Bishop Guertin's Matt Santosuosso (13) is chased by Salem's Trevor Darisse during the Cards' 17-14 regular season win over the Blue Devils. The teams see each other again Saturday night at Stellos Stadium in the Division I quarterfinals. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Now the fun begins.

The NHIAA Football Second Season begins this weekend with quarterfinals in Divisions I and II and semis in III and IV, and that’s great news for the Bishop Guertin, Milford, Souhegan and Campbell High School football teams.

“It’s exciting,” Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. “You play meaningful games in October you want to be playing meaningful games in November.”

Here’s a look:

DIVISION I

West Conference champion Bishop Guertin (7-2) will host Salem (6-2), a team the Cards edged 17-14 in a thriller at Stellos Stadium back on Sept. 11, a game that gave BG the look of a contender. Incredibly, this will be Salem’s fourth appearance at Stellos this year.

“Obviously you’ve got to get ready for Salem, and I don’t know how the game’s going to go, but it’s going to be complete different than the first matchup,” Trisciani said. “It’s not going to be 17-14. We faced them Week Two, we’re a lot different than we were then, I’m sure they’re doing some different things, to we’ll just try to scout them out the best we can.

“The concern becomes I would say they’re probably the hottest team in Division I (five straight wins). Whatever they’re doing after their two early season losses to right the ship, they’re doing it. Looks like they’re firing on all cylinders. It’ll be a good test.”

The winner of this game will take on the winner of No. 4 Pinkerton (7-2) at No. 3 Londonderry (8-1). It was thought for weeks that BG and Pinkerton would be a definite quarterfinal, but COVID-related cancellations put the point-rating system into bigger play and altered things.

In the North-East cluster, No. 1 Winnacunnet (9-0) will host No. 4 Goffstown (4-3) on Friday night at 7, while No. 2 Bedford (7-2) will host Exeter (6-2).

DIVISION II

In Division II, defending champion No. 7 Souhegan (5-3) will be making a trip up to No. 2 Lebanon (8-0), while No. 3 Milford (6-2) will host No. 6 Plymouth (6-3) Saturday at 3 p.m.

The winners will face off at the home of the higher seed the following weekend in the semis.

The Spartans had a look of a playoff team from the start, and by mid-season it almost seemed a foregone conclusion.

However, Souhegan needed a win over John Stark this past Saturday and for Manchester West to lose to be able to qualify with a completely different team, very inexperienced, from the one that won the championship a year ago.

“I’m really proud of them,” Sabers coach Robin Bowkett said. “They don’t make excuses for their youthfulness or lack of size. They have risen to the championship standards our program strives for.”

In the other brackett, No. 1 Timberlane (9-0) hosts No. 8 Gilford-Belmont (5-3) Friday at 6:30 p.m. and No. 4 St. Thomas (7-2) hosts No. 5 Hanover (6-3).

DIVISION III

This division is only a four-team affair, and No. 3 Campbell (7-2) will visit No. 2 Trinity (7-1), a rematch of a game the Cougars lost 14-0 at home back on Sept. 24. This time they’ll be on the road in Manchester.

“The players and coaches are very excited to get another opportunity to play them again,” Campbell coach Glenn Costello said of the Pioneers. “The first game left a sour taste in our mouth.

“It’s an honor to be one of the last four teams standing and hopefully we can do enough things right this week to get another four quarters together.”

No. 1 and heavy favorite to repeat as champion Pelham (8-0) hosts No. 4 Kearsarge (6-2) in the other semi. The winners meet on Nov. 13 (as of now) in the finals.

DIVISION IV

The area has no teams in this division, but the semifinal matchups this weekend are No. 4 Fall Mountain (5-3) at No. 1 Newport (7-0) and No. 3 Epping-Newmarket (5-2) at No. 2 Somersworth (7-1).

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