As we do every year for the football championship games at UNH we turn the preview over to the people that know these teams better than anyone, the coaches that faced them during the season.

 We talked to coaches from each division and asked them to breakdown the match-ups using blind quotes.

 We will be covering all three championship games on Saturday, bringing you all the highlights and the post-game interview with the entire winning team on the field at UNH.

 Pete Tarrier & I will call the Division III & II championship games while Londonderry head coach Jimmy Lauzon will join Pete for the call of the Division I title game.

 Next week we will hand out our post-season awards for Player and Coach of the Year in each division with Jennifer Chick-Ruth, Justin McIsaac, Pete Tarrier & I revealing our Top 3 in each category.

 Today’s scouting reports is sponsored by our longest running partner (over 10 years of supporting high school sports coverage in New Hampshire) Sentinel Title Services in Rye, NH.

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 Division I

 (4) Pinkerton vs. (1) Bedford

 Bedford team page and season statistics

 Pinkerton team page and season statistics

  Two teams that are no stranger to Wildcat Stadium in Durham meet for the Division I title. Bedford has been the dominant team in the division all season long while the Astros needed to beat Winnacunnet on the road in their season finale just to get in.

 Two more road wins later and Brian O’Reilly’s team is back in the title game for a second consecutive season to meet Derek Stank’s Bulldogs.

 We had opposing coaches break down the two powerful programs.

 First Bedford.

 “ They run very well on defense, they’re smart and they’re fast. When you play Bedford you find that things are not open for very long and holes close fast. Their edge rushers Andrew Twite & Christian Bourgeois are so effective and their linebackers (Harrison) LeGoullon and (Ryan) Toscano are just really good football players.”

 A fellow playoff head coach agreed. “ Their D-line is really well coached and of course they have the great athletes to run what they want.”

 “I think if you are going to beat Bedford you have to stop the run. The strength of their team is they have a number of different players who can hurt you running the football. What I think you have to focus on is making them turn one-dimensional. Thomas Morgan is a good quarterback but very few teams will beat Pinkerton just by throwing the football.”

 What about the Pinkerton Astros?

 “ Offensively they have a number of good backs but it really starts with Gannon Fast. He’s the guy we tried to key on and he makes plays even when you think you have him bottled up.”

 “ It sounds crazy but I don’t think Brian O’Reilly gets the credit he deserves. Sometimes it seems like people just assume he has so much talent they should always win but from watching film on them so often you see all the little in-game adjustments he makes. He’s an excellent coach.”

 “ The strength of this Pinkerton team is their linebackers. They’re the real deal and their secondary does a good job of taking the deep ball away.”

 How will the teams match up on Saturday?

 “ I think the fact that Bedford has been playing all spread teams like Nashua North, Merrimack, Goffstown & Nashua South will make it tough to face an offense like Pinkerton’s. All season long Bedford has been able to sort of pin their ears back and go after the quarterback or get into the backfield. That just isn’t going to work against Pinkerton. You have to be really disciplined and there is a period of adjustment when you play an offense like theirs for the first time all season.”

 A fellow coach agreed and made the point about Pinkerton’s road to Durham. “Pinkerton has been battling in close games all season while Bedford has won with relative ease all year long. Not sure if that is a deciding factor, and I still like Bedford to win, but it’s something to look for.”

 So who wins Saturday?

 “ I’ll go Pinkerton….21-17.”

 “ I like Bedford, they have been the best team all season.”

 My pick: Pinkerton 24, Bedford 17

 

 Division II

 (3) Alvirne vs. (1) Plymouth

 Plymouth team page and season statistics

 Alvirne team page and season statistics

 Plymouth goes for a 3rd straight Division II title while the Alvirne Broncos reach the championship game for the first time in program history.

 The Bobcats come into UNH undefeated for a second straight regular season while Alvirne has earned their title of the cardiac kids of 2018, coming back to win nearly every week as they made their run to the final.

 We asked coaches to breakdown Saturday’s match-up.

 First the defending champs.

 “They just don’t make those back-breaking mistakes that other teams make. Mistakes that can swing the momentum of the game. They execute to a T, finish their blocks, get off your blocks and pounce on you when you make a mistake.”

 A fellow Division II playoff coach agreed. “Their line play is very good. Cam MacDonald and Steve Shute are as good as any players we saw all season and I don’t think Alvirne has faced a player with the breakaway speed of Owen Brickley. To me, he is a total game changer for Plymouth.”

 How to beat Plymouth?

