Tarrier's Power Poll Ballot

Better late than never, right? Especially when I still have Central in my Top 10. Here's the actual poll, plus how I voted and most importantly, why I voted that way.

UNION LEADER/WGIR/WMUR FOOTBALL POWER POLL

Oct. 29, 2012

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the eight members of the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 9 of the 2012 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:

THIS WEEK / LAST WEEK

1. Exeter, 8-1 (6/78) / 1. Exeter, 7-1 (5/76)

2. Pinkerton, 8-1 (2/73) / 2. Pinkerton, 7-1 (3/75)

3. Bedford, 7-1 (60) / 3. Bedford, 6-1 (61)

4. Winnacunnet, 8-1 (59) / 4. Winnacunnet, 7-1 (57)

5. Nashua South, 6-3 (43) / 5. Bishop Guertin, 5-2 (44)

6. Keene, 7-1 (39) / 6. Nashua South, 5-3 (36)

7. Souhegan, 8-1 (30) / 7. Souhegan, 7-1 (28)

8. Plymouth, 9-0 (22) / 8. Keene, 6-2 (27)

9. Bishop Guertin, 5-3 (19) / 9. Plymouth, 8-0 (17)

10. Trinity, 8-1 (7) / 10. Manchester Central, 5-3 (11)

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Manchester Central, 5-4 (5); Milford, 6-3 (2); Portsmouth, 6-2 (2); Somersworth, 7-1 (1)

HERE'S MY BALLOT...

1.Exeter...the defending D1 Champs have locked up the #1 seed and home field advantage for the playoffs, so if there is a much anticipated rematch with Pinkerton it will come at Bill Ball Stadium.

2.Pinkerton...the Astros roll on heading into their regular season finale on Friday night in Nashua against South. The winner gets the number 2 seed in D1 and will host the other team in the semifinal round next Saturday.

3.Bedford...the Bulldogs may be Top 3 material in the polls, but what they really want is the #1 seed in Division 2. In order to get that they need a win vs Merrimack on Friday night AND they also need BG to knock off Winnacunnet in Hampton.

4.Nashua South...it's hard to believe that the Panthers are in this position after they got crushed by Lowell, Mass and Concord in back to back weeks during mid September, but junior QB Trevor Knight has turned into a star as South has won 4 of 5 since.

5.Keene...BIG bounce back win last week vs BG in Nashua. The Blackbirds wanted to show that the win over Winnacunnet was no fluke...and that the loss @ West was.

6.Winnacunnet...I've been down on this team lately because they just haven't played as well as they were playing early in the season. A big part of that is the leg injury to Ben Franzoso who they hope to have back at full strength when it really counts. I will be in Hampton for the BG game on Friday night with our cameraman Jon Kesty so be sure to check out NHSportspage.com for the video highlights on Saturday morning.

7.BG...just when I thought the Cards were a legit title contender in D2 they got held to a measly 7 points by Keene and now they're probably looking at the 4th seed if they can't beat Winnacunnet in the final game of the regular season.

8.Plymouth...congrats to coach Lenahan for breaking the all-time wins record for New England high school football coaches. Now the Bobcats are the top seed in D4, and Saturday they'll host a St Thomas team they just beat 38-0 a couple of weeks ago before what will likely be a very intriguing Championship Game against Trinity if they can get by Windham(NHSportspage.com will have video highlights of the Trinity/Windham semifinal game on Sat)

9.Souhegan...as I said last week, I'd like to vote the Sabers higher than this, but I honestly think Plymouth is better this year. Still, being ranked 9th in NH isn't exactly an insult like many people seem to think, especially for a team in D3.

10.Central...this was a tough one for me! I feel kind of hypocritical because I'm always spouting off about how I would rather "show some love" to a small school team like Plymouth and give them a Top 10 vote instead of "rewarding" a middle of the pack team in D1 or D2. Then I go and place a sliding and barely .500 Central team(5-4 overall) in the 10th spot when I probably should have gone with Trinity using my normal voting philosophy. Trust me on this, I really feel torn about this one, but I ultimately chose the Little Green because of this 1 reason...no matter what happens the rest of the way, I think they'll beat the Pioneers head to head in the Turkey Bowl. And if Trinity beats them, I'll be a man and admit I was wrong and give Trinity the respect they deserve.

Pete, with regards to your #10 vote for Central:

How hard did that pumpkin hit your head before you made your power poll vote?

Or did you have too many Pumpkinheads before you/as you were voting?

I do like my pumpkinhead(the kind Shipyard makes)...especially with the cinnamon sugar rim and a shot of vanilla vodka. Yummy!

I agree with you on that, Pete. Word is that Tulliver is a big fan of that concoction also.

Now, we know the vanilla stoli might have been tipped too far...............

........... When you submitted your vote for the Fighting Irish of Central.