New Hampshire Football Report

Stevens named Team of the Week

NHFR TEAM OF THE WEEK
Stevens Cardinals

MGSports

Entering the fourth quarter the scoreboard made it look like most of the prognosticators were going to be correct: Top-seeded Monadnock was going to defeat Stevens and earn a spot in the Division III championship game.

Stevens trailed by 15 points entering the final 12 minutes, but that’s when the Cardinals were at their best. Stevens scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull off a 26-21 upset.

Stevens took its only lead when quarterback Henri Bourque connected with Parker Smith for a 38-yard touchdown pass with 2:27 to play. Zach O’Brien’s reception on the conversion attempt capped the scoring. Smith had 15 receptions for 188 yards in the victory.

Monadnock had an opportunity to pull out the win following a bad snap from punt formation that gave the Huskies the ball on deep in Stevens territory with 20 seconds remaining, but the game ended after Monadnock quarterback J.T. Cloutier tossed three straight incomplete passes.

Monadnock (9-1) entered the contest as the only unbeaten team in Division III and had allowed 31 points in its previous nine games. The Huskies beat the Cardinals 20-6 during the regular season.

Stevens (8-2) began its comeback when tailback Richard Bell scored on a 1-yard run to make it 21-12. Bell then capped a three-play, 82-yard drive when he caught a 37-yard TD pass from Bourque that cut Monadnock’s lead to 21-18 with 7:06 to play. The Cardinals began their final scoring drive on their own 33-yard line with 3:16 to play.

O’Brien accounted for the first Stevens TD on a 1-yard run that made it a 14-6 game in the second quarter. Stevens limited Monadnock to 82 yards of offense in the second half.

Stevens will face Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough (8-2) in Saturday’s championship game at the University of New Hampshire (11 a.m.). The Cardinals will be seeking their first state championship since they shared the Division III title with Winnacunnet in 1968.

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The NHFR Team of the Week is sponsored by MG Sports. Contact MG Sports owner Michael Garczynski at MGSports1313@gmail.com for your fundraising needs.

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