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Pinkerton 28, Windham 0

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DERRY – Even in seasons when Pinkerton Academy has had an above-average passing attack, it was rare to see the Astros throw for more touchdowns than they rushed for in any particular game. It’s not rare anymore.

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The Astros’ aerial attack was on display last season, when they won the Division I championship, and Pinkerton opened the 2025 season by scoring three times through the air in a 28-0 triumph over Windham on Friday night.

“I’ve gotten a bad rap over the last several years in that I’m like (Exeter coach) Billy Ball and have to run, run, run,” Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly said. “I went through a series of quarterbacks over the last decade who could throw, but couldn’t pass. I had better odds, in my mind, of getting first downs running the ball than throwing. It wasn’t that I don’t like to pass. It was that I didn’t feel we were good enough to pass. Then the youngster came along.”

That would be senior Aiden McDonald, who is in his second season as Pinkerton’s starting QB. McDonald didn’t throw a lot Friday, but he was extremely effective when he did. He completed 6 of 11 passes for 166 yards and three TDs in the win. 

McDonald tossed a 41-yard TD pass to wide receiver Noah Rao on Pinkerton’s fourth offensive play; a 50-yard TD pass to halfback Brady Spellman on Pinkerton’s fourth play of the second half; and a 50-yard bomb to Rao, a transfer from Londonderry, with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter. 

Spellman added a 24-yard TD run with 4:29 to play. He led Pinkerton’s balanced ground game with 11 carries for 58 yards.

“My dad used to play for (O’Reilly) so I knew the history coming in,” McDonald said. “I knew that it was going to be difficult to change his mind and try to throw the ball more, but once (assistant coach Tom Babaian) came in from Pelham (last season) and he started implementing that pass game I knew it was going to be fun my junior year.

“Everybody still has to prepare for that run game, but they’re gonna have to realize that we can throw the ball too.”

Pinkerton has a stout defense as well. The Windham offense didn’t cross midfield until the third quarter, and ran a total of three plays in Pinkerton territory.

Windham running back Mike Brearley ran for 56 yards on 15 carries, but the Jaguars were held to 28 yards through the air.

“The quarterback can deliver the ball and clearly that’s what he did,” first-year Windham coach Matt Lee said. “A lot of our kids got their first real varsity action tonight as a starter and physically I thought we did a really good job. We stopped the run. With the Wing-T you know they’re gonna try to pound it on you. They hit a few long (passes) on us, but physically we were right there.

“They’re a complete team. They throw a lot of things at you.”

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