Crazy D3 Is there a favorite?

If I were a betting man I would have bet the HB Goff game would have been a run away for HB. I was wrong. HB could not stop the Goffstown offense. Benjamin ran the read almost to perfection. Although I am not sure he actually makes the read.

HB was not good against the run all day. The only thing that stopped the read and option was if Benjamin kept when he should have given. Again, not sure the play isn’t just called.

What I did see today was (as I stated earlier in the year) a HB team that has no depth. The two outstanding corners were out and the next two are not even close. This really hurt the D. I think they are the best team when healthy but they are not. They are down at least four starters by my count.

The word is Bedford also is pretty banged up? But, Bedford has depth.

Portsmouth is banged up too. Holt was out and the other starting tackle went out on a cart Friday night and the Mackey kid was on crutches.

Does this make Goffstown the favorite? Even though Portsmouth beat them by 40+?

Will the Goffs/Ports game be played in Goffs? Or will they move it due to field conditions? If the game moves to Bedford, would Portsmouth have an advantage? How about at St.A's? The D3 playoffs are going to be a wild ride.

bumper wrote:If I were a betting man I would have bet the HB Goff game would have been a run away for HB. I was wrong. HB could not stop the Goffstown offense. Benjamin ran the read almost to perfection. Although I am not sure he actually makes the read.

HB was not good against the run all day. The only thing that stopped the read and option was if Benjamin kept when he should have given. Again, not sure the play isn’t just called.

What I did see today was (as I stated earlier in the year) a HB team that has no depth. The two outstanding corners were out and the next two are not even close. This really hurt the D. I think they are the best team when healthy but they are not. They are down at least four starters by my count.

The word is Bedford also is pretty banged up? But, Bedford has depth.

Portsmouth is banged up too. Holt was out and the other starting tackle went out on a cart Friday night and the Mackey kid was on crutches.

Does this make Goffstown the favorite? Even though Portsmouth beat them by 40+?

It's not a read. It's a called play with counter blocking. Set back goes one way, OL blocks down and backside guard and tackle pull and kick out. QB rides a fake and follows the pulling guard.

Not having 4-5 starters for HB certainly contributed (especially #33, the OLB who played so well against Portsmouth's shotgun offense), but Goff just looked like a different team. HB has (had?) the best defense in D1, 2, or 3 in terms of points allowed per game, but they gave up almost 500 yards and 39 points to Goffstown yesterday with all those kids out. Connor Benjamin is the real deal. I like how he is successful without being show-boatish. The rest of the Goff team is kind of chippy, but that kid seems like a good kid with tons of talent.

I'd say if HB gets 2 or 3 of those kids back, they'll be in the finals. If not, they won't survive the Bedford game.

The lone bright spot for H/B has been the emergence of #24 Sean Connors. He had 3 TD's against Milford last week (1 rushing, 2 receiving) and he had close to 180 yards rushing, 100 receiving, and 3 TDs again against Goffstown. He's really picked up for the loss of #33 it seems, especially with defenses bulls-eying #22 Pellerin these last few weeks.

I'd have to say Goff is the favorite, I guess. I really had not been impressed with them in any of the games I saw. They barely beat Pembroke and they were actually losing to Pelham at half time. The reason I can't cheer for them is that they are totally a 1 man show. The QB is a man amongst boys, and he was literally the entire team yesterday (as he has been in every game). The Pelham and Pembroke games were tight because he was out with an injury.

If Portsmouth really has that many kids banged up, that hurts them badly.

I saw Souhegan play Bedford on Friday, and Bedford got really banged up too. #44, who is a very good ILB and RB left with a severe concussion. The QB had a leg / ankle injury on a meaningless drive at the end of the game where the game was out of reach but Bedford was running deep passes trying to score 3 TD's in 2 minutes (you've clinched a playoff spot and this game is out of reach...run it 3 times and count yourselves lucky!). #28 who plays CB and WR was also hurt with what looked like an arm or shoulder injury.