The next 3 weeks are gonna be crazy fun in divisions one,two,and three.

Division 1, PINKERTON, we all know. The next 3 spots up for grabs. EXETER,SOUTH, SALEM, and CENTRAL, and they all play each other. Don't look now, but the CRUSADERS play North then Londonderry. That last game of the season against PINKERTON could be a wild one. It could be one of those 55-49 division one shootouts. Just saying the Crusaders have a horse at fullback,big line, real good qb. Could be a fun one.

Division 2. BG,DOVER, then pick out of a hat. I might guess TIMBY, and SPAULDING, but what do I know.

Division 3. Portsmouth looked good last night, Hollis Brookline playing well. Bedford, after that. GTOWN, Milford. Don't forget SOUGHEGAN lurking back there.

FOUR TEAMS, THREE SPOTS. Here are the remaining schedule. You try to figure it out. The only thing I see is Salem has a pretty easy road

SOUTH 4-1. AT SALEM, EXETER, AT CENTRAL. Not to easy. Wouldn't be surprised if they won all 3 , or lost all 3.

EXETER 4-1. AT CENTRAL, AT SOUTH, NORTH. At least one easy win.

SALEM 3-2. SOUTH, AT CONCORD, AT LONDONDERRY. Two easy games gives them at least 5 wins.

CENTRAL 3-2. EXETER, AT PINKERTON, SOUTH. Good luck with that.







Oh yeah maybe 5 teams 3 spots

MEMORIAL 2-3. AT NORTH,AT LONDONDERRY. HOME PINKERTON. I never thought the PATRIOTS would lose to the Giants either.

Two spots left for the division 2 playoffs. BG AND DOVER ARE IN.

Here's what's left.
TIMBY 2-2. AT WINNIE, KEENE, AT SPAULDING, DOVER. Big game today with Winnie.

WINNIE 2-2. TIMBY, AT BG, KEENE, AT MERRIMACK. Big game with Timby today.

KEENE 2-3. AT TIMBY,AT WINNIE, BG. They have to win out to have a chance. Don't see them winning out.

SPAULDING 2-3. AT MERRIMACK, AT ALVIRNE, TIMBY. They control their own fate.

ALVIRNE 2-3. SPAULDING, AT BG, AT WEST. Just not buying. 16 turnovers by winnie and timby in their 2 wins.

SPAULDING the hottest team in d2. Who was that guy a month ago that predicted a 4 game win streak for THE RED RAIDERS . I have long held the belief that a good coach can go a long way towards a team making the playoffs in NH football. Been a long time since Bolin retired. Good to see they have FINALLY found a good coach.

TIMBERLANE. Took one GIANT STEP toward's making the dance.

WINNIE. Took one GIANT STEP back from going to the dance.

KEENE. It's out of their hands now. They have to win out {which I don't see them doing}, and hope other teams lose.

ALVIRNE- Scored 62 against Pelham. Called KARMA coach. You want to embarrass a winless team from a weaker division. They play BG in 2 weeks. All hopes will be dashed then.

MERRIMACK- Not going dancing AGAIN. Their program has OFFICIALLY hit ROCK BOTTOM.

D1:
I think you'll see Exeter, South, & Salem make it - the order will be interesting. Central is cooked. They have Exeter, PA, & South left - they have to win one of those and I think it has to be Exeter. Cannot imagine them beating PA. If they have to win vs. South it'll be difficult for them.. I think Exeter has the inside track to be #2 and the result of the Salem/South game will decide #3/#4

D2:
Wouldn't be surprised to see Spaulding beat Timby... That means this weeks game vs. Keene could be the #4 seed assuming that Keene only loses one more, which I don't see happening as they are 2 road games and a home game vs BG left... If the Divisions didn't change, Keene would probably have been the favorite for "next year" too. I think you'll have in order BG, Dover, Spaulding, Timby.

D3:
Portsmouth is clear #1 now. I think Bedford answered a few questions, but unless they upset Portsmouth - they probably fall to #3 or #4 seed. Goffstown probably is #2, unless both Hollis and Bedford beat Portsmouth. That leaves Souhegan hoping for a Portsmouth vs. Bedford win so their last game against Bedford means something. Crazy Division where the last week of games will decide everything - Goffs/Hollis, Souh/Bedf all fighting for 3 spots...

ALVIRNE- OFFENSE-11, DEFENSE- 21

BG- OFFENSE- 31 , DEFENSE - 8

DOVER- OFFENSE- 22, DEFENSE -9

KEENE- OFFENSE- 21. DEFENSE- 18 THE numbers say BG- Dover in the finals. Head and shoulders above everyone else in the division.

