STRONG STATEMENT: Pinkerton Academy of Derry head coach Brian O’Reilly didn’t hold back when discussing whether Division II was a tougher league than Division I this season. O’Reilly’s answer earned him the top spot for coaches’ comments in 2008 (Mark Bolton/Union Leader).
There isn’t a head coach, in my opinion, who provides better material than Brian O’Reilly.
The Pinkerton Academy of Derry head coach isn’t afraid to speak his mind. His resume, which includes nine Division I championships and a 225-90 career record, proves he can back up his comments.
Well, after Pinkerton’s 10-0 Week 8 win against Nashua South on Saturday, Oct. 25, O’Reilly offered his opinion on whether Division II was tougher to navigate than Division I.
Remember, one night earlier, Division II powerhouse Bishop Guertin of Nashua was upset at home by Keene, 18-14. One week earlier, defending Division II champion Exeter lost at Timberlane of Plaistow, 21-7.
O’Reilly said he heard the chatter. Division II was the definition of parity. Division I was just top-heavy.
According to a BG source, O’Reilly’s response — which appeared in my “First & 10″ column on Monday, Oct. 27 — definitely ruffled the Cardinals’ feathers.
“There are certainly four teams in Division I this year that nobody would want to play, let’s put it that way,” O’Reilly said. “Now, if Division II people think that means they’ve got a better division, so be it. But if they had to come up and play Pinkerton, (Manchester) Central, South and Londonderry on a continuous basis, I think they would have second thoughts as to what they say.
“Talk is cheap,” O’Reilly added. “Anytime you want to play in Division I, all you have to do is petition up. Nobody will ever stop you from coming up to Division I.”
-MT
NO SLOWING DOWN: Nashua South’s David Zocco (left) stiff-arms Londonderry’s Anthony Terenzi during the Purple Panthers’ 42-25 Week 9 triumph on Oct. 31 (David Lane/Union Leader).
In the second-to-last regular-season game of his high school football career, David Zocco single-handedly dismantled playoff-bound Londonderry.
Nashua South’s 6-foot-2, 205-pound running back/free safety — the eventual New Hampshire Union Leader Player of the Year — rushed for 269 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries (12.8 yards per carry). He also intercepted a pass on defense.
Zocco’s contributions helped South score an authoritative 42-25 Week 9 win at Stellos Stadium on Friday, Oct. 31.
“He showed some breakaway speed tonight,” South head coach Scott Knight said of Zocco. “He has an extra gear, for sure.”
The Purple Panthers built a 21-3 halftime lead. Zocco scored twice before intermission. He followed his first score, an 80-yard TD run, with a 1-yard plunge.
Inside the game’s final five minutes, Zocco zipped past Londonderry defenders for 37- and 51-yard TD runs.
“He’s a (heck) of a ballcarrier,” Londonderry head coach Jon Rich said. “We knew exactly what we needed to do to stop him. And it didn’t happen.”
-MT
CELEBRATING SUCCESS: Plymouth head coach Chuck Lenahan celebrates his 3ooth career win with his players on Saturday, Sept. 13. The Bobcats beat Kingswood of Wolfeboro, 41-7, in Week 2 (Mark Bolton/Union Leader).
I spoke with several high school football coaches at this year’s “Jeff Francoeur Coaches’ Huddle” on Thursday, Dec. 4.
Chuck Lenahan, the head coach of Division IV Plymouth and owner of the most New Hampshire wins in state history (309-63-1 career record, 17 championships), was among them.
Our conversation at Sweeney Post 2 in Manchester was mostly about the inaugural Union Leader/WGAM/WMUR Power Poll.
I asked Lenahan what he thought of the poll and whether smaller schools with successful programs should be considered among the state’s top 10 teams, regardless of school size and caliber of competition faced.
“Division I and Division II probably should have their own Power Poll,” Lenahan said. “I mean, (if) you want to be in their Power Poll, go up and play them. (If) you don’t want to go up and play them, don’t expect to be up there with them.
“We’re not going to pretend to be something we’re not,” he added. “We’ve got (817) kids. If I wanted to go up and play Division I and II schools I’d petition up, and go up and play them. We’ve got to play the schools we play in everything else. We’re worried about Plymouth High School – not some Power Poll.”
Did Lenahan ever look at the Power Poll this season?
“The only one I really looked at, to tell you the truth, was the last one,” Lenahan said. “Like I said, we’re worried about the division we’re in, and where we’re playing.
