Football Notebook: Two champions to be crowned, four tickets to finals to be punched

The Londonderry High School football team has one blemish on its record this fall.

Saturday, on their home field at 1 p.m., the Lancers (9-1) have a chance to avenge that loss to Salem (7-2) in the Division I South/West Bracket semifinal.

Londonderry head coach Jim Lauzon knows that’s easier said than done, especially with how strong Salem finished the regular season and opened the playoffs.

“We’re excited for this challenge,” Lauzon said. “We didn’t play our best football against them last time, so we’re hoping to have a better performance this time. Salem is definitely playing with more confidence.”

That confidence is understandable. After starting the season 1-2, the Blue Devils took advantage of a COVID-19 cancellation against Alvirne to regroup in Week 4. The bye week lit a fire under Salem, as the Blue Devils went on a five-game winning streak to close out the season and secure a playoff berth.

That five-game stretch consisted of wins over Windham (26-7), Keene (34-22), defending-champion Nashua North (35-28), Londonderry (35-21) and Merrimack (54-14).

In the tournament quarterfinals, Salem was off and running. On the legs of senior Aidan McDonald, the Blue Devils steamrolled Bishop Guertin 61-31 to earn their fifth consecutive trip to the DI semifinals. McDonald accounted for six of Salem’s school-record nine rushing touchdowns, including a 99-yard score on his way to 341 ground yards.

Lauzon knows this Salem offense is firing on all cylinders at the moment, and Londonderry’s defense versus McDonald and Co. is the key to this game.

“Slowing their offense down,” Lauzon said. “Containing them and making them work hard to get downfield. They’ve made a killing on big plays this year, they had one against us, and we’ve got to try and slow those down.

“If they earn it and work their way down the field, good for them, but we don’t want to make it easy for them.”

Salem head coach Steve Abraham knows nothing will come easy against a Londonderry team that has lost just one game this season. It doesn’t even matter that loss was to his squad.

“Do I think we have a shot?” Abraham said. “Yes, I think we can beat Londonderry. We’ve proven it once, but I think it’s going to take a Herculean effort to do it a second time in the same season. We’ve got to play better than we’ve played all season. Can we? Yes. Would I be shocked if Londonderry wins the game? No. I think we’re two equal teams.”

While the Blue Devils have the one-two punch of McDonald and Tommy Ahlers out of the backfield, the Lancers counter with dual threat quarterback Drew Heenan.

The junior took over full-time quarterbacking duties when Aidan Washington broke his collarbone in the regular-season finale. Heenan had plenty of reps under his belt after trading off with Washington throughout the season.

Heenan answered the bell in Londonderry’s 25-13 win over rival Pinkerton Academy in last week’s quarterfinals, throwing for 183 yards and two touchdowns (both to Andrew Kullman for 61 and 65 yards), while also rushing for 78 yards and a score.

Abraham knows that as good as his offense is, Londonderry’s is just as strong.

“I think it’s going to be a great game,” Abraham said. “We’re used to playing that high level of competition. There’s going to be tons of energy. They’re loaded. That kid (Riley) Boles is unbelievable. We’ve got to watch where he goes, and (Matt) Perron, and (Colby) Ramshaw. Jimmy puts it all together and does things the right way. There’s mutual respect.

“It’s going to be fun. Win or lose, and you know what I want to do, but win or lose we’re one of the four remaining teams still standing.”

East/North Bracket Semifinal: Exeter (7-2) at Winnacunnet (10-0), Saturday, 1 p.m.

The last time Winnacunnet and Exeter squared off, defenses ruled in a 14-7 Warriors win. Saturday in Hampton, it could be more of the same.

In a regular season that saw Winnacunnet outscore it’s opponents 294-71, Exeter stood tall as the only team to keep its loss within a one-score margin. That was until last week when Goffstown was within striking distance of a playoff upset.

Led by Tucker McCann’s 144-yard, one-touchdown performance, Winnacunnet (10-0) beat Goffstown 20-14 in last Friday’s quarterfinal. Exeter (7-2), courtesy of a three-touchdown day by senior Nathaniel Leighton, beat Bedford 35-28 in double overtime last Saturday.

There’s something extra special about this matchup. Despite this being the 93rd meeting of the two teams – a series Exeter leads 60-30-2 – it’s only the fifth playoff interaction between them and first in Division I.

Each school has two playoff wins over the other, with Exeter beating Winnacunnet in the 2003 Division II championship (24-6) and 2007 Division II semifinals (28-6), while Winnacunnet beat Exeter in the 2000 Division II championship (10-9) and 2009 Division II semifinal (17-10).