MERRIMACK- OFFENSE- 7, DEFENSE- 28

SPAULDING- OFFENSE-19, DEFENSE- 19

TIMBERLANE- OFFENSE- 27, DEFENSE - 18

WEST- OFFENSE-14, DEFENSE- 40

WINNIE, OFFENSE- 22, DEFENSE- 13

halftime- soon to be division 2 Exeter 21- Central 0

Timberlane 21 - Keene 21 after 3 quarters.

halftime South 21 - Salem 0

half goffstown 17 - Milford 3

Spaulding 32- Alvirne -0 t@f, you must admit I was the first one to mention a 4 game win streak for SPAULDING, way back when.

So, Exeter is having a very good season in this year of playing D1 and they are going back to D2?

That puzzled me as well.

I also agree with Sofaking, Bedford should be d2.

I would have moved Alvirne down, and Bedford up.

I have solid info that the Hornets Nest Stirrer is traveling from D3 JWU to D3 Salve this evening

WATCH OUT SALVE

Keene is done.

Next week Timberlane has to go to SPAULDING That place will be ROCKIN.

Major playoff seeding remifications. I mean ramifications. It would not surprise me if SPAULDING rolls. Roger Brown reported that Timby is prwetty beat up right now.

Then Timby host Dover in what possibly could be a semi final preview.

Winnie is now in MUST WIN MODE for Saturday's tilt with Guertin.

Did not realize Timberlane had to travel TO Spaulding next week, I thought they got to face them at home. Close wins in the last 2 weeks over weak opponents (27-22 over Winnacunnet and 24-21 over Keene). I agree with GNG, Spaulding takes this one and moves to the #3 seed. Imagine reading that last year.
Timberlane still has the #4 seed pretty tightly wrapped up, but they lose to Dover their final week.
Week 1: Timberlane @ BG, Spaulding at Dover
Timberlane is beat up, Guertin makes it to another 'ship. As for the Spaulding-Dover game, I can't tell, I haven't seen Spaulding play since their win streak began, but I certainly expect it to be a better game than 19-0.

Not going to be crazy fun. Two divisions all but decided. Third will be fun though.

Division One { my soon to be favorite division}. Pinkerton, South, Exeter, and Salem.

South and Exeter might swap spots depending on next weeks tilt against each other. This will be the game to be at next week.

Salem finishes with Londonderry and Concord. One win between the 2 of them. Finishing 4th in this division means you are the first team eliminated.


Division Two. Not alot of quality football being played in this division this season, but they do have the FEEL GOOD story of the year. SPAULDING

BG,Dover,Spaulding, and Timberlane will be going to the dance. Winnie still alive, but on life support.

Dover wins out they get 2nd seed

SPAULDING beats Timberlane they get 3rd seed.

Timberlane wins out they get 2nd seed, but beating the Red Raiders on the road will be difficult. Then they host Dover. Losing them both would not be a surprise.

Winnie- need to beat BG tonight or they will need SPAULDING to lose next week, and they still would have to beat Keene and Merrimack. I don't see them beating Guertin tonight, or SPAULDING losing next week, but I have been wrong before.

DIVISION 3 - Portsmouth is in is about all we know. BEDFORD, GOFFSTOWN, HOLLIS/ BROOKLINE, AND SOUHEGAN are all still alive. Big one today in Hollis. I'll let Bigman, sofaking, crazy carl, or one of our other d3 experts sort out the scenarios.

I'll get on what could happen in D3 after the PHS H/B game which is currently 7-7 with about 8 mins left in the quarter.

bring it on, you da BIGMAN44

I went to the HB/Portsmouth game today and I never thought I would say this, but I think HB will win the Championship in D3 this year. Their only loss was to Bedford (who I have yet to see play this year) but I saw them destroy Souhegan, and battle Portsmouth, picking off four passes, and playing a more physical game all day long. They have strong line play on both sides of the ball which is their key to success. They have three guys that can carry the ball and run downhill with authority.

Hartmann had a tough day at QB for Portsmouth (4 bad picks) and I would never hitch my wagon to Billy Lane...he's too small and takes himself out so many times each game to the point where he's a distraction. With no clear dominant team in D3...I would go with the team with the biggest onions....and from my sample size, it's HB. Good for them.

I am ashamed of the d3 posters. I had to go to the nhiaa website to find out the score.


On the flip side I have been telling people d3 is the place to be this year.


WHO YA GOT?

I got H/B

crazy carl knows his stuff.

