DIII All-State Teams...

Here they are folks, congrats to all:

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Division III All-State Football

Not real sure how this works, the teams seem a little Hillsborough County Heavy. How can the state champs, Portsmouth be so under-represented?

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

OL– Jake Kennedy – Souhegan

OL– Rob Boivin – Hollis/Brookline

OL– Zack Migneault – Hollis/Brookline

OL– Curtis Leonard – Portsmouth

OL– Will McInerny – Bedford

WR– Mike Gardiner – Bedford

WR– Chris Chininis – Souhegan

WR– Anthony Kurylak – Portsmouth

RB– Collin Pellerin – Hollis/Brookline

RB– Billy Lane – Portsmouth

QB– Connor Benjamin – Goffstown

ALL–PURPOSE– John Bourk – Pelham

K– Morgan Andrews – Milford

P– Tyler Ford – Souhegan

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL – Tim Beliveau – Souhegan

DL– Chris Ford – PEMBROKE

DL – Nate Harrington – Bedford

DL– Rick Holt – Portsmouth

LB – Joe Albina – Milford

LB – Nate Ferenczhalmy – Hollis/Brookline

LB – Matt Feeney – Portsmouth

LB – David Cannone – Bedford

DB– Terry Dugdale – Souhegan

DB – Sean Connors – Hollis/Brookline

DB– Jeremy Doubleday – Con-Val

DB – Chris Garrison – Goffstown

KICK R – Dylon York

PUNT R – Mike Gardiner

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

OL – Chris Behrens – Goffstown

OL– Travis Hobbs – Souhegan

OL – Zack McCormick – Goffstown

OL – Evan Pugliese – Portsmouth

OL – Jordan Gaudette – Milford

TE – David Caponigro – Hollis/Brookline

WR – Brian Collins – Bedford

WR – Mike O’Donnell – Goffstown

RB – Jordan Garron – Bedford

RB – Kyle Higgins – Milford

QB – Rob McCormick – Souhegan

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DL – Joe Thibeault – Bedford

DL – Dan Groleau – Con-Val

DL – Will Holmes – Hollis/Brookline

DL – Matt Poremba – Bedford

LB – Alex Price – Souhegan

LB – Jason Doheny – Souhegan

LB – Dan Kaczmerak – Portsmouth

LB – Tom Wall – Con-Val

DB – Mitch Frick – Hollis/Brookline

DB – Brent Simmons – Goffstown

DB – Nick Vailas – Bedford

DB – Keddy Bautista – Souhegan

HONORABLE MENTION OFFENSE

RB – Seth Learned – Souhegan

RB – Brandon O’Connell – Souhegan

WR – Denny Desserault – Souhegan

QB – Billy Hartman – Portsmouth

WR – Jake Bacon – Con-Val

FB – Devin Decarteret – Pelham

WR – Alex Duval – Goffstown

QB – James Caparell – Bedford

OL – Tim Carter – Bedford

QB – Kyle Gervais – Hollis/Brookline

OL – Jeff Taylor – Hollis/Brookline

OL – Glen Morgan – Hollis/Brookline

OL – Brad Schaefer – Pembroke

TE – Ben Smith – Milford

HONORABLE MENTION DEFENSE

LB – Ben Paradise – Pembroke

LB – Matt Dillon – Bedford

LB – Jack Terzian – Bedford

LB – Kyle Indingaro – Goffstown

DL – Greg Brunette – Goffstown

DL – Connor Wynn – Goffstown

DB– Isaac Kullgren – Con-Val

DL – Barry Ewing – Souhegan

DL – Tyler Hansis – Souhegan

LB – James Ewing – Souhegan

DB – Aaron Prescott – Souhegan

DL – Andrew Bellantoni – Milford

LB – Nate Ashe – Hollis/Brookline

*****Courtesy of the Nashua Telegraph

Here's a quick tally of the total team representation - 1st team/2nd team/honorable mention combined (not counting the 2 kick returners - not sure where they're from).