 “You take away Brickley and (Patrick) Malm by preparing over & over again for the six or seven plays they are going to run. You want to force their sophomore quarterback (Cody Bannon) to beat you. You concentrate on their regular plays and be alert on the jet sweep; they got Bow on that two years ago when it looked like Bow was going to beat them.”

 What about the Alvirne Broncos?

 “You can tell they came down a division and they are used to playing at a high level,” pointed out a head coach who has faced the Broncos. “They are very tough upfront and boy do they fly to the ball on defense. They were faster than us when they played us and it was a tough problem to solve.”

 “They want to run the football behind their big back (Alex Giuffrida) but they will also change their game plan on the fly if it isn’t working. (Head coach) Tarek Rothe does a good job adjusting and they have a lot of confidence in their quarterback Kyle Gora throwing the ball. He’s improved a lot over the season, the kid is legit.”

 Another coach talked about the Broncos defensive line. “ Saram Nadeem, Mitch Daubach and Tommy Keegan have been excellent for them, as good as we have seen on the D-line. They have confidence in their playmakers and Gora has really made great strides at quarterback.  He has big-time weapons to throw to in Jack Regan, James Bertrand, and Kyle Boucher. Those three might be the best playmakers Plymouth has faced all year.”

 So who wins Saturday?

 “ My prediction is Plymouth game plans well enough to put Alvirne away early, but I’ll tell you what, if you let Alvirne hang around they can win it. They’ve been coming back every week and they will not be worried about trailing in the 3rd quarter. They’re going to believe they can come back just like they did against Milford and St Thomas.”

 “ I’ll go with Plymouth because I think the fact that they have been there the past two years is a big advantage. I think Plymouth will make more plays and fewer mistakes.”

My pick: Plymouth 28, Alvirne 17

 

 Division III

 (3) Campbell vs. (1) Monadnock

 Monadnock team page and season statistics

 Campbell team page and season statistics

 Last November Campbell and Monadnock played the best of the three championship games at UNH.

 Monadnock held a lead in the fourth quarter before Campbell switched up their offense to a spread look and went down the field. Scoring the go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes.

 Monadnock responded by going back down the field until a Tim Santaw pass inside the 20-yard line on 4th down fell incomplete.

 A lot of the same names return when the teams square off again in the first game of the day.

 So why do people seem to feel like Campbell will be the team struggling to match up in the title game rematch?

 We asked two coaches who faced them during the season.

 “The Monadnock team this season is a better team than they were a year ago,” said one coach we spoke to. “They have more looks they can give you and their defense would be ready for any spread look, Campbell, brings the second time around.”

 “Monadnock is just so physical and when you play in Division III you are going to have guys playing on both sides of the ball. They do such a good job in the trenches that you ask your linebackers and safety’s to make a lot of plays. Those players are usually your skill players, and so when they are getting pounded trying to bring a (Chandler) Matson or a (Tim) Santaw or a (Joey) Joslyn or a (Lincoln) Blodgett down it can have a cumulative effect.”

 A fellow coach agreed. “When we played them I could see my guys getting worn down, particularly my skill guys. By the end of the game, they didn’t have the same burst because of all the tackles they had to make.”

 What makes Monadnock so good?

 “They have a lot of seniors, kids who have played a lot of football together. They play together as a unit and there are really no gaps to run through. Their gap discipline is excellent.”

 What about the defending champs?

 “Keegan Mills is just a terrific football player. He turned his ankle pretty badly against Stevens but the offense was able to play well giving Conor Sweeney the ball but I don’t think they can beat Monadnock if Mills is unable to go.”

 “The thing they do best is hit you with the big play. They have a few different guys in Mills, (Chad) Martel, (Carter) Vedrani and Sweeney who can do it. When you play Campbell you need to keep them in front of you and force them to be patient as they go down the field. Make them score on a 10 play drive and don’t give up the big play. They are better at scoring quickly than any other team in our division.”

 How do you defend the Cougars high powered offense?

 “Keep seven players in the box against them and you have to be very disciplined. Mills will take the ball one way and if he doesn’t like what he sees he will cut back and that’s where they get you. Keep your spacing and stay disciplined.”

 “With Campbell, we didn’t worry about them throwing it, we focused on the run entirely.”

 So who wins Saturday?

 “I like Monadnock, especially if Mills isn’t 100%”

“Monadnock but I think it will be close.”

My pick: Monadnock 28, Campbell 14

 

  Listen LIVE to the New Hampshire High School Football Show with Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley from UNH’s Wildcat Stadium 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 morning.

 We will preview all three championship games and look back at the semifinals.