HB over PHS in a pretty big upset in my opinion. D3 entered the week with a lot of "what if" scenarios but a lot of that got cleared up this week with Goffstown and HB winning. Here is what the D3 Playoff picture looks like...

Already in...
PHS- Already in before this weeks game but now they are no longer in the driver's seat for the #1 seed. PHS can secure a home playoff game (provided they don't lose to Pelham) with a win over Bedford next week, but will need another HB loss to get back to the #1 seed. A loss to Bedford could mean a road game in round 1.

GTown- Clinched a spot this week with a win in Milford, but they still need to win out to secure a home playoff game at this point. They still have a shot at the #1 seed if Bedford could upset PHS and they win out. HB vs GTown in the last week will likely for a first round home playoff game.

One win and in....
HB- I'm not sure if they have clinched or not (worst case scenario would be a 3-way tie for 4th with HB/Bedford/SHS and I'm not sure who wins in that tie breaker.) but today's win went a LONG way to securing a spot. They also have the inside track on the #1 seed if PHS beats Bedford.

Bedford- Despite not actually clinching a spot yet, Bedford controls their own destiny not only for a playoff spot, but for a #1 seed. Bedford needs one win to secure a playoff spot and two wins to take the #1 seed. Two losses and Bedford could find themselves out of the D3 playoffs.

Still Alive....
SHS- Down to living week-to-week. A Bedford win over PHS and SHS is out. A loss to Bedford (or Pelham) and SHS is out. SHS's only way in now is a PHS win and to win out (Pelham, Bedford).

Eliminated...
R.I.P
Milford
Conval
Pembroke
Pelham

Nice post and very accurate. As and SHS fan, it's disheartening that they allowed Goffstown to steal a game they had in hand (all credit to Goffstown) and didn't take care of business in a sloppy one score loss to Portsmouth. They need help, which is foreign territory for the Sabers in recent years, but I think if they get in, it becomes a total goat rodeo as to who plays HB for the title. Good stuff for this division. For a decade it's been three teams in D3...SHS, Portsmouth, and back in the day, Plymouth...every year. Nice to see some new blood. I had the pleasure of coaching a lot of the HB, Milford, and SHS kids in Pop Warner and Souhegan Valley Sabers teams and quite happy that they have been able to branch off and build solid programs in their respective communities.

I know this might sound crazy, but the H/B game could have gone a lot more heavily in favor of the Cavaliers if they hadn't committed 5 turnovers (more than they'd committed all season prior to that) and several drive-killing penalties on offense. They really out-played Portsmouth in just about every element of the game. H/B's run game has been off since #66 Rob Boiven (3 year starter, 2-year 1st team all-state lineman) went down 5 plays into the Bedford game, but word is he'll be back next week. Still, the Cavs managed over 200 yards rushing agaisnt a defense that made Goffstown look like a Pop Warner team last Friday night.

More impressive was the H/B defense, which was in some VERY bad situations all day, and played out of their skulls for the most part. The Portsmouth Herald said that this was a season-low for PHS offensively in terms of yardage and points scored. The 4 H/B defensive backs may all be amongs the best in the league, and Hartmann's passing statistics are very telling (16 for 36 4 int's). It's clear that the H/B defensive unit is very strong...especially after only allowing one fluke TD to Bedford's high-powered offense as well.

In what was, in my opinion, the battle between the division's top RB's (Pellerin vs. Lane), Pellerin came away with a slight edge. Lane carried 14 times for 58 yards, while Pellerin carried 19 times for 76 yards...but Pellerin was missing his best offensive linemen up front, while Lane's OL was at 100%. Lane was also in-and-out all game while Pellerin played nearly every snap on both sides of the ball (plus contributing 2 picks) and demonstrated way more mental toughness.

Bottom line: H/B is on track to dismantle a broken Milford squad and handily defeat a (in my humble opinion) still highly-overrated Goffstown team and end the regular season with a 9-1 record. Goffstown's biggest issue is that if you take away Connor Benjamin (QB), that's the whole team. Peter Shea (RB) probably has about 350 yards rushing on the season (if that) and #80 Garrison is a huge target, but can't do anything if Benjamin can't get him the ball. Goffstown does not have the speed, size, or physicality to match up with Portsmouth (last week, anyone?) or H/B. And, I firmly believe if they played Bedford at this juncture in the season, they'd be handily defeated (Goff beat Bedford 17-15 in week 2 I think). Goffstown is a distant 4th to these 3 other great teams.

