AMHERST – For a season opener with not much preparation time, it couldn’t have gone any better for the Souhegan High school football team on Friday night.

Or worse for the defending Division II champion Hollis Brookline Cavaliers.

Austin Jain threw for a score to Jake Civiello and ran 6 yards for another, while Mitch Hauser also had a rushing score in Souhegan’s 20-0 win over the Cavs at Saber Field.

“The defense rocked,” Sabers coach Robin Bowkett said. “I was worried going in how our tackling would be and if we would be solid on special teams. They were both solid.

“Pitching a shutout on defense, though, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

And that certainly didn’t make HB coach Chris Lones happy. “We were outplayed in every phase,” he said.

Riley Lawhorn helped set up one of the Saber scores with multiple runs during a long drive. “He was a rushing machine,” Bowkett said.

Souhegan led 14-0 at the half and Hauser’s TD with 5:15 left clinched it.

“It was a little sloppy but considering the landscape with COVID, better than I thought,” said Bowkett, referring to the short preseason due to the pandemic. “I felt like we left some points out there but we moved the ball and executed.”

The Sabers host Bishop Guertin next Friday while HB visits Milford, which was idle last night.

SALEM 46,

ALVIRNE 12

It was a rude welcome back to Division I for the Alvirne High School football team.

But the contest at Salem’s Grant Field wasn’t completely one sided.

The Broncos got two first-half TDs on a Kyle Gora QB sneak and a Gora 70-yard TD pass to Andrew Porter. That pulled them to within 18-12 with 1:40 left in the first half.

“We had them,” Broncos coach Tarek Rothe said.

But the Blue Devils returned the ensuing kickoff to the Alvirne 29 and scored just before the half to go into the break 26-12. The second half was all Salem.

Alvirne hosts Goffstown next Friday. The Grizzlies opened up with a 26-21 win at Bedford last night.

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