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NHIAA Division I Preview

Division I 
2019 Preview

Division I South: Londonderry, Pinkerton, Salem, Timberlane and Windham.

Division I North: Bedford, Concord, Goffstown, Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial.

Division I East: Dover, Exeter, Portsmouth/Oyster River, Spaulding and Winnacunnet.

Division I West: Bishop Guertin, Keene, Merrimack, Nashua North and Nashua South.

2018 champion: Bedford. The Bulldogs completed an unbeaten season (12-0) by defeating Pinkerton Academy in the Division I championship game.

Top storyline: Who’s the team to beat? Unlike most years, there appears to be no clear-cut favorite in Division I — at least not yet.

Players to Watch: Keith Albergo (C) Winnacunnet; Thatcher Allen (DT) Exeter; Cam Babine (TE/DE) Londonderry; Kyle Baker (TE/DE) Bishop Guertin; Cooper Bartlett (G/LB) Londonderry; Avery Battle (RB) Pinkerton; Brad Baxter (WR/LB) Goffstown; Nathan Belanger (OL/DL) Bishop Guertin; Mason Belsky (G/DT) Windham; Tucker Brown (RB/WR) Keene; Colton Burrows (OT/DT) Milford; Brendan Callahan (WR/CB) Bishop Guertin, Richard Camarato (LB/RB) Winnacunnet; Spencer Clark (DE) Exeter; Charlie Collins (DL) Nashua South; Jason Compoh (WR/LB) Nashua South; Nick Connerty (OL) Bishop Guertin; Riley Desmarais (RB) Windham; Bobby DiCicco (FB/DE) Windham; Beau Dillon (OT/DT) Salem; James Dowling (QB/DB) Merrimack; Jared Dyer (RB/DE) Merrimack; Travis Emery (DL) Keene; Michael Ference (S) Salem; Jassia Francis (G/DE) Manchester Central; Miguel Gensee (WR/DB) Manchester Central; Casey Gladu (OT/LB) Portsmouth; Nick Godbois (C) Manchester Central; Owen Gormley (OL/DL) Salem; Thor Griffith (OT/DT) Portsmouth; Curtis Harris (QB/RB/DB) Nashua North; Torey Helton (OT/NG), Bedford; Jarrett Henault (QB/LB) Goffstown; Ethan Holt (RB/LB) Bishop Guertin; Blaine Hopkins (T/DE) Londonderry; Tyler Kayo (RB/LB) Londonderry; Cole Keegan (SE/CB) Londonderry; Darrin Keller (OL/DL) Spaulding; Charlie Kneissl-Williams (G/DT) Bedford; Donovan Labate (LB) Nashua North; Oscar Lalime (WR/OLB) Portsmouth; Cam Lovett (WR/FS) Timberlane; Joey Lupo (WR/RB) Bishop Guertin; Jake MacInnis (LB/RB) Pinkerton; Josh Maroun (RB) Salem; Braden McDonnell (OL) Nashua South; Ronan McGonigle (SE/LB) Concord; Jake McDevitt (DB) Nashua South; Kyle O’Connor (LB) Nashua South; Josh Ozoria (C/DE) Salem; Nolan Pafford (G/DE) Portsmouth; Matt Pemberton (RB/CB) Londonderry; Stefan Robert (RB/CB) Windham; Soloman Sanchez (WR/DB) Bedford; Jacob Schofield (LB) Bishop Guertin; Dylan Szostak (G/LB) Windham; Jonathan Teixeira (WR/DB) Goffstown; Mike Terrazzano (OL/DL) Bishop Guertin; Alex Tsetsilas (SE/DB) Londonderry; Zach Twardosky (RB/DB) Merrimack; Brandon Wall (RB/LB) Salem; Hudson White (DL) Spaulding; Spencer Whiting (LB) Nashua North; Jeff Wiedenfeld (RB/DB) Londonderry; Evan Wilson (RB/LB) Pinkerton; Devin Wood (SE/CB) Merrimack; Dante Young (QB) Nashua South.

Key game: Londonderry at Salem (Sept. 14). Two of the best teams in the division will meet on a Saturday morning (10 a.m. kickoff) at Haverhill’s Trinity Stadium in a game that could determine the No. 1 seed in the North/South bracket.

Noteworthy: For scheduling purposes, the North will play the South and the East will play the West this season. The state championship will include one team from the North/South bracket, and one from the East/West bracket. Four teams from each bracket will make the playoffs. The conference champion receives an automatic playoff berth regardless of its record. … The South was the only Division I conference that sent more than two teams to the playoffs last season, when Londonderry, Salem and Pinkerton each earned a postseason berth.  … Londonderry returns 10 starters from last season’s 8-2 team, including running back/defensive back Jeff Wiedenfeld, a starter since his sophomore season. … Salem has nine starters back from a team that lost to Pinkerton in the semifinals. The Blue Devils also regained the services of running back/linebacker Josh Maroun, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. … Pinkerton has made it to the Division I championship game in 12 of the last 15 seasons, and has captured five titles in that span. … Bedford’s strength is up front. The Bulldogs returned three starters on its offensive line and two starters on the defensive line from last season’s unbeaten team. Bedford also has a new head coach. Former Kearsarge Regional coach Zach Matthews replaced Derek Stank, who is now coaching high school football in California. … Keene (Linwood Patnode), Windham (Jack Byrne), Winnacunnet (Ryan Francoeur) and Dover (Eric Cumba) also have first-year head coaches. … North may have the best player in the state in running back/quarterback/defensive back Curtis Harris. … Former Winnacunnet fullback/linebacker Jordan Fuller has transferred to prep school. He helped the Warriors win the Division I title in 2017.  … Portsmouth/Oyster River will be one of the biggest teams in the division up front. Thor Griffith, a 290-pound two-way tackle, has accepted an offer to join the Harvard program. … On the other end of the coaching spectrum, Brian O’Reilly is entering his 42nd season as Pinkerton’s head coach. He has a 312-117 career record. … “The first couple weeks of the season should tell us a lot because there’s some pretty good matchups early on,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “I would certainly think Londonderry, Salem, Bedford will be at the top of the division, and there will be a team or two we’re not expecting.”

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Note: Here are links to the NHFR Top 50 (top 50 players in the state) and the NHFR Preseason Top 10 (teams), which includes the Preseason Player of the Year in each division. (These are available only to XTRA members.)

If you would like to help New Hampshire Football Report promote football in the Granite State you can do so by purchasing a NHFR XTRA membership.

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