The big game next week in this division is Portsmouth vs. Bedford. Bedford is coming off a buy week after beating H/B last week, so a big question is whether that hurts their momentum OR if the extra prep time gives them an advantage. Both teams are similarly built on speed and passing. Both have very good defensive fronts (the Bedford defensive front murdered H/B last week). Bedford has a great player in Mike Gardiner (#3) who is a lot like Lane, but may be even faster and more versatile (he also kicks, punts, etc) and mentally tough. Hartmann and Caparel are the two best QB's in the division (even though both were harassed by H/B's defense, they're still very good). Both teams have STUD defensive lines. The difference is in the run games, in my opinion. Jordan Garron #35 and David Cannone #44 for Bedford are both tough, inspired runners. The Portsmouth backs don't play like that...so if Bedford needs to pound, they have an advantage. It will be a great game. I can't imagine Portsmouth losing 2 in a row at this stage of the season, but Bedford beat what may be the top overall team in D3 last week (H/B)...so it's anyone's game.

SK, interesting observation about Gtown. There is an article in the Telegraph about their coach today, and you seem spot on. Their coach basically says they are winning with mirrors, and duct tape. The foundation isn't there yet, but this coach seems to be pointing them in the right direction for the future.

Hi all - new to this forum. There are several scenarios in Division 3 that will result in ties. I would guess that 2-way ties are broken by head-to-head, but what about 3-way tiebreakers where all 3 teams are 1-1 in head-to-head? Over the last 2 weeks, I am going to start with the assumption that Goffstown beats Con-Val, Souhegan beats Pelham, and Portsmouth beats Pembroke. This will leave a combination of 32 possible outcomes with the remaining 5 games. (Yes, I am a nerd ). There are several scenarios where there is a 3-way tie for either the 2-3-4 seed or the 3-4-5 seed. In fact, there are 2 scenarios where four teams could finish tied with 6-2 records. Any thoughts on the next level(s) of tiebreakers?

This might help SeacoastDad. The following is from NHIAA's site concerning playoff games and tiebreaker information:



Sect. 6: Tournament Selection
For All Divisions:
Tournament selection will be based on
1. Win/Loss record in division games. In case of a tie the Tie-Breaking Procedure (Sect. 7) will be applied.
2. Only games in division will count toward tournament selection prior to the Tie-Breaking Procedure.
Divisions I – VI will use the win/loss record to determine tournament selection. The four schools in each
Division with the highest win/loss record shall qualify for the playoffs. All games must be played in
Division. Only games in Division will count toward tournament selection. Non-divisional and out-of-state
games DO NOT count in the standings for all divisions.

Sect. 7: Tie Breaking Procedure
In the event of a tie for a tournament position, the Football Committee shall resolve the tie by using the
following criteria:
A. If two schools are tied for a tournament position:
1. The winner of head-to-head competition will be selected.
2. The Football Point Rating System will be applied.
3. Rating against NHIAA division opponents selected for the tournament including all teams involved in a tie
for the last position. Once the tournament teams have been selected, the teams that were tied for the last
position are no longer used in breaking ties as they are not considered tournament teams.
4. Quality of wins against tournament teams in class including all teams involved in a tie for the last position.
5. Wins against opponents on the road regardless of division.
6. Wins against opponents at home regardless of division.
7. If teams are still tied, the team that defeated the highest NHIAA seeded team in their division (includes both
tournament and non-tournament teams) will be selected.
8. As determined by sports committee.
B. If three or more schools are tied for a tournament position:
1. The rating in head-to-head competition will be used if all schools involved in the tie have competed against
each other.
2. The Football Point Rating System will be applied.
3. Rating against NHIAA division opponents selected for the tournament including all teams involved in a tie
for the last position. Once the tournament teams have been selected, the teams that were tied for the last
position are no longer used in breaking ties as they are not considered tournament teams.
4. Quality of wins against tournament teams in class including all teams involved in a tie for the last position.
5. Wins against opponents on the road regardless of division.
6. Wins against opponents at home regardless of division.
7. If teams are still tied, the team that defeated the highest NHIAA seeded team in their division (includes both
tournament and non-tournament teams) will be selected.
8. As determined by sports committee.
Note: The final tournament positions will be determined before seeding.


Sect. 8: Football Rating System
The point rating system that will be used to break ties for playoff seeding purposes:
10 points per win
Out-of-state games and out of Division will not be rated
Opponents' Value earned as a result of wins or ties by opponents who were beaten or tied by a school:
WIN TIE
Beaten opponent 2 1
Tied opponent 1 .5
The point rating of a school will be determined by adding the total of "own value" plus "opponents' value"
and dividing by the number of games played by the school.