By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — Newport’s offense showed some positive signs of life Saturday but the defense came up short again as the Tigers fell to Somersworth, 52-22.
The lopsided defeat left Newport at 0-6. The Tigers will host 0-6 Kearsarge Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Maryn Field.
After this week Newport has two games remaining on the schedule, at Laconia on Friday, Oct. 19 with a 7 p.m. kickoff and at home on Saturday, Oct. 27 facing Epping-Newmarket.
After Saturday, Kearsarge has two tough games, at Somersworth on Oct. 19 and at home against Monadnock Oct. 26. As the Cougars will be underdogs in both of those contests, a loss to Newport would likely create the possibility of ending the season at 0-9 and sitting in the Division III cellar for the Cougars.
Last week Kearsarge dropped a 29-15 decision to D III powerhouse Campbell.
Against Somersworth, Joey Ackerman carried 27 times for Newport, gaining 241 yards, an average of 8.9 yards per carry. He scored two touchdowns, the longest a 71-yard crafty sprint to the end zone.
Five players scored for the Hilltoppers with junior Christian Abkarian leading the way with a pair of TD’s and 136 rushing yards on 18 carries.
Somersworth has only two seniors on its roster.
Despite the 30-point loss, Newport Coach Dennis Borcuk Jr. found a pair of positive areas to focus on. “We got more first downs and more yardage than we did in any of our first five games. It was good to see some positive yards.”
The Tigers picked up 11 first downs while Somersworth had 15. On defense, sophomore Josh Sharron led the way for the Tigers with 12 tackles including three for losses. He also had one interception.
At the start of Saturday’s Homecoming contest, thing weren’t exactly positive for Newport.
Before Somersworth even ran one play after taking the opening kickoff, Newport was forced to use a time out because of a mixup of personnel on the field.
The Hilltoppers were forced to punt on fourth down and the ball rolled dead on the Newport 2-yard line. On first down, an Ackerman fumble was recovered by Somersworth at the 4-yard line and two plays later at the 9:53 mark, Abkarian hit the middle of the Newport defensive line for a 3-yard touchdown and he added the two extra points and the Tigers were in an 8-0 hole.
Newport did much better the next time it went on the offense. Ackerman carried the ball on four plays and was credited with three first downs leading the Tigers to the Somersworth 8-yard line.
Cole McNamara, a 235-pound fullback, was stopped twice short of the goal before Sharron, a 150-pound sophomore made his way into the end zone with 5:26 remaining in the opening period. The bid for two extra points failed but the Somersworth lead was cut to 8-6 at that point.
On the final play of the opening period Abkarian went around his left end for a 29-yard score and the point-after boot was good, pushing the Hilltopper lead to 15-8.
With 8:35 left in the second period Somersworth scored again on a pass-run play that covered 71 yards giving the Toppers a 21-8 lead with 8:35 left in the second period. With 3:41 to play in the period another Somersworth score pushed the lead to 27-8. This time if was junior quarterback Brogan Bonsaint sneaking for the final yard.
Newport fans came to their feet just 23 seconds into the third period on a crafty 71-yard run by Ackerman who wove his way around and through Somersworth defenders cutting the Toppers lead to 27-14.
Over the remainder of the game Somersworth picked up another 25 points with Newport adding a score of its own, on a long run by Ackerman of 57 yards.
“We got a chance to see some of our younger players get some real varsity experience and I’m happy with their development,” Coach Borcuk said following the game.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.