DIVISION 2 PLAYOFF PREVIEW AND PREDICTIONS

First let me state that t@f blew me off last night with the no show{he's dead to me now}.Not to brag,or boast ,but I did correctly pick the 4 teams in the dance and how they would finish on Jeremy's new and improved site{Well,maybe I am boasting a little}.Anyhow,this is how I see it.DOVER-WINNIE.The battle at the beach,should be a GREAT game.The first time they played winnie took home an 18-13 victory.I am really torn about this game,Dover has been the hottest team in the division after a slow start.They have given up only 70 points in the division all year{8 per game},and have scored 246 {30 per game}.Winnie on the other hand has given up 122 points{15 per game},and have scored 260 points{32 per game}.Dover plays tough hard nosed defense,Winnie turns the ball over more then any other team in d2.Dover's offense is more run orientated, Winnie's defense has some holes.I hate to be the guy that makes a prediction with IF'S,but here it is.IF WINNIE TURNS IT OVER 2 OR MORE TIMES DOVER WINS,IF WINNIE TAKES CARE OF THE BALL THEY GO TO THE SHIP... Next game, BG- KEENE.I feel Guertin really lucked out here.In my opinion,both Timberlane,and Merrimack would have presented a harder challenge.Keene has lost 3 out of 4,Keene has given up 146 points{18 per} in d2 play,their offense has scored 179 {22 per game}.BG on the other hand has only given up 44 points{5 per},only winnie has scored in double digits of them{14}.No team in the division has scored after halftime on them.Their offense has scored 233 points {29 per}.BG'S big problem all season has been PENALTIES.Last night 10 penalties,can't have that in the playoffs if they want to defend their crown.You might say BG only beat them by 14 last night,TRUE ,but they used very little of the playbook,very little at all.

Holy smokes Pete you really screwed the pooch on your rankings this week.Last week you had SOUTH 2nd,they lost and you drop them to 3rd.You had BG 3RD last week,they win and you drop them to 6th.You had winnie 4th last week,they win and you drop them to 7th.Dover 8th,come on man.You haven't even seen Dover play.I know this is all for fun,but at least be CONSISTENT in how you vote.Now I have to go clean up the coffee I sprayed all over the computer desk when I read your rankings.

Yeah, I did move some teams down despite winning their games. The reason I did that is I honestly feel that D1 is just so damn tough top to bottom that I have to have 5 teams(Pink, Salem, South, North and Central) ranked ahead of anybody else in the state including BG, Winny and Dover. In my educated opinion(except in Dover's case which I openly admitted I haven't seen in person), I feel all 5 of those D1 teams I just listed are better than and would beat any other team in the state. OK, so you may say Winny beat North and BG beat Salem, I know that, but if the game was played now(which wont happen) I think the D1 teams would/should win. Even the teams from the lower part of the D1 standings would be competitive in the playoff hunt in D2. Didn't Memorial blow out playoff contending Merrimack this year? Remember Exeter? How did they fare in D1 this year? And they took WInny to OT and beat Dover. Bottom line, this is all o-p-i-n-i-o-n and more about creating discussion and debate. You may get on me about consistency, but it's hard to be consistent with the rankings in a year where we haven't seen any consistency at all! I'm sure we can all agree with that.

It just seems like you had this division 1 epithany {word of the day} recently Peter.Right before I got home from work today,I heard an ad from your station with you saying you had winnie 1,bg 2,and north 3.All I am saying is you switched your voting style THIS week.All year long you have been giving d2 props until this week.Central beats d3 souhegan and you make it sound like they beat brocton.Merrimack beat north this year ,they didn'y play Memorial.Did you know that Brocton beat Catholic Memorial on a last second play last week,they were losing the whole game,yes the same CM that beat BG.I hope the division 2 coaches don't boycott your show now that you have been OUTED as a division 1 SNOB.Division1 or 2,they are all class l teams.MY TOP 10 1. PINKERTON, 2. DOVER,3.BG 4 SALEM,5.WINNIE 6 NORTH 7 SOUTH 8 CENTRAL 9 SOUHEGAN 10 LEBANON.I am still looking forward to your show this weekend,it's just that I am a little disappointed in your nh football knowledge.{I had you on a pedestal as a guy who REALLY knew his stuff}.I am still waiting for that thank you,for me calling in last weekend to clarify the d2 playoff scenarios.

Your sudden lovefest with division 1 was sticking in my craw{what is a craw},so I went and checked the d1 d2 crossover games this past season.Eleven crossover games were played between d2 and d1 with d1 winning 6 times and losing 5 times.Doesn't exactly support your domination theory.How about depth? BG lost their first 5 tailbacks to injury,kelly,fucci,boykins,eaton,and marino.That's just 1 position on a team that has been decimated by injuries.How many teams in division 1 can go thru 5 tailbacks and have someone like the remdog waiting in the wings.? Not to many,BG is DEEP,and talented.

