Hollis Brookline football does whatever it takes to beat Plymouth to win first D2 title

DURHAM – Sander Wimmer will go down as one of the best passing quarterbacks in New Hampshire football history, but on Sunday, there was only one thing that mattered to the Hollis Brookline High School senior.

Winning a championship.

With whipping winds and swirling rain making it almost impossible to throw the ball during the Division II championship game, the Cavaliers football team turned to its running game and it delivered.

No. 5 HB ran for 356 yards, with Marc-Andre Thermitus and Quinten Wimmer both rushing for over a hundred, and the Cavs were able to slow No. 6 Plymouth’s offense just enough for a 24-13 win at Wildcat Stadium at the University of New Hampshire. The victory gives HB the first football title in school history and ends the Bobcats’ run of consecutive D2 titles at three.

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Thermitus had a game-high 166 yards on the ground while Quinten Wimmer had 144 yards and all three touchdowns for HB (10-2) and Sander Wimmer added 52 yards rushing and scored on three two-point conversions. The HB quarterback attempted just one pass, a 3-yard completion to Quinten Wimmer on the second play of the third third quarter.

“That was our mindset,” Sander Wimmer said. “Stats don’t mean anything, the only thing that matters is a win or a loss. The offensive line was unstoppable, along with Quinten and Marc running the ball. They’re just such athletes. You can put them anywhere and they perform, and they did that (Sunday).

“The wind levels were so high, it was so wet, my hands were so cold I couldn’t grip the ball. Catching the snap was even a problem at that point. I knew throwing was out of the question. I’m just happy we got the win.”

While the weather took away a lot of what the Cavs like to do on offense, they were able to utilize their entire running game, bringing in extra linemen while having Quinten Wimmer and Thermitus line up on either side of Sander Wimmer.

“We basically ran everything we run in our run game,” HB coach Chris Lones said. “We brought the extra guy inside and had an extra lineman on the line of scrimmage. In the second half, we brought two extra linemen in and took two receivers off. Nothing changed up front. We’ve got three dudes who can run the ball and they’re willing to do so.”

Plymouth (9-3) got a big day from quarterback Cody Bannon, as he had 148 yards rushing on 22 carries and the junior was 3 of 6 passing for 54 yards with a touchdown and an interception. All three completions when to Cale Swanson in the fourth quarter after HB had taken a 24-7 lead, including a 9-yard touchdown pass with 4:32 left in the game.

But the Bobcats inability to stop HB’s running game in critical spots turned out to be the difference. The Cavs were 6-of-10 on third down and 2-of-3 on fourth down and picked up 19 first downs, all on the ground.

“Hats off to them, they’ve got some good players,” Plymouth coach Chris Sanborn said. “They just outplayed us. They wanted it more. They made less mistakes than we did and controlled the ball. We did a couple of things defensively that we just don’t normally do.”

Plymouth looked like a team that was playing in its fourth-straight championship game on the opening drive, going 63 yards in six plays and taking a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard run by Joseph D’Ambruoso. Bannon had 51 yards rushing on the drive, including a 29-yard gain to the HB 7 to set up the touchdown.

“That was just nerves, being at UNH, the atmosphere,” Quinten Wimmer said. “After the first touchdown, it was kind of a reality check. We were able to adjust and we made the plays.”

The Bobcats appeared to make a big one early in the second quarter, when Jacob Duquette forced a fumble by Thermitus and Joseph Cleary recovered at Plymouth’s 49. The Bobcats picked up a first down, but on fourth-and-6 at the HB 35, Cleary was dropped for a loss of a yard and the Cavs took over.

HB went on a 15-play, 64-yard drive that ran 6:20 off the clock and ended with a 9-yard touchdown run by Quinten Wimmer. The two-point conversion by Sander Wimmer gave the Cavs an 8-7 lead they would take into halftime.

On the drive, HB converted three third downs and a fourth down.

The Cavs got the ball to start the second half and put together another long drive, going 68 yards in 11 plays with the drive ending in a 7-yard touchdown run by Quinten Wimmer. HB again got the two-point conversion and led 16-7 with 8:06 to go in the third quarter.

“We’re getting the ball to start the second half and we’re scoring and we’re going to change the game,” Lones said. “That’s exactly what we did. We stopped them and then we scored on our next drive, then they were in catchup mode. They’re in something they don’t do. We just needed to play sound coverage and keep getting pressure, and that’s what we did.”

Plymouth responded with a long drive of its own, moving 45 yards in 12 plays and using up 7:42 of the third quarter, but on fourth-and-5 at HB’s 21, Bannon was stopped for a gain of 1. On the next play, Thermitus broke free for a 62-yard run on the final play of the quarter, giving the Cavs a first down at the Bobcats’ 18.

Three plays later, Quinten Wimmer scored again, this time from 8 yards out, and Sander Wimmer added the two-point conversion for a 24-7 lead with 10:51 remaining.

The Bobcats answered with Bannon’s touchdown pass to Swanson, but the scoring drive took 6:18 off the clock and Plymouth’s pass attempt on the conversion failed, keeping it an 11-point game with 4:32 remaining.

Plymouth’s Cole Johnston recovered the onside kick, giving the Bobcats the ball at the Cavs’ 36, and after an incompletion, Bannon hit Swanson for a 21-yard gain. But on the next play, Bannon was picked off by Blake Bergerson and HB was able to run out the clock.

“It’s amazing,” Sander Wimmer said. “I’m so happy for all the players, all the seniors, who for them it’s their last football game. I’m just so proud of the guys. It kind of puts HB football on the map, finally.”