Londonderry football outlasts Exeter to win first D1 championship in 21 years

DURHAM – In the days leading up to Sunday’s Division I championship game, Jimmy Lauzon did his best to get the Londonderry High School football team ready to potentially see the most adversity it had faced all season.

When Exeter took the lead early in the fourth quarter after a long, time-consuming drive, it marked the first time the Lancers trailed in the second half all season.

And on the ensuing drive, Londonderry was faced with a fourth down at midfield, needing four yards for a first down or risk giving the ball back to the Blue Hawks and never seeing it again.

Jake McEachern found some running room and raced down the sideline for a 41-yard gain, and three plays later, the senior quarterback kept for a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Lancers on top. After an Exeter fumble on the kickoff, Londonderry scored again to wrapup a 21-10 win over the Blue Hawks at Wildcat Stadium at the University of New Hampshire.

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The championship is the first for the Lancers (12-0) since 1998, despite being held to more than 25 points below their average scoring total for the season.

“We knew at some point adversity was going to hit,” Lauzon said. “We went 11 games with no adversity. I had a feeling it was going to come (Sunday) and we had to battle through it. It was really the first time we had trailed in the second half all year. I was just proud of them fighting through it.

“Half my playbook goes out because we really couldn’t spread it around to everybody and throw the ball. We knew we wanted to get everybody the ball, but we knew we had to do it on the ground.”

McEachern led Londonderry with 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns while completing 3 of 4 passes for 27 yards. Jeff Wiedenfeld added 95 yards on the ground as the Lancers averaged 5.0 yards per carry.

Exeter (10-2) got 45 yards on the ground from Derek Edmiston and Spencer Clark added 43 yards while Ryan Grijalva had 41 and Jaedon Cliche had 39. Grijalva was also 3 of 6 passing for 39 yards, but threw two interceptions on Londonderry’s side of the field, including one with 2:23 left in the game after the Lancers had gone up by 11 points.

The Blue Hawks opened the game with a 15-play, 61-yard drive that used up 7:12 of the first quarter and ended with a 26-yard field goal by Nolan Elmore to make it 3-0 with 4:44 left in the opening frame.

Londonderry got a 42-yard return on the ensuing kickoff from Alex Tsetsilas, and the Lancers picked up two quick first downs, but a holding penalty helped to stall the offense. On fourth-and-6 at Exeter’s 24, McEachern’s pass for Tsetsilas fell incomplete and the Blue Hawks took over.

This time, Exeter went on a 13-play drive that took up 7:22, but the Blue Hawks got nothing to show for it when Grijalva’s pass on fourth down from the Londonderry 30 was picked off by Tsetsilas.

“In the first half, I was getting a little worried (about not having the ball), but our defense has been great,” Lauzon said. “They bend but don’t break.”

With 6:12 left in the first half, Londonderry went on a 14-play, 85-yard drive, converting three third downs and taking a 7-3 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by McEachern with 52 seconds left in the first half.

The Lancers got the ball to start the third quarter and drove down to the Exeter 25 before turning the ball over on downs. From there, the Blue Hawks put together a quintessential Exeter drive.

Exeter went on an 18-play, 75-yard drive that used up 9:39 of the clock and saw the Blue Hawks convert four third downs, including a 14-yard run by Grijalva on third-and-3 that gave Exeter a first-and-goal at the Londonderry 4.

After a 3-yard loss by Clark on first down, it looked like the Lancers’ defense might hold, but on fourth down, Cliche scored from 2 yards out to give Exeter a 10-7 lead.

“We had to put all our heart on it,” Wiedenfeld said. “We knew what we had to do, we had to finish and we finished. We knew there would be adversity and we knew we had to push through it. The only way we had to was to win.”

Wiedenfield returned the kickoff 26 yards to give Londonderry the ball at its own 44, but two plays later, the senior was stopped for no gain on third down to set up a fourth-and-3 at the Exeter 49.

McEachern kept the ball on fourth down, and with a group of blockers out front, got through Exeter’s first level and broke free for 41 yards to give Londonderry a first-and-goal at the 8. Then, on third-and-goal from the 1, McEachern found his way in to give the Lancers a 14-10 lead with 7:09 remaining.

Caleb Constance fumbled the kickoff for Exeter and Londonderry’s Riley Boles recovered to give the Lancers the ball at the Blue Hawks’ 26-yard line.

“That’s what the game is made of, it’s made of turnovers and game-changing plays,” Lauzon said. “We knew they wouldn’t normally give us something like that. They haven’t turned it over much this year. We were lucky to force them.”

The Lancers’ capitalized on the turnover, as Tyler Kayo scored from 2 yards out to put Londonderry up 21-10 with 2:41 left in the game.

A 50-yard return on the kickoff by Edmiston, and a personal foul on the Lancers, gave Exeter the ball at Londonderry’s 16, but on the first play, Grijalva’s pass was intercepted by Kyle Proulx. The Lancers were able to run out the clock to wrap up their first championship in 21 years.

“It feels great,” McEachern said. “I’m so proud of the team and it’s been our goal since Day 1. It was a great win.”