Goffstown football overcomes slow start to beat Manchester Central
Connor Bourque has had plenty of big moments throughout his football career at Goffstown High School.
MANCHESTER – Connor Bourque has had plenty of big moments throughout his football career at Goffstown High School.
Not many have been as prolific as Saturday against Manchester Central.
Bourque rushed for seven touchdowns, six from 10 yards out or less, and the Grizzlies remained undefeated with a 53-7 win over the Little Green in a Division I North Conference game.
Goffstown (7-0) overcame a slow start that saw Central (4-3) tie the game late in the first quarter at 7, but the Grizzlies turned things around in the second quarter, starting with a long touchdown run by Bourque.
“It was ugly early,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “They gave us a lot of problems and they were able to move the ball on us. They were tough up front and we did not play well on defense. I was pleased with how the guys responded in the second quarter and the second half. It was nice to figure it out eventually.”
Facing third-and-inches at the Grizzlies’ 37-yard line early in the second quarter, Bourque found a hole, got a couple of blocks and outran the Central defensive backfield to the end zone for a 63-yard run. The extra point was blocked, but Goffstown had all the points it would need, leading 13-7 with 7:20 left in the second.
“We had it well blocked and he saw an opening,” Hufft said. “He got to the second level, the split end did a nice job blocking, and he was able to make a big play. Sometimes you’re fortunate to have a kid like that who can be that explosive.”
Bourque’s six other touchdowns all came after a teammate made a big play to get the ball down near the goal line.
“I felt kind of bad,” Bourque said. “It’s kind of like with me and (quarterback) Casey (Gervais). He’d make me run 99 yards and then take the 1-yard touchdown. That’s what I felt like (Saturday), when they’d get taken out. I started to feel bad. I was like ‘come on guys, you’ve got to get credit here.’ I don’t want to take it all. We’re all right though.”
The defense kept Central off the scoreboard in the final three quarters, thanks to some big plays, including a couple in the backfield by Ian Routhier.
The senior linebacker sacked Central quarterback Anthony DiMauro on a fourth-and-2 play from the Goffstown 26 with the Grizzlies up two scores late in the second quarter. That set up a touchdown drive that ended with a 9-yard run by Bourque to make it 27-7 going into the half.
On the Little Green’s first play of the second half, Routhier sacked DiMauro again and forced a fumble, recovering it while the Central quarterback was on top of him. Bourque scored from 10 yards out to make it 33-7.
Carter Cormier also had a touchdown for Goffstown, scoring to make it 53-7 with 8:01 left to play. Gervais finished the day 4 of 6 passing for 95 yards, including a 54-yard catch-and-run to Andrew Duval, which set up a Bourque touchdown. Duval also had a big run on the first drive of the game to get Goffstown inside the Central 10-yard line.
“It felt good, because we’ve never beaten Central before,” Bourque said of the win. “Our sophomore year, we lost by a point. Last year, we lost by a point again. Coming out this year and winning by this much is kind of nice to get a win against a big school like this.”