1st off, I did say "Thank You" to an unknown caller on the air a couple weeks ago for helping us straighten out the D2 playoff scenario which I publicly admitted after the phone call that I had it wrong and appreciated the help. My producer said during a break that someone had called in to correct us, but said they didn't give a name. Don't believe me? Do a little more research and go to fnlnh.com and find the podcast from that particular show(I think it was just last week) and hear the "thank you" for yourself. But just to be clear...THANK YOU GNG for helping set things straight!

That promo you heard today with me saying "I have Winny 1st, BG 2 and North 3rd" was from a show in September, maybe early October. It just happens to be still running now so it's a little stale. I actually heard it myself the other day and thought, "gee, that's not exactly current and makes me sound kind of stupid right about now". Unfortunately, I have no control over stuff like old promos running on the station.

As far as my newfound love for all things D1, I agree, I did have a recent epiphany and change in my voting style by placing 5 D1 teams in the top 5. And I've already explained the reason why I had the change of heart...because after watching these D1 teams beat up on each other all year long I've made the determination that those 5 teams were the best in the state. Not to say D2 doesn't have excellent and Power Poll worthy teams like BG, Dover and Winny...all I'm saying is that those teams are not as good as Pink, Salem, South, North and Central. What's wrong with that? I'm not bashing D2 teams saying they stink and can't compete with Big Bad D1. I guess you also missed the many interviews we've done with D2 coaches this season(ToJo, Osbon, Auffant, Battista, Cote, Luopa, Fitzgerald, Nimblett) and players(Cuipa and Cronan) and talked about the fact that D2 is as good a league at the top as D1...it's just the bottom feeders like Alvirne, Spaulding and now West are really what separates the 2 leagues.

And THANKS again!

If you want to have some lively conversation on the radio, make sure the next time you have TOJO on you tell him you voted his team 6th and give him your explanation.Same with the DOVER and WINNIE coaches.It should make for some interesting banter between your guests and you.In my opinion there should be no d1 or d2 it should be 1 division,but since that isn't going to happen they should at least move BG up,move Exeter back down.Drop West at least 1 more division,and move Souhegan up.Your Welcome.

I get the feeling GNG, the artist formerly known as Big Guy, likes to stir up a hornet's nest. No wonder his apple, that didn't fall too far from his Big Guy/GNG tree, has a tendency to swat down hornest's nests with ferocity on the football field and basketball courts.

Been a long couple of days.After we left the emergency room sat night we were told by one nurse rem would probably be out 2- 4 months.Yesterday we met with dr.Vailais {the best in nh},who could retire just from the kids guertin has sent him this season.Doc said 4 weeks,Kyle said 2 weeks.Physical theapy starts today.Doc says 2 weeks wouldn't surprise him,so then Kyle starts with well if it's only 2 weeks I can play football this weekend.Doc says you take a hit to the shoulder hoop season is done.End of discussion.It's tough on him to miss the ship,but at least he is not going to miss hoops.

What happened? Your son?

Good luck with the recovery. As a new parent myself I know how hard it is to watch your kid get hurt. Can't imagine having to take them to the emergency room, although it's inevitable at some point with kids, especially ones that play a sport like football.

seperated shoulder,congrats on new parent,enjoy it cuz it goes quick.kid from keene tackled him and his pads came up as his shoulder hit the ground.tojo said he was the 34 th to get hurt this year.UNBELIEVABLE.

Sorry to hear about the injury to your son GNG! Turns out I had a nice convo with Mrs. GNG sitting in the stands at a BG hoop game last season. She was very nice. I actually gave her the 411 on the "Friday Night Lights" show/website at that time. Wonder if she remembers me?

Of course she remembers you,she does listen to your shows all the time.She loves to join the conversation with tidbits on nh football and hoops at the dinner table.People say all the time that she is a SAINT for marrying me.25 years and going strong.

Sorry to hear about son of GNG being injured. I know he put in a lot of sweat equity to make it to the championship game of his senior year. I'm sure it kills him not to be able to play. Sports can be so cruel sometimes. It seems it has been most cruel to BG with the avalanche of injuries.

As far as Mrs GNG being a SAINT for being married to Mr GNG, some might use the term MARTYR, but not me....

My 2 cents on Saturday.Tojo is the man,the mind games have already started.He is telling every media outlet that winnie is favored,that his walking wounded are fortunate to be there.Putting all the pressure on winnie,and taking it off his team.Classic Lou Holtz move,meanwhile he will have his boys FIRED UP to play some football.My prediction bg 28- winnie 21.Players to watch on bg's defense,Brody Smith{if they throw his way it could be a pick 6},Bobby Fahey{ball hawking safety who loves to stick},Blake Boudreau {future all stater,just a soph,has all the tools},Jim Kemos{ last game for the capt,I expect BIG things from him}.NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE HEART OF A CHAMPION.

I don't know if you people know how lucky you are to have someone with my sports knowledge blogging on this site.I said watch out for brody smith,he gets an interception late to seal it,kemos 2 fumble recoveries,boudreau with a sack,fahey was all over the field.Go to Jeremy's site and you will see what I said about cuipa,the bigger the game the bigger he plays.He carried bg to victory.cuips pass to psycho {the only 2 hoop players left standing}.Now on to basketball.