Nashua South is looking forward to the return of current junior QB Cody Jackson for next season. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Saturday marked the end of the 2024 Division I high school football season, with Pinkerton Academy routing Londonderry for the title.

The area hasn’t had a team in the Division I finals since Nashua North blew out Goffstown in the 2020 championship game at Bedford’s Bulldog Stadium.

Will there be a local there next season?

We think so, and the leader in the clubhouse may be Nashua South as we take a look at what 2024 may look like locally by Division.

DIVISION I

The Panthers lose at least a dozen seniors, including defensive leader Kevin Ndubisi and offensive catalyst Kyle Emmons. Plus a few othe familiar names like Diego Cabrera, Gus Smiley, Collin Kochanek, etc.

But back is still a good faction of the young corps that took them from a two-win team in 2023 to a team that made the Division I quarterfinals, losing to finalist Londonderry. The improvement juniors like quarterback Cody Jackson, Sam Levine, Josh Tripp, etc. made helped spearhead the turnaround.

“Oh my God yeah, most of those starters are back,” South coach Scott Knight said. “Kyle Emmons will be tough to replace, as well as the other guys. We’ll have about seven or eight guys on both sides of the ball.”

Knight is a big off-season proponent, and his players, even when playing other sports, are in the weight room.

“The off season is like an arms race,” he said. “It’s like the Cold War. We’ve got to lift weights and get as strong as we can. Build up our aresenal for nine months and then come out.”

And that’s what helped the Panthers last year. Jackson was a completely different player than his Panther debut in 2023, showing speed and good decision making.

Knight had mixed emotions after the loss to Londonderry.

“I feel bad the seniors, they don’t get that chance (at a title),” he said. “But I’m happy these kids, these younger kids, they get a chance to play in a game like (the quarterfinal).

“We’ll come back next year bigger, faster, stronger, and wiser.”

Don’t count out Bishop Guertin. The Cards under coach Anthony Nalen have had good numbers. They lose roughly nine seniors, including playmakers A.J. Holmes and Cole Reeves. But things will revolve around quarterback Nate Bowen, who didn’t look too much like a sophomore and was a two-way (run, pass) threat. The Cards have other playmakers back like Sam Fayad and Alex Dolan back, and the experience and leadership should be better as they finished 5-5.

“I’m excited we have 82 kids in the program and graduate eight seniors,” Nalen said.

Nashua North missed the playoffs for the first time in recent memory, and were young up front. They do lose as many as 18 seniors, but it’s possible they’ll groom Dharyus Sisay as their QB of the future – he played some there this season and can run and throw – and work the offense around that. You can bet the off-season will be big for a team that, like South did a year ago, won just two games.

Besides South’s big resurgence, the story of the fall was Alvirne, which won its first ever Division I playoff game, and gave Bedford all it could handle in the quarterfinals. Second year head coach Matt Lee is 2 or 2 in making the playoffs, something no one thought would be possible.

The key for them is success breeding success. Running back Mike Landmesser, who made headlines will be back but among the 14 or so seniors the Broncos lose are defensive stalwart Shawn Boudreau, two way standout Ryan Rochileau and quarterback Charlie Crawford, plus linemen Cam Steed and Shayne Mackey, among others. They’ll need to fill those spots, but it’s clear Lee has set a standard.

So has coach Kip Jackson at Merrimack, who got the Tomahawks back to the playoffs and they could have been seeded even higher had they reversed two one-point losses. He’ll have to find a quarterback after senior Sahil Mujawar improved from his junior year and helped the ‘Hawks make the playoffs.

But here’s the other thing: They graduate more than any of the area’s Division I teams, as many as 21 seniors. But they got the likes of receivers Shea Egan and Cayden Dine back, as part of a class of 11 current juniors, plus a lot of sophomores.

We’ll see how everything falls out in August as here’s a brief look at the other two divsions locally:

DIVISION II

The champion Sabers of Souhegan will have to overcome the loss of about a dozen seniors, but heck, didn’t they lose some key players last year?

They lose key two-way player Brayden Hickman, but junior QB Michael Fiengo, who led the Sabers to the title, is back along with key sidekicks receiver Brody Smith and back Ryland Raudelunas. Their numbers are always high, a tribute to Souhegan head coach Robin Bowkett.

“We’ve got great players who play so hard for each other,” Bowkett said after winning the title. “They drink the Kool-Aid. Our culture is awesome. Nothing changes. It’s a credit to the kids.”

Culture is something that both Milford and Hollis Brookline are trying to develop. Spartans QB Brady O’Connor was only a sophomore and there are a couple of junior linemen that should return to try to help the Spartans get back to the playoffs after a couple years absence. Hollis Brookline meanwhile, if Milt Robinson doesn’t return as coach, should be an attractive job because the Cavs lose just four seniors. Jacob Velez, who can play QB plus other positions, should be back.

DIVISION III

Ah, the Cougars of Campbell will enter into a world without Hershbergers. Scott and Nick Hershberger will both be graduating, but there are some young keys that could make the defending champions be a factor in the division.

“The scary thing about us is we’re losing Nick and Scott, and Alex (lineman St. Pierre) and Zach (lineman Poulin),” Cougars coach Glen Costello said, “but we’re returning a bunch of underclassmen in a lot of positions and got a lot of great play from sophomores.”

And a freshman, in back/receiver Brody Pinciaro, who looked in the title game (and all year) like the real deal. His red zone interception set up the first of seven Cougar TDs in the title game. “Brody Pinciaro is one heckuva football player,” Costello said.

Plus Bradyon White will be a senior, another back, and QB Mikey Grace is a sophomore.

“It’ll be a good year,” Costello said of 2025, “but it won’t be this year.”