YEAH THAT’S RIGHT – You waited all Spring and Summer, and finally, the only reason for getting out of bed early in the week is back: Justin McIsaac’s Top 10!

 

The Top 10 is brought to you by TJ’S in Portsmouth! My absolute favorite spot in Portsmouth to catch a game. Tell Bethany that McIsaac sent you.

 

 

10. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BEARS- NOT THE ONES FROM CHICAGO

Big win for Newfound! Brett Pidgeon found the endzone twice in an 18-0 blanking of the previously unbeaten Franklin Golden Tornadoes. If Newfound can beat Fall Mt (who has won 3 straight) and ‘Squam beats Franklin, there will be a playoff rematch, only this time in Bristol.

9. SPEAKING OF D4, FARMINGTON-NUTE HAS A W!

For the first time in 3 years, the Tigers are in the win column! A 33-6 win over Raymond (who I’m assuming has some kids hurt or something, because they started off playing well and have really struggled as of late).

8. I SPENT WAY TOO LONG FIGURING OUT NEW DIVISIONS, SINCE I HAD A BUNCH OF CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THIS OVER THE WEEKEND

Most people think D4 has been a success, while there have still been some blowouts in D3 (which could probably be fixed by shuffling some teams up to D2 and some back down to D3, if we started taking Football Program Strength into account along with population size). I also think D1 is a bit of a mess, and, like I said, this won’t be perfect, but here it is:

7. THE SUPER 6 AND NEW D1

Super 6? What the hell is that? It’s what I just came up with! In the “Super 6” division, all the teams play each other twice (home and home), with a 4 team playoff. Here’s your Super 6:

Bedford               Pinkerton            Exeter

North                    South                    Londonderry

You could argue Salem instead of Londonderry, but for the 6 I tried to stick with population-  Londonderry has more students than Salem

D1  (14 teams)

Winnacunnet       Portsmouth        Salem                 St. Thomas

Dover                    Spaulding            Goffstown          Plymouth

Merrimack          Windham            Central                 Keene

Concord               BG

Yeah that’s right, Plymouth is a D1 team now! So is STA, how fun would a St Thomas v Goffstown game be? Or STA Merrimack? And a Plymouth v Winnacunnet game? You know you like this.

6. THE NEW D2

Memorial            Timberlane         Souhegan            Milford                 Campbell

Trinity                   Hanover            Hollis-Brookline              John Stark           Bow

Alvirne                  Kennett                               West                     Monadnock

Memorial gets to move down and try to rebuild things, with the chance to move up. Monadnock is back with some of the bigger teams, and so is Campbell. I thought about moving West down, but kept them here, ultimately.

5. THE NEW D3

Pelham                 Gilford                  Merrimack Valley             Sanborn               Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton

Lebanon              Newport              Stevens                                Laconia                 Kearsarge

Somersworth    Con-Val               

A little trickier here, but I feel like it gives MV a chance to rebuild, Lebanon might be one division too low, maybe Somersworth is one too high. Like I said, it ain’t perfect.

4. THE NEW D4

Kingswood          Epping/Newmarket        Pembroke           Bishop Brady      Fall Mt 

Farmington/Nute            Franklin               Mascoma           Newfound          Raymond            

‘Squam   Interlakes-Moltonborough

Kingswood gets a chance to get it back together, and maybe go up to D3. Pembroke likewise. We can always make D3 a 14 team league and D4 can go to 10. I’m not married to anything.

Let me know what you think! There’s a comment section, so use it! Just keep it civil, or I’ll use the ban-hammer.

3. GIANT WIN FOR THE JAGS

I think it’s safe to say that Windham is getting better as they go along in their inaugural D1 campaign. Wins over Salem, and now at Pinkerton have everyone’s attention, if it didn’t already. Going to Pinkerton and getting a W isn’t just something you roll out of bed and go do, so congrats to the Jags. If they’re able to get in to the D1 playoffs, they could spoil someone’s season.

2. WE’RE GOING TO PHILLY AND I’M RUNNING THE ROCKY STEPS AND IT WILL BE THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE

UNH plays at Villanova this coming weekend, and so we’re headed to the City of Brotherly Battery Throwing, Santa Booing, Flash-In-The-Pan-Scored-14-Points-That-Should-Not-Have-Counted-In-The-Super-Bowl-Pro-Team-Having Love. (Not that I’m bitter) As you may know, we here at NHSportspage have a love for Rocky that borders on a little too obsessive (is there a 45 minute Rocky podcast out there? There is.)

So needless to say, when I get a chance to race (slowly) up the steps of the Philadelpia Museum of Art, it’ll be about 10000x better than anything else that’s happened to me. Luckily for me, my kids don’t read this. Actually, they probably already know…

1. AT SOME POINT YOU’LL FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU HAD, AND IT WILL BE TOO LATE

I’m speaking directly to the football parents & school board & Superintendent of schools in Somersworth with the title of #1 here. As you may have heard, Dan Hodsdon is no longer the Coach of the Toppers, who won their 4th straight Friday night over Kearsarge in a thriller. I didn’t find out this news until I got to the field, and it felt like someone had punched me in the gut.

I have spoken to many people about the situation, which I will spare you the details of, but I feel confident in saying that a wrong decision was made, and for all the wrong reasons.

I always like to say that, if people knew half of what Dan had to put up with to get a team on the field, and to be fairly successful from year to year, he’d win D3 coach of the year every year. Every coach, to some extent, has a minefield of problems to deal with, but Somersworth has had some fairly unique situations for Coach Hodsdon to deal with.

I feel, and again, this is my opinion, that Coach Hodsdon got a raw deal. That the agendas of people with influence have removed a good man from a position he loved. And it makes me angry, and disappointed. I love the players, the assistant coaches of the Somersworth High football team, and the administration at Somersworth High. But I think it’s going to be a long while before I cover a Somersworth football game again. And that makes me sad.

 

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: STA Keeps on chugging, Heart attack city at the end of the Pats game, Let’s go SOX!!!, Eliot Bless pulled a snake move in a fantasy trade

 

Justin McIsaac writes the Top 10 every week (usually). He has 1,000 jobs, including radio color commentary for UNH Football, Producer of "NH Today with Jack Heath", HS play by play for MOSN, The McIsaac On Sports Network, college play by play for Dartmouth, St Anselm’s, UNE, Harvard, and whoever else will cut the check. Follow him on Twitter: @justin_mcisaac