PLAYOFF FOOTBALL: Locals gear up for postseason weekend
Bishop Guertin's Nate Bowen tries to get around Nashua North's Jedwin Lluveres (0) with a block from Jonah Feliciano during their regular season meeting at Stellos Stadum. They'll meet again on Saturday. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)
The seedings and pairings are out and local high school football coaches are ready to get to work.
And three teams hope to be enjoying the fruits of that work at Stellos Stadium this weekend as the 13-team Division I post season gets underway.
But only as many as two will be able to, because we’ll have one local matchup, Nashua North vs. Bishop Guertin at Stellos Stadium Saturday. Nashu South, the other local team in Division I, plays Friday night at Stellos.
Division II champion Souhegan gets a home quarterfinal game as the top seed Saturday while in Division III Campbell gets a Saturday home quarterfinal as well.
Here’s a look:
DIVISION I
The Nashua South Panthers (6-2) are seeded fourth and will take on the last seed in the tourney, No. 13 Londonderry (3-5) Friday night at Stellos Stadium at 6:30 p.m. The teams did not meet during the regular season.
Meanwhile, in the same bracket, No. 5 Bishop Guertin (6-2) hosts No. 12 Nashua North (4-4) at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Stellos. BG beat North 51-27 back on Oct. 4 The two winners will meet on Friday Nov. 14, so we could potentially see an all-city quarterfinal if South wins.
West champion Bedford (8-0), East champion Manchester Memorial (6-2) and Central champion Pinkerton (6-2) all receive first round byes. All the Nashua teams are the Bedford bracket, and the Bulldogs will play the winner of No. 9 Exeter vs. No. 8 Winnacunnet – that is one big rivalry – in the quarterfinals.
The other first round games are No. 7 Salem (5-3) hosting No. 10, 4-4 Oyster River-Portsmouth (winner gets Memorial, and No. 6 Windham (6-2) hosting No. 11, 4-4 Concord (winner gets Pinkerton) The Windham game is this Saturday at 12 p.m.
Again, the quarterfinals are on Friday Nov. 14 (home of higher seed) and the semis are Friday, Nov. 21 (home of higher seed). The finals are actually in Nashua at Stellos Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 1 p.m.
The football point system was bad news for locals Alvirne (4-5, 62 points but 6.889 rating) and Merrimack (4-4, 52 points, 6.5000). Londonderry finished 3-5 but its win over Windham was imperative but also valuable (56 points, rating of 7.000).
DIVISION II
The 9-0 Sabers will host No. 8 St. Thomas of Dover (5-4) on Saturday at 1 p.m., and will play the winner of the No. 5 Manchester West (7-2) at No. 4 Pelham (7-2) quarterfinal in the semis.
In the other bracket, No. 2 Trinity (8-1) takes on No.7 Hanover (5-4) on Friday in Manchester at 6:30 p.m. No. 3 Plymouth (8-1) hosts No. 6 Kingswood (6-3) Saturday and those winners meet in the semis on Nov. 15 (home of higher seed)
The finals are at a neutral site, Pinkerton Academy, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.
DIVISION III
The Campbell Cougars’ struggles down the stretch (losing two of last three) may have cost them one thing: home field for the semis.
Seeded third, the No. 3 6-2 Cougars (6-2) will host No. 6 Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough (4-4) Saturday at 11 a.m. They would face the winner of No. 2, East Conference champ Laconia (7-1) vs. No. 7 Newport (4-4) in the semifinals on Nov. 15.
The other bracket has top seed unbeaten Monadnock (8-0) hosting No. 8 Somersworth (3-5) and No. 4 Gilford (6-2) hosting No. 5 Epping-Newmarket (6-2).
With the semis on Saturday Nov. 15 at home of the higher seed, the finals will be at Laconia’s Bank of NH Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m.


