Pinkerton Academy football players celebrate their Division I title won Saturday in Exeter. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/NH-HighSchoolSports.com.)

The Pinkerton Academy football team now rules Division I for the first time in 10 years.

And their coach, Brian O’Reilly, now rules the entire state.

The Astros won their first title since 2014 by beating arch rival Londonderry 42-7 Saturday in the championship game at Bill Ball Stadium.

In doing so, Astros head coach Brian O’Reilly becomes the state career leader in football wins with 357, passing former longtime Plymouth coach Chuck Lenahan for the most wins in New Hampshire high school football history.

Pinkerton (No. 4, 10-2) got off on the right foot, literally, when Matt Morrison returned the opening kick 86 yards for the first of his five touchdowns on the day.

Astros QB Aiden McDonald hit Cam Dillon for a 35-yard TD pass to help make it 14-0 nearly three minutes in. The Lancers’ Sam Ogden ran it in from 6 yards out to get Londonderry to with 14-7 with 1:50 left in the first, but that was it for the day for the Astros’ rivals, who finished 8-3 in Division I, 8-4 overall.

It was all Morrison and Pinkerton after that. He hauled in a 25-yard McDonald pass for one score, making it 21-7 at the half. Then he added three second half TDs: two 5-yard runs and a 27-yard run.

The Astros beat the Lancers twice this year by a combined score of 80-21. They also avenged last year’s playoff loss which was by the same 42-7 score. It was Londonderry’s fourth straight title game appearance, but they’ve lost the last three.

(Material from NH-HighSchoolSports.com’s social media accounts was used in this report.)