Championship Preview: Division II

By rbrown
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Updated: November 20, 2024

DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Division II Bracket

Pelham vs. Souhegan

When and where: Saturday (1 p.m.) at Pinkerton Academy.
Team records: Second-seeded Pelham is 10-1. Fourth-seeded Souhegan is 9-2.
Regular-season result: Pelham won 40-26 in Amherst.
Noteworthy: Pelham is attempting to become the second NHIAA team to win five consecutive championships. The Pythons won the Division III title in 2020 and 2021 and claimed the Division II championship in each of the last two years. Plymouth won the Division III title in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the Division IV championship in 2008 and 2009. … Souhegan is seeking its first championship since 2020, when it beat Plymouth to win the Division II title. … Pelham’s only loss came against Trinity. That ended Pelham’s 47-game winning streak. … Souhegan advanced by beating fifth-seeded John Stark (34-6) in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Plymouth (36-7) in the semifinals. Souhegan’s Michael Fiengo, a junior quarterback/free safety, completed 6-of-8 passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 145 yards and three TDs on 15 attempts in the semifinal win. One of his TD runs covered 99 yards. Fiengo has thrown for 1,634 yards and 20 touchdowns with two interceptions this season. He also has 1,681 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. “He’s super accurate with the football and he’s good with his reads,” Souhegan coach Robin Bowkett said. “He can beat you with his legs.” … Pelham reached the championship game by beating Manchester West (35-0) in the quarterfinals and Trinity (47-21) in the semifinals. Nathan Migliore scored three touchdowns in the semifinals for Pelham, which scored on three of its first four possessions and led 28-7 at halftime. Junior MacKinnon added two TDs for the Pythons, who also received a 14-yard TD run from Ben Maslanek and a 46-yard TD run from Justin Bowlan. … Pelham has scored at least 40 points in six of its last seven wins. “Very proud of how our kids reacted after that (regular season) loss to Trinity,” Pelham coach Justin Hufft said. “They handled that with a lot of class. The good thing about Pelham football right now is you never know which guy is going to go off on a given night.” … Hufft is a Souhegan graduate who began his coaching career as an assistant under former Souhegan coach Mike Beliveau. … Migliore also scored three touchdowns in Pelham’s regular season victory over Souhegan. There was a huge momentum swing on Migliore’s third touchdown, which was a 92-yard interception return of a pass that was tipped near the line of scrimmage. The touchdown plus MacKinnnon’s rush for the two-point conversion put Pelham up 22-14 with 39 seconds remaining in the first half. Migliore also scored on runs of 8 yards and 22 yards. Souhegan trailed by eight, 34-26, when it took possession on its own 27 with 2:18 to play, but the Sabers failed to pick up a first down and turned the ball over on downs with 54 seconds left. MacKinnon’s 27-yard TD run capped the scoring. … Fiengo tossed TD passes to Brody Smith (16 yards) and Brayden Hickman (94 yards) in the loss. The Sabers also scored on a Ryland Raudelunas 4-yard TD run and a 20-yard fumble return by Smith.

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