By Bill Murphy
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
Newport and Bellows Falls maintained their undefeated football status this week with both teams getting off to a slow start and coming up with fast finishes allowing both to stand atop their respective state Division standings. Each team led 7-0 after the first quarter but walked off the field with 35-0 and 43-7 victories over Newfound and Union 32 respectively. Both teams face showdowns with another undefeated power this coming weekend.
Coach John Proper called his Tigers victory “our best defensive game of the year. Our front line gave constant pressure all game long.” Although he admitted his offense was sluggish to start, he offered, “we came out in the second half and were more physical on offense and our line created some massive holes for our running backs. Kamden Pollari and Dylon Stanley had excellent performances on the offensive line and Tyler Gobin was the workhorse on our ground attack.”
Newport’s touchdown in the first quarter came on a 23-yard pass from Kyle Ashley to Kayden LaClair. Eric Wilkinson kicked the extra point as he did after each of the five Tiger touchdowns on the day. Newport managed to score two more times in the second quarter to raise the lead to 21-0 at halftime. Gobin’s 15-yard run was the second score while Ashley and LaClair again connected on a 39-yard pass and run for the final six pointer of the half.
After intermission when Proper’s team competed at the physical level which pleased him, the Tigers added a couple of more touchdowns, the first on a Darren Janicke 13 yard run and the final one on a Gobin (176 yards rushing on the day) 10-yard scamper.
Proper told us, “We have relied on Tyler a lot so far this season with Karter Polari going down with a preseason injury and he has excelled in the role.” Polari is working hard to get back on the field, but he is still considered to be out indefinitely with no assurance he will be able to return.
Proper’s team travels to Somersworth for a big match-up of unbeatens with the Toppers Friday night at 7 p.m.
Bellows Falls increased their 7-0 first quarter lead to 16-0 at the half. Remington LaCroix scored the purple opening stanza touchdown on a 2-yard run and Jamision Nystrom would boot the extra point. Nystrom was successful on five of his six extra-point kicks in the game, running his record string to 22 before the wind had some effect on a miss following the final Falls touchdown.
BF increased their lead to 9-0 thanks to Caden Haskell blocking a punt which traveled out the back of the end zone. The Union 32 defense did their job stopping a Terrier drive inside the 10 but then the BF defense returned the favor, holding the hosts to a three and out before blocking the punt with 5:23 remaining in the half. Just one minute and 18 seconds later, Walker James completed the first half scoring with a 14-yard run.
Coach Bob Lockerby, like Proper above, pointed out better team play after intermission. He said, “in the second half we finally got the engine going. A lot of things seemed to happen early, and we just seemed to sputter. Our early schedule has been hard (Brattleboro, Fair Haven, Mount Anthony) so maybe there was a letdown, but we had told them a hiccup could destroy us, so we reminded them at the half, and they got it going. However, Give U32 credit. They came ready to play us.”
The Falls would add two more touchdowns in both the third and fourth quarters and all of them would be scored by Haskell on runs of 7, 8, 7 and 7 yards. BF has a long trip north on Friday night traveling to North Country to meet the 4-0 Falcons at 7 p.m.
Stevens’ victory at Kearsarge completed a clean sweep of wins by area football teams. The Cardinals had gone into this contest 0-3 but had shown some good signs on both sides of the ball in the early going. These good signs had not predicted anything like a one-sided victory 34-0 but it showed the signs were rightfully interpreted.
Coach Josh Duford told us, “Once we settled in, we controlled the line of scrimmage. We did a great job on special teams in the second half causing them to start deep in their territory on most drives. We also had an excellent defensive game plan.”
Just like the other area teams, things didn’t exactly start well for the Cardinals. They fumbled deep in their own territory to start but their defense saved them. They proceeded to drive the ball all the way to the red zone before giving the pigskin up on downs.
Kearsarge kept the trend going driving the ball right back to the Stevens 30 when Aiden Barry delivered a hard hit causing a fumble which the Cards recovered, and they were off and running. LITERALLY…….
Stevens ran and ran the ball all game. They only attempted three passes in the contest. Jai-Lique Ribeiro, who had been missing the past two games, wasted no time getting back to business scoring on a 7-yard run to give the Red and White the early lead 7-0. A short time later, the defense stood tall again as Luke Smith found the end zone from about 40 yards away on a pick six for a 14-0 halftime lead.
Again, in the theme of the other two area teams, the Cardinals opened things up in the second half. Tank Christian scored twice, once on a 15-yard run in the third quarter and then tacked on a 5-yard tally in the fourth and AJ Rozzell had a 15-yard run to paydirt in the fourth for the final count. Aiden White converted kicks on five of the six scores. The one missed was lost in the center/holder exchange.
Stevens will host Epping this Friday evening at Barnes Park at 7 p.m.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.