Tarrier's Power Poll ballot revealed

It's been REALLY SLOW on the forum so far this year so here's some fodder for discussion...it's the
1st Union Leader/WGIR/WMUR Power Poll of the season.  Here's the poll...followed by my personal ballot and why I voted that way.  Disclaimer...it's very early in the season folks, so no one really knows how good these teams are so expect the rankings to change from week to week.

The top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, as voted by the staffs of the New Hampshire Union Leader, WGIR AM and FM, and WMUR-TV after Week 1 of the 2013 NHIAA season, with first-place votes/points in parentheses:


1. Exeter, 1-0 (6/60)
2. Bedford, 1-0 (52)
3. Concord, 1-0 (50)
4. Nashua South, 1-0 (32)
5. Pinkerton, 0-1 (30)
6. Winnacunnet, 1-0 (25)
7. Keene, 1-0 (24)
8. Trinity, 1-0 (21)
9. Londonderry, 1-0 (19)
10. Plymouth, 1-0 (11)


OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (points in parentheses): Bishop Guertin, 0-1 (4); Merrimack 1-0 (2)

 Here's how I voted...and why I voted that way...


1.Exeter...the 2-time defending Champs didn't skip a beat despite heavy graduation losses in a lopsided win over Dover on Saturday. Much tougher test this week @ Keene.


2.Bedford...showing early they are up to the challenge of D1 by knocking off Pinkerton in Week 1.


3.Concord...very impressive in 35-6 beatdown of Central that was essentially over by halftime.


4.Trinity...I have the Pioneers much higher than the other voters. I saw them dismantle Portsmouth in person and I really feel like Carmen G and the rest of that offense could definitely hang with anybody in the state.


5.Pinkerton...they lost a 2 point game on the road against a very good Bedford team. I'm fairly confident they'll get a lot better as the season moves along.


6.Nashua South...Panthers fans are holding their breath about the status of injured QB Trevor Knight. Early X-rays are reportedly negative, but it's still too early to know how much time he might miss.


7.Winnacunnet...nice win over BG in Nashua on Saturday night as they watched a potential 49 yard game winning FG fall about 5 yards short.


8.Keene...last time the #1 team came to Keene the Blackbirds knocked off Winnacunnet(October of 2012). Can coach Luopa's team do it to Exeter too?


9.Plymouth...glad to see the other Poll voters are finally acknowledging what I have known for years...Plymouth belongs in the Top 10, no matter what division they are in!


10.BG...yeah, the Cards lost to Winny, but they were right there with them all night and had a chance to win at the end, so I give them the nod over winning teams like Merrimack, Londonderry and Memorial who played lesser 1st week competition.

You got the REALLY SLOW spot on, Pete.

Where's GNG and his Bucking Bronco talk?

Where's the BG people?

Trinity people have to be feeling good about their chances. Are they camping out in the woods with no internet?

Bedford people have to be feeling good. Are they too busy with zoning meetings on new construction in Bedford and trying to figure out all their high traffic and dangerous intersections off 101?


Sheeeeessshhhhh

[THUD]

That's the sound of a pin dropping in here lately unless of course it's the "town not to be named" situation... or #9 in the poll...

FWIW: Central losing (big) is not a shock.... Pinky losing wasn't out of the realm of possibilities - they have the athletes and defense to fence Manny in... after that what is there? Portsmouth losing their QB to injury - seems to be standard... It seems Trinity is the real deal this year - only Plymouth really stands in their way or an injury to their own QB... Surprised to read in some quarters that the Keene beating North was an upset? really? Londonderry beating West? YAWN. I was surprised by the spread between Merrimack and Goffstown... Watched the Alvirne/Timby game - come the 4th quarter Alvirne could not stop Furey who pretty much ran the same off tackle play after play after play. That Timby team played pretty well vs. Pinky in the jamboree (I know, I know)... I did miss the BG/WInni game (we were in Mansfield for the Blake Shelton show)... Seems like the little things (turnovers and missed XP's) loomed large for both sides.

BTW: South plays Alvirne tonight (Thursday) - if you want to talk to or see a lot of D1 coaches come to Stellos... Winni better not look past North this week for next weeks huge game vs. Exeter... Central and Pinky - one will start 0-2 - who woulda thunk it... Hopefully Billy Ball doesn't pull a Ron Auffant from a couple years ago and talk to the press about "how hard" it is to play "out there" in Keene :-)....

Where's GNG?

He usually PESTERS people here on the Forum. I miss him BUGGING me and others. It's almost like he was sprayed with a BUG spray because he's not around to PESTER us.

Only people "in the know" will get the relation of the bold words to GNG.