D3 Playoffs

Souhegan going for its 3rd title straight, Milford 9 straight playoff appearances, Portsmouth continues doing exceptionally well in D3 looking to win it's first title here, and HB's first playoff appearance in the brief existence.

4 HB @ 1 Souhegan- Played earlier in the season lost 36-15 wasn't at the game, but from what I heard HB kept it close in the first half. I've seen Souhegan more than I've seen HB, but HB's coming in off a huge win against what I thought was a solid Goffstown team. They have a very solid running game with Liamos and Pellerin. Souhegan I wouldn't say struggled going into the playoffs but they certainly weren't playing there best football it took two punt returns for them to beat Bedford, and didn't have 100 total yards of offense. I think Coach Beliveau will have those problems figured out. My prediction on this game I don't see an upset here, Souhegan is just coached to well and despite this not being one of there better teams they still are getting solid play from Luks at qb and there Defense is very solid. I think that HB will keep this close for a while but in the end Souhegan will just be too much. I think HB will get there rushing yards but not the big games they've been getting and will need to find other ways to score to have a chance at beating them. My Prediction for a score 28-14. I will more than likely be attending this game.

3 Milford @ 2 Portsmouth- Again Milford meets Portsmouth in the semi-finals seems like this is a every year thing. Didn't go to the 40-0 game in Portsmouth last game and have yet to see Portsmouth play. I have seen Portsmouth in past years and nothing ever changes they never really miss a beat they do a great job out there on the coast having people ready to fill in when seniors leave. I've seen nearly all of Milford's games and they're coming in on a 3 game win streak with some momentum and for the most part are completely healthy (Forte, and Bellantoni are both back unsure about soph. FB Albina) Milford is obivously going to rely on the ground game of Forte and Goudreau (Forte got shut down last time 13 carries 29 yards) As nhfootballreport said Milford has been playing great defense, against the run but Portsmouth wants to spread the field and throw it. Defending the Pass has not been Milfords strong suit this year, especially defending the spread, on average against spread teams they are letting up 32.8 pts a game (only reason it's not higher is they held bedford to 7) Milford is going to need to control the clock avoid turnovers (which has been hard for them) and find a way to slow down the Portsmouth offense. I heard that Aiden O'leary might not be playing for PHS which I'd think that would hurt seeing as he's one of the better recievers in the state, but they also are getting back Bill Lane. Milford will need to keep this realtively low scoring, and I think if it's close towards the end Milford will have the advantage. With that said I think Coach Jones and the rest of the staff will have Milford ready to go and they will defend the spread a little better this week, but I don't see the upset coming tonight. My Prediction on the score PHS 35-24 Milford. Hoping the Spartans can get W but don't see it happening. This game is tonight but I won't be in attendance, I'll have updates throughout the night and post them as I get them.

Some very unfortunate news Forte got hit in the head knocked unconscious for a little while have yet to get him off the field, will be leaving in an ambulance. Heard from a trustworthy source that the hit was helmet to helmet and it could've been avoided, i'll leave it at that as I wasn't there to see it for myself. Game just resumed, I can only hope there is nothing seriously wrong with Forte.

Well...I guess my prediction about the Milford game was dead wrong it's 37-3 at half Portsmouth is up.

A friend of mine that was at the game left at the end of the third at it was 51-3, he was telling me not only did forte go down but Max Goudreau also went down. He also said PHS was running the ball real well, didn't get much else than that, but I can see how Milford really didn't stand much of a chance as 2 of the top 5 leading rushers in D3 went down, who both are also big in Milfords defense, obviously it's a team game but when you lose that much production it's going to be hard to beat anyone.

Not only that. Do not forget that Milford has been taking on bad injuries all year losing two starting senior lineman early as well. Seniors Harry Wolcott and Matt Keefe were lost early on in the season with knee injuries and starting linebacker and fullback Joe Albina was out with a ankle. Not many D3 teams can weather losing 5 starters especially with the fact that all 5 were two way players. That was just too much to handle for this program.

I do want to point out something about the Milford offense that I do not like. Much of the offense from Milford is about putting a running back in motion across the line at full tilt and then using misdirection to hit gaps. When a team like this is as beat up on the O line as they were it really exposes your running backs to blind sided hits. I compare it to hanging a receiver out to dry running a crossing pattern. He is going all out concentrating on the hand off and a lineman who shoots the gap has a free shot. At least with running the ball north and south the running back has time to react in this type of play you sure take chances on your guys getting punished.
This was obviously what happened last night. Forte got the hand off and before he could adjust took a big hit. Not sure exposing players to hits like that is worth it in my eyes. I know football is a physical sport but to me you are really putting players at risk running parallel like that.

That being said for Milford to end up the third seed says a lot about the program. They got a lot out of their talents this year but were just decimated by the injuries. As for Portsmouth and what most believe will be Souhegan. That should be a very interesting game. I do not see Souhegan blowing out Portsmouth and I just may have to be there for that one.

Good luck to both.