Recently, it’s been Winnacunnet in control of the series. The Warriors have beaten the Blue Hawks in five of their last six meetings. That includes an Exeter forfeit due to COVID-19 in last year’s Division I quarterfinal.

Facing head coach Bill Ball and Exeter is always exciting for the Winnacunnet’s fans, coaches and players, according to Warriors third-year head coach Ryan Francoeur.

“It’s Exeter. There’s not much more I have to say to my guys during an Exeter week to get them up for this game,” Francoeur said. “And having Exeter for a chance at the state title is about as good as it gets in Hampton. These kids are fired up and ready to go.”

Along with McCann, a 1,000-yard rusher on the season, Winnacunnet is led offensively by fellow seniors Kyle Tilley at quarterback and running back Matt Alkire. The Warriors are six running backs deep and have had plenty of room to operate behind an agile and athletic offensive line.

Exeter quarterback Evan Pafford has grown into his role brilliantly since taking over starting duties five weeks ago. He has a solid running back stable of Leighton, Jake Wiberg, Leo Zheng and Michael Dettore to feed the ball to in the usual ground-and-pound Blue Hawks fashion.

Division II semifinals

No. 4 St. Thomas (8-2) at No. 1 Timberlane (10-0), Saturday, 1 p.m. 

Timberlane continues to roll over its opponents this fall.

Led by the two-headed monster that consists of running backs Dom Pallaria (872 yards, 16 TDs) and Dan Post (825 yards, 13 TDs), the Owls are in position to reach the championship game for the first time during head coach Kevin Fitzgerald’s 14-year tenure. The furthest they’ve gone since winning the Division II title in 2001 was the semifinals a year ago.

The Owls run game has been the biggest reason for this season’s success.

“I feel like we’ve gained confidence as the year’s gone on,” Fitzgerald said. “Especially up front. Our offensive line has come a long way from the start of the season. We continue to be pretty physical up front, which helps our backs, who are two pretty good players – Pallaria and Post. They’ve gotten them to the second level a bunch, and they are pretty good when they get into space.”

Pallaria led the way for Timberlane in last week’s 42-6 Division II quarterfinal win over No. 8 Gilford-Belmont, rushing for five touchdowns and 142 yards on 12 carries.

St. Thomas, which opened this season with a 43-0 loss to Timberlane, has won eight of their last nine games, including last week’s 21-0 quarterfinal win over No. 5 Hanover.

The Saints are led by quarterback Michael Skowron, and running backs Liam Sullivan and Tyler Leedberg. Sullivan rushed for a pair of fourth-quarter scores on 136 yards in the quarterfinals, while Skowron’s 1-yard TD plunge in the third quarter was all St. Thomas needed to advance into Saturday’s semifinal.

No. 3 Milford (7-2) at No. 2 Lebanon (9-0), Saturday, 3 p.m. 

Lebanon head coach Chris Childs and Milford head coach Keith Jones know each other well – be it coaching philosophies, or, offensive and defensive tendencies.

“We know each other very well,” Jones said. “We hadn’t played each other in a while, but Coach Childs and I are very good friends. We have been for a number of years. Until this year, I don’t think we’ve played them since 2015 or 2016. We used to have some rivalry battles back in the day.”

Saturday afternoon, could bring back some memories of years past.

“Most good coaches will do what they do and will stick with what they do well,” Childs said. “Keith does that well. He runs that double dive or triple option, however you want to describe it.  He’s done that for years and you know he’s going to do it, but he also tends to put a little wrinkle in it. He always seems to have a trick play he likes to put in.

“We all have tendencies and you have to take those away from your opponent to be successful for sure.”

Lebanon was successful in its 27-14 win over Milford in Week 3 of the regular season. The Raiders used their own power run game, spearheaded by quarterback Jack Stone, to secure that victory.

Lebanon’s run game is highlighted by four guys with 700-plus yards each on the season. That quartet of Stone and running backs Nyeoti Punni, C.J. Childs and Cole Shambo continued pounding away in last week’s 47-20 quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Souhegan.

Charlie Urda, Milford’s starting quarterback, ran for four touchdowns to guide the Spartans past No. 6 Plymouth, 35-21, in their quarterfinal matchup. It was the program’s first ever win over Plymouth. Urda, along with captains Caden Zalenski and Logan Barnhill have had plenty of success on the ground this fall.

Jones isn’t playing coy about Saturday’s game script. Not like he’d fool Childs anyways.

