J.J. Bright's brilliant Souhegan career came to a tough end in a 21-20 upset loss at Plymouth on Saturday. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Most everyone in Division II football circles were expecting the Souhegan High School Sabers to easily make their way through two playoff rounds to get to a title game rematch with No. 1 unbeaten Pelham.

Everyone, that is, except the Plymouth Bobcats.

The ‘Cats were able to slow down the Sabers and record a remarkable 21-20 semifinal upset, and it will be Plymouth, not Souhegan, who will battle the Pythons next Saturday in the Division II title game at Nashua’s Stellos Stadium.

Bobcat QB Luke Diamond scored on third-and-goal from the 1 with just 2:39 left and his team trailing 20-14. The point after was good, giving the ‘Cats (9-1) the one-point win. Souhegan’s season stunningly ends at 8-3 overall, 8-2 in Division II. What made this shocking was one of those eight wins was a 49-6 thrashing of Plymouth on the artificial turf of Calvetti Field.

The extra points were huge, because the Sabers broke a 14-all tie with a Romy Jain 45-yard TD pass to Chase Knuckles late in the third quarter to give the Sabers a 20-14 lead. However, Plymouth blocked the extra point. And that was the difference.

Conversions were a problem for the Sabers, who had to settle for an early 6-0 lead on a Romy Jain 2-yard TD run with 7:19 left in the first period but saw Plymouth take a 7-6 lead on a Robbie Thorne TD run and a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter after the Bobcats converted a 4th and 7 from the Saber 15.

Souhegan, though, regained the lead a minute later as Bright ran 40 yards for a score and the Sabers got a two-point conversion. They were looking for more, but Plymouth’s Nathan Lyons knocked down a Romy Jain pass in the end zone on the final play of the half to keep the Sabers in front.

Plymouth tied it at 14 with 6:58 left in the third quarter on a Ben Valenti 34-yard run and the ensuing PAT kick.

The Sabers last gasp failed as they turned it over on downs with 1:25 to go, end their season was surprisingly — and sadly — over.

OTHER PLAYOFFS GAMES

Pelham, meanwhile, struggled vs. St. Thomas of Dover but pulled out a 14-0 win in their semifinal in Pelham to set up next weekend’s final.

In two other Division I quarterfinals, No. 3 Bedford blew away No. 6 Salem 49-6 while No. 4 Londonderry beat No. 5 Exeter 27-6. It will be Bedford at Portsmouth-Oyster River and Londonderry at Pinkerton in next weekend’s Division I semifinals.

Also, in Division IV, Somersworth beat Newport for its third straight title.

(Information from NH Sports Page.com and NH-HighSchoolSports.com was used in this report.)