Souhegan - 17
Bedford - 15
H-B - 12
Goffstown - 10
Portsmouth - 8
Milford - 6
Con-Val - 5
Pembroke - 3
Pelham - 2

Perspective from a PHS dad:
Portsmouth's number is small probably because most of their starters went both ways. Biggest disappointment: Portsmouth OL/DL Sean Miller (Sr.) being left off the list entirely. Shocking that he wasn't considered one of the 12 best defensive or offensive linemen in the division. He and Ricky Holt were outstanding, especially against the run. Most pleasant surprise: PHS Center Kurtis Leonard (Jr.). With PHS running 98+ percent of their plays from the shotgun, I can't recall seeing more than 2 or 3 bad snaps all year. Was also very good on D-Line.

Seacoast dad thanks for doing the tally. I agree with many of your points. In my opinion Portsmouth had the best D-Line in the Division and should have been represented with more players. Is it not completely outrageous that 15 players from Souhegan made the team at some point, and this is a 5th place team in the division, I don't believe they made the playoffs. Something smells rotten, I mean real bad. As far as players playing both ways, many schools do that. Most DIII programs don't have enough players to play one way. I also thought Bill Hartman was a very good QB and should have been higher on list.

My counting skills were off this morning. Tally is updated.

Curious if anyone knows the answer to this question. Has a female ever been on any of the all-state teams? If so first team? Or is Morgan Andrews the first female to be voted on this list. She was outstanding this year don't think she missed a fg/ep all year.

Souhegan definitely should not have 17 players there if they aren't even a playoff team. If 17 of their players really were the best in the state they would have made more noise than 5th in the division. I only saw them play Portsmouth, and Portsmouth definitely deserved more players on this list. When I saw them Kennedy did not play well, but I suspect he and a few other kids turned it around at the end of the year. He should be fun to watch next year, he is a BIG kid.

I am still kind of surprised that 17 Souhegan players made this list. Nothing against them as a program or school, they are my second favorite HS in the state. But you come in 5th place in your Division and you lead the All-State with number of players representing. It is mind-boggling that this even happened. Where is the outrage? I bet if this happened in DI or maybe even DII there would be an investigation. Can you imagine if Central lead in DI?
Can someone give me some reasons how this would happen?
Bigman, not sure about the female player and All-State, it might have happened at a smaller school. I don't remember Milford kicking a field goal at any game I went to, they always went for it. But maybe they did the games I missed. She did nail her XP's though. We had an All-State kicker, is it not common for most HS kickers to make XP's? I know some teams just go for two, but still it isn't a far kick. I am not sure she was the best kicker in the Division, she kicked well and I bet many voters gave her a, "go get them vote". It just seems that the kicker from a 6th place team, on a team that didn't score much, and went for two a lot, just seems suspect. States like Penn., NM, Texas, and Arizona keep stats just like the NFL in their local papers, it is great to read. We miss out on HS sports in NH compared to most of the country. Do you know her numbers Bigman?
EIR to put it in real perspective, there are only 22 positions on O and D, that means Souhegan had 17 of those 22, to me that means you win a state championship.

The FG and XP kicker from HB 2 years ago was a female . She also did kick-offs. I think the name was Perkins ( girls soccer player ). She was honorable mention .

This team seems to get stranger and stranger. While this may seem disrespectful, but a source close to me has told me that Milford's kicker did not even make every game. How can you not play in all your teams games and make All-State, specifically as a Kicker, I can see a RB,WR, QB missing a game and still putting up good seasonal numbers. But a kicker depends on their points every week, or they are being passed. I also heard she wasn't even the kicker to start the season, so how many games did she miss? I read in the Telegraph that she missed soccer games too, to play on the US National team. She is a tremendous soccer player and is going to BC full-boat last I heard. I think she is also a 4.0 student and will not being going to a PG year to get better grades, mature, and work on SAT's, and ACT's. She missed a HS playoff soccer game to play in a scrimmage in California for the US National team.
To T@F or the Assistant, what is the criteria for getting on this team again, please?