“I don’t think I want to play Exeter and BG and Pinkerton week in and week out,” he added. “There are some schools up there, as you know, that we could certainly compete with. But you’re not going to have a great run like we’ve had forever, that’s for sure.”
-MT
PRECISION PASSER: Quarterback Keith Farkas (center, No. 1), who was nearly flawless in the Division I championship game, celebrates Nashua South’s state-title win with teammate Demetri Venetos (Bruce Taylor/Union Leader).
Nashua South quarterback Keith Farkas was red-hot on the most frigid day of the 2008 high school football season.
Farkas, just a sophomore, was near-perfect in the Division I championship game played at Pinkerton Academy of Derry on Saturday, Nov. 22. He was, without question, instrumental in South’s 33-32 overtime title-game triumph.
A first-year varsity starter, the 15-year-old was poised in the pocket, which allowed him to deliver many on-target tosses. The 6-foot-3, 163-pound QB completed 17 of 21 passes for 253 yards.
The last opposing QB to post 250-plus passing yards in a postseason game at Pinkerton was Manchester Central’s Tim Day. He completed 17 of 21 passes in the 2001 Division I semifinals. He totaled 285 passing yards and five TD tosses as the Little Green ousted the Astros, 42-7.
Farkas completed 16 of his final 18 pass attempts. He hit five different receivers. His top target was junior Nick Haskell, whose six receptions totaled 145 yards.
The QB’s 17 completions included seven connections that moved the chains at least 15 yards. Haskell caught passes of 45, 25, 23 and 27 yards. Sophomore Nilsson Basora snared tosses of 24 and 16 yards. Junior Nick Frederickson hauled in an 18-yarder.
To think, Farkas has two more years under center for South.
-MT
Nashua South head coach Scott Knight clinched the third-best coaches’ comment of the 2008 campaign.
Knight’s remark was made in early December. I was interviewing him for the New Hampshire Union Leader Player of the Year article on South’s David Zocco.
A portion of our conversation focused on the lack of attention college football programs have paid to the 6-foot-2, 205-pound running back/free safety.
It shocked me. It shocked several opposing high school football coaches.
And it certainly shocked Knight, who had no explanation why the University of New Hampshire in particular wasn’t pouncing on this Purple Panther.
“Everybody asks me about UNH. I haven’t even received a call,” Knight said. “They came up last year in the spring to talk to him.
“Maybe they’re mad because they keep getting beat by another team of Purple Panthers,” added Knight, referring to the University of Northern Iowa and its recent playoff dominance against the Wildcats. “But maybe we’ll be getting a call this week.”
-MT
GAME-BREAKER: Pinkerton junior running back Eric Guinto recorded 217 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns against Salem on Saturday, Sept. 27. Pinkerton won, 28-14. (Bruce Taylor/Union Leader).
The lede to my “First & 10″ high school football column for the Sept. 28 New Hampshire Sunday News said it best:
“It’s really this simple: Eric Guinto is a 5-foot 8-inch, 155-pound dagger.”
Guinto certainly fit that description on Saturday, Sept. 27. The Pinkerton Academy of Derry junior running back totaled 217 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns on just 11 touches. Pinkerton doubled up visiting Salem in the Week 4 matchup at Memorial Field, 28-14.
The breakdown:
Pinkerton’s premier weapon rushed for a game-high 106 yards on nine carries (11.8 yards per carry). He struck for highlight-reel TDs of 55 and 36 yards.
In addition, Guinto proved powerful on special teams with a 61-yard TD return and a 50-yard scamper.
Guinto first struck less than four minutes into the game.
Again, from my Sept. 28 column:
“Standing near the left sideline, he secured a punt at Pinkerton’s 39. He stepped back to make Salem’s first tackler miss before darting toward the right sideline, turning the corner, and sprinting 61 yards for the score.”
After the teams traded touchdowns, “Guinto ran a sweep to the right and dodged a tackler on the edge. Pinned along the sideline, he cut across field, sidestepped several defenders, and snuck inside the right pylon for a 55-yard TD.”
Salem later pulled within 21-14, but …
“Guinto clinched the game with his 36-yard, fourth-quarter TD. He took a handoff, ran up the middle, and danced past the final defender at Salem’s 15.”
Pinkerton head coach Brian O’Reilly accurately categorized his top playmaker as “a touchdown waiting to happen.”
Here’s hoping Guinto — who suffered a season-ending left-ACL injury in Week 9 against Manchester Central — returns to form in 2009.