“I’m a wishbone, triple-option guy first,” Jones said. “Anybody who knows me, knows that. I love to run the football. On average, the teams that run the ball, don’t turn it over, and play the clock, win the championship.”

Division III final

No. 2 Trinity (8-1) vs. No. 1 Pelham (9-0), Saturday, 1 p.m., at Bedford High School

It was a preseason favorite to repeat, and now Pelham is right where everybody expected.

The top-seeded Pythons (9-0) will play for their second straight D3 title Saturday at 1 p.m., at Bedford High School. They’ll face off with second-seeded Trinity (8-1) in the only meeting of the season between the two teams after COVID-19 forced a cancellation of the regular-season contest.

“This is a very even-keel bunch,” said Pelham coach Tom Babaian, whose program is playing for its fourth overall title. “They don’t really feel the pressure of one game or one situation. It’s more or less just relying on each other and getting the job done. It’s just a game-to-game thing. I think that helped us block out any preseason talk and just do what we had to do to reach the point we’re at this weekend.”

To reach this stage, Pelham was led by the usual suspects – Ethan Demmons, Kevin Bodenrader and Alex Carroll – scored all its points in the first half, rolling to a 46-6 semifinal win over Kearsarge last week. Trinity, led by running back Mark Nyoma and quarterback Jack Service, coasted past Campbell 33-8 in its semifinal.

Pelham isn’t expecting another blowout win in this week’s contest.

“They’re a very good team,” Babaian said. “I don’t anticipate any win to come easy, but definitely not this one. Trinity has some really good athletes. You know, we’ve both earned this chance to play for a title. We’re the two best teams standing and we’ll see what happens.”

Division IV final

No. 4 Fall Mountain (6-3) vs. No. 2 Somersworth (8-1), Saturday, 1 p.m., at Bank of NH Stadium in Laconia

Don’t let the regular season results fool you. Fall Mountain isn’t the same team that lost by 28 or more points to Newport and Somersworth prior to the playoffs.

The Wildcats taking the field this weekend are more like the team that upset top-seeded defending champion Newport 21-6 a week ago in the semifinals.

Next up? Fall Mountain faces second-seeded Somersworth in Saturday’s championship game at Bank of New Hampshire Stadium in Laconia at 1 p.m.

“We had a really good week of practice and came in confident,” Fall Mountain head coach Orion Binney said of the Newport win. “The guys played with really high energy, and like I’ve told them all year, we play at our absolute best when you play like absolute wild animals. That’s the way they played. They believed they could beat this team even though nobody else really thought they could.”

As has been the case this entire season, quarterback Luke Gay came up big one more time. The junior signal caller rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats’ win over Newport. Just as important in the upset was Fall Mountain’s defensive front, led by junior Quinn Healy, who registered 12 tackles (four solo) and two sacks.

“They played physical and kept at it all game,” Binney said. “We thought if we could put them in an uncomfortable situation, whether them being down for most of the game or forcing them to pass most of the game, we had a chance. We executed that game plan and it worked.”

It’s a defense that’s tightened since its 34-6 loss to Somersworth on Oct. 6. Fall Mountain has only allowed 15 points in its last four games, including its last three regular season wins to clinch a playoff spot and last week’s semifinal victory.

If a title is in the cards, the Wildcats defense will need to be just as strong Saturday against the Hilltoppers and 1,000-yard running back Calvin Lambert, who are looking to hoist the program’s first title plaque since 1997.

Lambert and Somersworth quarterback Jeff DeKorne are the two guys Fall Mountain will focus on. If the Wildcats are able to keep Lambert in check – which they were unable to do in the regular-season meeting when he rushed for 100 yards and three TDs – DeKorne can push it downfield through the air. That ability was on display in Somersworth’s 34-12 semifinal win over No. 3 Epping-Newmarket. DeKorne threw for 136 yards and two touchdowns, while running for another score.

“It’s kind of an out of the frying pan and into the fire type of deal,” Binney said. “Somersworth is a really good football team. They have a fantastic offensive line. Calvin Lambert is an amazing running back, but they’ve got three or four other kids behind him that can run the ball as well. The quarterback does a really nice job. It’s a very good team we’ll be facing.

“The guys believe in themselves and what they can accomplish. We’ve put in a good week of practice, and now we see what happens at game time.”

George Scione writes for NH-HighSchoolSports.com and has covered high school sports in New Hampshire since 1995. To report standout gridiron performances, or offer ideas for the football notebook, send an email to scioneg@gmail.com.