I'm pretty sure the coaches vote the team... Like I posted in the D2 discussion, I can picture a scene out of a movie of some youth all star sports team selection process with a bunch of coaches getting drunk and smoking cigars Probably not the process, but sometimes I'm sure it feels like it is. If the coaches do meet, you can be sure part of the discussion is dominated by coaches that are more assertive in their opinions. If 4 players are put up at each position as best in the league - all it takes is 3 votes probably to be declared first team... I bet Souhegan playing well down the stretch against the weaker teams was fresher in the minds of those coaches than their earlier games against the other 4 teams.

I thought the numbers seemed low for PHS but the totals are shocking! I did not realize how lopsided it was. It would be interesting to see past years correlation. I think the team that won a championship would/should consistantly have the most players.

I agree with Seacoast dad. ( No disrespect to the players selected.) Sean Miller had an outstanding year. He should have been a FIRST team pick and to see he was not even included is a true disapointment and gives me suspicion with the selection process. Jack Mackey also had an excellent year and should have been recognized. He led a championship team in catches and interceptions.

Congratulations to all the PHS players for a well deserved championship season. Many more players should have been recognized for individual awards.

Full disclosure. I am a PHS parent but no relationship (other than a fan) to the players mentioned.

Here is what I know about the selection process. Coaches nominate their own players. I was told they started on offense first this year. Each coach is allowed to speak about any of the players nominated and then everyone votes. Top vote getter wins.

Having been a part of this process in the past here are some of the issues that arise. The first is the most bothering to me but happens all of the time.

A coach has a very clouded view of his own players. I was involved one time when a coach nominated a player at every position, his team did not win a game. Then this coach complained when he only put one player on and did not stop until he was given another one. This coach is still a coach in New Hampshire and his team is petitioning down.

The second problem that I have encountered is the coach with every stat in the book. The problem with this is that you never know who the stats came against.

Example: Earlier this year there were comments about Bedford throwing the ball in the 3rd and 4th quarters when they were up by three or four touchdowns. This may have added 150 more yards of passing statistics. This happened at the end of the year with Souhegan. So a coach says my kid threw or ran for x number of yards. Was this during play that was meaningful or was it bully time. Now in Hartman’s case he was pulled or not allowed to throw if they were up by three touchdowns. If he was he may have thrown for another two or three hundred yards.

The question that needs to be asked is how did these players play against the better teams. Conner Benjamin (my pick for the best QB in 3) was not good throwing the ball against Portsmouth. But in the playoffs he was a man running the ball. Capparel has a canon but did nothing while he was on his back. Wasn’t it back in weeks one through three (when they were playing better teams) that Souhegan could not even decide who their QB was. Sorry for the tangent, Benjamin 1, Hartman 2.

Most coaches are very honest, and knowing Coach Murphy he would only nominate those that he truly believes are worthy of the honor. The point is not to diminish the award. It is special and unfortunately there are coaches out there who would rather self promote their own programs than do justice to the league and the kids who truly deserve it.

As far as honorable mention goes, I am not sure how it worked. I have seen it done three ways. If a player was nominated he was automatically on the honorable mention list. A player who received at least one vote would make the list or the coaches are able to place whomever they wanted on the list.

As far as some kids being left off; we are not aware of situations that arise on a team. I remember on year Coach Ball did not nominate the best ILB in the state because of disciplinary issues. Who knows if this happened to other players this year? That is what should be done not to diminish the importance of the award.
It was a fun year in D3 already looking forward to next year. Look out for Goffstown (my pre season pick) and Bedford if they stay in 3. Portsmouth will be contending again next year with a boat load of seniors and juniors. Pembroke did not have any seniors and played aggressive they are the surprise team for next year.

She (Morgan Andrews) was at everygame that I was at besides the H/B game (I also didn't make the Souhegan game but I do believe she played in that) And while I don't think she should should've made first team, she definitely was worthy of 2nd team as she was the 2nd best place kicker in D3 with Dupree? from Portsmouth being the best I saw (saw them play 3 times kicked well in all 3) Not to mention she was the only consistent points all year.