You know how members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins love to have a champagne toast to celebrate when any team that threatens their perfect season suffers its first loss?

That’s probably what the Division III football coaches, especially those at Campbell, Trinity and Monadnock Regional High School did last year when they found out Pelham’s football program was moving back up to Division II.

The Pythons are now that league’s problem, and they proved that by completing a 12-0 season with a 35-6 thrashing of the otherwise offensively gifted Souhegan Sabers.

They’re a huge challenge. No Pelham, and you wonder if it’s not Souhegan hoisting the trophy for the second straight season. And then maybe Campbell, this year’s Division III champ, and the Pythons still wrestling and banging into each other non-stop over in Amherst (where last week’s title game was played) after a week.

“That’s how we want it though,” Bowkett said of the Pelham challenge. “We love it when the competition’s even better. It wasn’t the same when they went down, Tom would even tell you, they enjoyed being in Divsision II more. That’s where they should be. They’re a heckuva football team, and Tom (Pythons head coach Babaian) does an awesome job.”

Both coaches do, but Babaian is in the midst of a nice 31-game run for his program, and it doesn’t really look like it’s going to end anytime soon.

What’s been the constant?

“I just think it’s team unity, kids stick together,” Babaian said. “They do everything together, and they’re just a great group to coach.

“This is what we expected, to compete for a title, and that’s what we did.”

“We came into this game and we knew that losing was not an option,” said senior back Alex Carroll, who had 139 of Pelham’s 380 rushing yards.

Meanwhile the Pelham defense held the usually potent and powerful Saber offensive attack to 253 yards, but of course the Sabers helped that number with five turnovers and two TDs called back due to penalties.

The Sabers certainly beat themselves, but there was a little bit of a Pelham push toward that. Actually a big bit. Six points? Yikes.

“Great job by them,” Bowkett said. “That’s an awesome defense, the best defense we’ve seen all year. They fly to the football, they have athletes all over the place, they’re huge, like 6-2. They’ve got a lot of great players, and they made a ton of great plays.”

On the flip side, the Pythons pounded away and in the second half ran 39 plays to Souhegan’s 12.

“A shout-out to our linemen,” Carroll said. “A lot of our linemen are juniors, but people like Memphis Patterson, Ricky Lacoss, Derek Muise, Aiden Lynch and Russell Leonard, they’re amazing blockers.”

Souhegan actually played in some respects better than in the 28-21 regular season meeting that saw the Pythons win it in the final minute. But the scoreboard certainly didn’t show it. And against a team like Pelham, you can’t lose your best two-way player, Madux McGrath, and operate smoothly.

“I thought we ran the ball against them a little bit better than we did the first time around,” Bowkett said. “But when one of your best players goes out, and we’re kind of moving guys that really haven’t played other positions. That whole second quarter we’re trying to figure it out.”

McGrath’s loss really hurt – the Sabers’ top receiver, led the team in tackles coming in, and punts. But he couldn’t lift his arm over his head and by halftime was nearly in tears, unable to get back into the final game of his high school career.

“It’s tough,” Bowkett said.

And it could get even tougher next year. Jain, despite being only a sophomore, may not be back – rumors persist he’ll likely go to a prep school; heck, he looks like a senior already – and many of Pelham’s linemen are juniors.They could win it again next year, because lately, hey, that’s what they do. In fact, Babaian was asked already if a fourpeat was in the works.

“Let’s just concentrate on this one,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s just enjoy this one first.”

“I’ll place a bet on them,” Carroll said. “I’ll put my money on them.”

Right now, we’d take a quick pick on Pelham Powerball, too.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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