NHIAA Preview: Division I

By rbrown
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Updated: August 30, 2023

DIVISION I
2023 Preview

Teams in the Division:

(East) Dover, Exeter, Memorial, Portsmouth/Oyster River, Spaulding, Timberlane and Winnacunnet.

(Central) Alvirne, Concord, Londonderry, Central, Pinkerton, Salem and Windham.

(West) Bedford, Bishop Guertin, Goffstown, Keene, Merrimack, Nashua North, Nashua South.

2022 champion: Bedford. The Bulldogs received a 27-yard field goal from Colby Snow with 10.3 seconds to play and defeated Londonderry 15-14 in the Division I championship game.

Top storyline: Will Bedford win back-to-back titles? The Bulldogs return 14 starters from last year’s championship team and will begin the season as the No. 1 team in the Union Leader Power Poll.

Players to Watch: Tiger An (RB) Windham; Ryder Aubin (QB) Dover; Elia Bahuma (RB) Concord; Isaac Beem (OG) Exeter; Jake Benn (DL) Bedford; Danny Black (QB) Bedford; Chase Burris (RB) Memorial; Bryce Carberry (TE) Dover; Ethan Cenesca (TE/OLB) Central; Marcos Centeno (OL) Pinkerton; Brooks Connors (RB/LB) Portsmouth/Oyster River; Remy Content (OG/DE) Central; Liam Corman (RB) Timberlane; Adam Day (OL) Pinkerton; Aidan Diachenko (DL) Concord; Eddie DiGiulio (RB) Timberlane; Seth Doyon (DB) Londonderry; Max Durkin (OT) Portsmouth/Oyster River; Spencer Henrichon (OL) Bedford; Daniel Hughes (LB) Salem; Oscar Humelsine-Perez (LB) Concord; Jack Kavanaugh (DB) Exeter; Dylan Kim (DL) Windham; Mason McDonald (RB/LB) Winnacunnet; Jacob Magri (TE/DE) Winnacunnet; Connor McFarland (QB) Memorial; Kyle Merrill (DL) Dover; Caden Michaud (DB) Pinkerton; Ty Miles (OT/DT) Londonderry; Matt Morrison (DB) Pinkerton; Angus Moss (WR) Portsmouth/Oyster River; Joey Packowski (OL) Pinkerton; Ryan Rocheleau (TE/DE) Alvirne; Jackson Rup (OG) Spaulding; Ledger Russell (RB) Bedford; Lleyton Sargent (FB/LB) Central; Erik Seymore (RB) Memorial; Kevin Sheridan (TE/DE) Bedford; Darius Smith (OL) Nashua North; Cody Szymansky (WR) Bishop Guertin; Dominic Tagliaferro (DB) Bedford; Andreas Taliadouros (OL) Londonderry; Hunter Trueman (RB) Spaulding; Patrick Vachon (OT) Memorial.

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Key game: Londonderry at Pinkerton (Sept. 22). There are a lot of good teams in the Central Conference, and these are two of them. The winner of this game will have the inside track to the conference championship and the first-round bye that comes with it.

Noteworthy: Matt Lee (Alvirne) and Anthony Nalen (Bishop Guertin) are the first-year head coaches in this division. … The Division I playoff field expanded from eight to 13 teams last season, and that will be the case this year as well. Each of the three conference champions will receive a first-round bye and will be seeded based on the football point rating. The 10 at-large teams will be selected and seeded based on their football point rating. … Bedford, which returned 14 starters from its 2022 championship team, was a unanimous selection as the No. 1 team in the Union Leader Preseason Power Poll. Quarterback Danny Black is among the returnees. The Bulldogs have also added Luke Soden to their roster this season. Soden was the top scorer on the Bedford basketball team that won the Division I title last season. … Londonderry is seeking its third straight trip to the Division I championship game. The Lancers will be led by two-way lineman Ty Miles, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. Miles has committed to Holy Cross. … Goffstown added turf, lights and a new press box in the offseason. Windham is now the only Division I school without lights. … Each Division I team was given an open date and most teams filled that date with an out-of-state opponent. Nashua North will face Milford, and Timberlane with play Souhegan. Non-conference games will not count in the football point rating, but could be used to break ties (unlikely). … There are five Division I games scheduled to be played on Thursday night this season, starting this week with Windham at Pinkerton and Timberlane at Exeter. The others are Salem at Concord (Sept. 14), Spaulding at Exeter (Sept. 14) and Central at Salem (Oct. 12). … Fourteen of the 20 players of the Yukica Player of the Year preseason Watch List are from Division I. The inaugural Yukica Player of the Year Award will be presented to the top NHIAA football player in November. … Memorial will not have wide receiver Martin Alisandro, who will play for Proctor Academy instead. Alisandro was an NHFR TOP 50 player. … Brian O’Reilly is entering his 47th season as Pinkerton Academy’s head coach. The Astros return eight offensive starters (and six on defense) from a team that went 9-3 and reached the Division I semifinals last season. … Timberlane will have to rebuild up front, but still has running backs Eddie DiGiulio and Liam Corman. That pair accounted for 1,240 yards on the ground and 25 touchdowns last season.

2023 TOP 50 PLAYERS (XTRA)

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