listen by clicking the listen live link right on our homepage or on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area Saturday mornings. Our guest on Saturday will be Campbell head coach Glenn Costello.

 Get all the football scores from Friday night, a look at the Saturday games and analysis from Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley.