Tarrier's Take...my Power Poll ballot and why I voted that way

Sept. 10, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 2 of the 2012 NHIAA season (first-place votes/points in parentheses):

THIS WEEK

1. Exeter, 2-0 (8/80)

2. Manchester Central, 2-0 (68)

3. Pinkerton, 1-1 (64)

4. Nashua South, 2-0 (52)

5. Keene, 2-0 (51)

6. Winnacunnet, 2-0 (44)

7. Bishop Guertin, 1-1 (30)

8. Nashua North, 2-0 (21)

9. Bedford, 1-1 (11)

10. Trinity, 2-0 (9)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Souhegan, 1-1 (3); Timberlane, 1-1 (3); Concord, 1-1 (2); Goffstown, 1-1 (2)



Here’s my ballot…and why I voted that way.

1.Exeter…the Blue Hawks earned the top spot with their win over Pinkerton on Saturday. I gotta admit, I was late to the party on this one as I was the only voter who had Pinkerton ranked #1 on last week’s ballot.



2.Pinkerton…the rest of the voters must think Central belongs in this spot which is what dropped Pinkerton down to 3rd. I say despite the Astros 24-20 loss to Exeter, they still could’ve won the game with a late touchdown despite being outplayed…so I only moved them down 1 spot to #2.


3.Manchester Central…the Little Green have looked good in impressive victories over Timberlane and Concord…and they’ll get their shot at the #1 ranking on Friday night at Exeter. Can’t wait for that one as we’ll see if the most balanced run/pass offense in D1 can cause problems for the tough Blue Hawk defense.



4.Nashua South…the Panthers dominated Salem behind Trevor Knight to improve to 2 and 0. Should we start including them with Exeter, Pinkerton and Central in the conversation of the best teams in Division 1? They’ve got a non-league game at Lowell, MA on Friday night and they don’t tangle with any of the “Big 3” until an October 5th game at Central.


5.Keene…SO looking forward to seeing Lucas Luopa and the Blackbirds in person when they travel to Goffstown for a non-league game against Connor Benjamin and the Grizzlies on Saturday. It’s too bad the game doesn’t count, but I’m guessing both teams will still come to play for real.



6.Winnacunnet…the Warriors defense impressed on Friday night at Bedford stopping the high octane Bulldogs offense cold outside of a meaningless TD on the final play of the game. Winnacunnet’s offense is pretty good too thanks to a stellar line and the speed and power of RB Ben Franzoso.



7.BG…The Cards are still quite formidable despite a 20-3 loss at Pinkerton on opening weekend. They had no problems(besides the weather) in a 27-0 shutout of West on Saturday night that was called at halftime because of powerful thunderstorms.



8.Nashua North…they haven’t really played anybody yet, but they are 2-0 with a blowout victory over Alvirne and what I would call a “quality” win, 22-17 win over D1 Memorial. Their 1st real test is Friday night when they host Pinkerton.



9.Trinity…the other poll voters must not like the D4 Pioneers as much as I do because I have Steve Burns’ team 9th on my ballot and they ended up 10th when all the votes were added up. I just love the array of talent Trinity has at their disposal…and I guess we’ll find out what they’re made of when they travel to the “Land of Lenahan” for a game at 2-0 Plymouth on Saturday for Dave Haley’s video coverage debut here on NHSportspage.com.



10.Bedford…I considered dropping them off my ballot because of the loss to Winnacunnet, but then I thought to myself…Winnacunnet is REALLY good, and the Bulldogs were quite competitive in the 13-6 loss…so I’ll keep them on here for now and see how they do on a 3 game road swing in the next 3 weeks at Timberlane, Keene and BG.

Good stuff - given the inconsistent Pinkerton offense I see why Central has moved up. I thought the knock about Central was could their defense hold up - they seemed to have held Concord in check... Jury is still out for me on South - they've played Spaulding (who lost to Timberlane at home) and Salem (who also got throttled by Keene). Timberlane got throttled by Central. Seems to me that Keene could be the better of the two... North will figure out what they have the next 3 weeks - Pinkerton, Central, & South. Anyone consider Exeter's first 4 games - Dover, Pinkerton, Central, & Winnacunnet. That's 2 very important divisional games and 2 rivalry games (more so with Winni).

Keene v. Goffstown game could be very interesting game on Sat. I think the question there will be who can stop the other team! It ought to be a very fun game to go watch. I think D2 could come down to the last couple of weeks to determine playoff seeding. BG better be able to right the offensive ship if they want a home game. They really didn't look all that good vs. West. Similar to the Pinkerton game - it's much easier for an offense to score when they start 10-20 yards from paydirt. Right now it looks like rides to either Keene or Winni - neither of which are "enjoyable" in November. Has the NHIAA "ok'd" the "mutual decision" by the coaches to let the 27-0 halftime score be the final score? That result still doesn't show up on the NHIAA website and that question lingered during the posgtame tailgate. Dover has a very difficult schedule coming up Spaulding, @BG, Winni, @Keene, and Bedford. That's probably the difference between playoffs or not. How does Bedford get only 3 home divisional games, while Merrimack gets 5?

Is Trinity that good or is does D4 make them look good? I guess some of that will be answered Saturday in their first real test. Funny to see a division with five 2-0 teams and five 0-2 teams. Other than one game that all changes this weekend - looks like Laconia is in must win the rest of the season...

Where's GNG to rile up the masses? I bet we'll find him in Merrimack this week when BG comes to his home town. Will the Jade be hosting the post game activities?

Good job Jaf of kicking off GNG's annual "kicking of Merrimack football week."

You could call GNG the Executioner. He could've lit the fire to start the burning of witches in Salem, Mass. He could've pulled the switch on Sacco and Vanzetti. He certainly would've helped George Washington capture Benedict Arnold in the late 1700s on the Hudson River and could've measured Arnold's neck for the noose on the hanging he never received for treason.


Maybe, GNG will now:


"Rile up the masses"

He hasn't written in the last week.I am starting to look on milk cartons for his picture. I don't know if he is allowed at Merrimack football field unless he has a disguise on.

The poll looks pretty good except for Trinity, I fail to see how a D 4 team makes the top ten. I would probably go with a Souhegan instead of Trinity. I also questionNashua North inthe top ten. If Dover played Trinity on a neutral field who would you go with????

Well for years Plymouth made the poll and many had the same argument - they certainly wouldn't beat D1-D3 teams and have that long win streak, but they were the best of D4 and putting them 10th was recognition of their efforts. Would they (and Trinity) lose to the better D1-D3 teams - probably, but they would hold their own for the most part and may even win a few. They just wouldn't win week after week. It was a very "religious" or "political" discussion that had passion on both sides. Kind of miss that in recent years.

I think the voters are having a tough time with the D3 teams - Portsmouth is good, but they lose to Souhegan. Souhegan is good, but they lose to Winnacunnet. Goffstown is good, but they lost to Memorial who isn't ranked. Hollis lost big to Concord and beat Merrimack Valley. MV lost to West, who got beat by BG. Milford lost big to Bedford. My gut says Goffstown and Souhegan will eventually be ranked in the 8 & 9 slots and the best team from D4 will be 10th. I thought I heard over the weekend that Portsmouth ended up having to play their #3 QB due to injury in the Souhegan game - that could hurt them short term as they have 3 tough games coming up (ConVal, Goffstown, & Hollis).

For years Plymouth was rated highly due a certain manchester media person who happened to be a Plymouth alum. He would vote his team as high as 5th with all the other teams in the state.Yes they won many games, but when a team has tremendous success on a level, they should move up. There were many excuses for not moving up coming from Plymouth, enrollment etc. Feeder systems are the key factor for success in many sports. In certain towns kids know what position they will play in high school by the time they are in the 8th grade.
Maybe these teams can win when they play a higher division team, as shown by BG over the years. It is the week in and out, the physical toll that makes the big difference between the divisions.
While Trinity might have, I feel. oneof the best atheletes inthe state for multiple sports, they do not have nthe depth, just like Souhegan, to play up consistently. Thatis why I always go with the upper division teams.

I will tell you this.

There is absolutely no excuse for the product Merrimack is putting on the field.To many great athletes.

Former athletic director Andy Kraehling should take the blame. He hired him FIVE seasons ago.

Five seasons of never making the playoffs. As bad as D2 was in some of those seasons that's saying something.

I wonder what the new Merrimack AD thinks of his new team.

Merrimack has fallen into the same category as West, except West has an excuse.

No, I won't be going to the game, because it won't be a game. :

Wow, the BG - Merrimack game looks like it's going to be such a true "sleeper", that GNG won't even be attending. That's saying something right there.

I guess there won't be any riling of the masses for this backyard brawl this season because the worst thing has set in for this game:

Apathy

Perhaps GNG will be at St.A's with the Cuipa's... They play Fri night too... Probably have tailgates more suited to his pre/post game activities too

As for the Plymouth thing - they just took advantage of the somewhat flawed system that was based on enrollment with too many divisions. They had no desire or need to petition up - sure they won a lot of lopsided games, but they also had quite a few close ones as well. It's up to the other programs to "get better". Trinity is "proof" that a smaller program has a difficult time competing at the highest level - they had to go independent for a year and drop down to their natural division in order to recover. BG had a coaching staff and system that suited it's players perfectly. Having a coach with connections certainly allowed them to attract better players from both NH and MA. There were 80+ kids suiting up for games - the players stretched between the 30's, two deep in places. Now there's about 50 suiting up and they're between the 40's. BG has become more like other D2 schools with respect to numbers and they aren't attracting the better players now.