-MT
Back in Week 4, Keith Jones was looking for his first victory against former Division III rival Plymouth. The Spartans head coach entered the non-league “crossover” contest 0-5 against the Bobcats, which dropped to Division IV for the 2008 campaign.
In those five matchups, Milford was twice shut out. It also twice surrendered 50-plus points.
The Spartans only scored double digits once.
Plymouth’s average margin of victory: 31.2 points.
Which brings us to the coach’s comment …
“You can only take so much. You get to the point where you sure get sick of losing to certain people,” said Jones, also 0-6 against Souhegan of Amherst. “Even though Plymouth is not in our league this year, the road to championship football still goes through Plymouth and Amherst.”
Final score of the sixth meeting, played at Milford on Sunday, Sept. 28: Plymouth 35, Milford 8.
-MT
VERSATILE & VICTORIOUS: Connor Lyons, pictured in this Week 5 game against Stevens of Claremont, made the cut for Top 5 performances courtesy of his clutch play in Week 9 against St. Thomas Aquinas of Dover (David Lane/Union Leader).
No question, Connor Lyons was the key to victory for Trinity High of Manchester in Week 9.
The junior wingback/defensive back/placekicker certainly showed his versatility in the Pioneers’ thrilling 27-26 overtime victory at St. Thomas Aquinas of Dover. On Sunday, Nov. 2, he rushed for 91 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries. He also kicked the game-winning extra point in OT.
TD No. 1 for Lyons capped a 12-play, 64-yard drive in the first frame. He broke three tackles running up the middle, kept his balance while spinning off the final hit, and raced to the end zone.
TD No. 2 was a 42-yard run in the third quarter. Lyons took the fourth snap of the series, ran to his left before quickly reversing direction. He broke one tackle, bounced to the outside, and raced down the sideline for the score.
TD No. 3 was a 10-yard scamper on Trinity’s first offensive snap of OT. The scoring run pulled the Pioneers even at 26-apiece. Moments later, Lyons lined up for the pivotal extra-point attempt, which he drilled.
One heck of a team celebration ensued.
-MT
ALL SMILES IN AMHERST: Souhegan High of Amherst head coach Mike Beliveau (left) celebrates the Sabers’ Division III championship with New Hampshire Union Leader All-State selection Jameson Luks on Saturday, Nov. 15. Souhegan defeated Portsmouth, 28-14 (Bruce Taylor/Union Leader).
The day after his football team completed an undefeated championship season in Division III, Souhegan High of Amherst head coach Mike Beliveau discussed the future plans for his program.
“Plan A is to continue with Laconia (which lost to Souhegan, 26-17, in this year’s D-III/D-IV non-league game),” Beliveau said on Sunday, Nov. 16. “If that doesn’t work, Plan B is to go (play a team from a) higher division or out of state. And it wouldn’t be an out-of-state, hand-picked patsy.”
And if either of those options don’t work out? Any chance of Souhegan-Plymouth in 2009?
“If Plan C becomes the Thaler (i.e. Souhegan) vs. Kevin Gray (i.e. Plymouth) Bowl,” Beliveau said, “we’d be up for it.”
-MT
Sometimes a single play makes an athlete a top performer.
Keene High’s Colby Wilkinson is the perfect example.
Wilkinson, a junior center, was instrumental in Keene’s 18-14 Week 8 upset at Bishop Guertin of Nashua. At the time, the host Cardinals owned the No. 1 ranking in the Union Leader/WGAM/WMUR Power Poll.
And the Cards appeared to survive a major scare from the Blackbirds on Friday, Oct. 24, at Stellos Stadium.
Until Wilkinson keyed Keene’s stunning victory, that is.
Inside the final four minutes, Guertin maintained its slim 14-12 lead by blocking a 22-yard field goal attempt off the foot of Keene kicker Mike Tateosian. Many Cardinals ran toward their sideline in celebration.
The officials, however, never ruled the play dead. The football, though blocked, didn’t cross the line of scrimmage.
Live ball.
Wilkinson scooped the football and headed for the end zone. He was tackled at BG’s 1-yard line. Fourth-and-4 turned into first-and-goal for the Blackbirds.
Two plays later, tailback Ray Boulay scored his third touchdown of the game, which gave Keene an 18-14 lead with 2 minutes, 17 seconds to play.
Keene — courtesy of Wilkinson — became the first unranked team to take down a No. 1 squad in the Power Poll.
-MT
