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# Alford knows what it's like to get Bow football to the top
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/alford-knows-like-get-bow-football-top/
- Published: 2016-11-19T12:00:16.000Z
- Updated: 2016-11-19T12:00:16.000Z
- Description: Nate Alford knew there would be some challenges for the Bow High School football team this season. With the Falcons making the jump up to Division II after making the postseason the last three years in Division III - including a title in 2013 - the senior felt he had to do whatever he could to make
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, Bow, championship, football, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Nate Alford knew there would be some challenges for the Bow High School football team this season.

With the Falcons making the jump up to Division II after making the postseason the last three years in Division III - including a title in 2013 - the senior felt he had to do whatever he could to make his game complete.

So that meant spending last offseason working on his hands.

"With the bump in divisions, we needed to be more balanced as far as competition goes," Alford said. "I don't think we'd be as successful if we were just running the ball. We have a solid quarterback (in Matthew Harkins) this year and he's definitely stepped up. That was the main reason, just knowing we were stepping up in the competition."

Instead of just being a force on Bow's offensive and defensive lines - as a tight end and a defensive end - Alford was now even more of a threat going down the field.

"He's been able to improve so much as a receiver over the course of his career," Bow coach Paul Cohen said. "He had decent hands last year, but some of the things he's done, going all the way back to 7-on-7s in the summer, we recognized his capacity overall.

"This year, to be honest, if you look at his statistics on both sides of the ball, they're stellar. He's unstoppable on defense. On offense, he's a solid blocker. He's scored as a running back. He punts for us. It's very rare that he comes off the field."

And that's been the case for most of the last four years. Alford worked his way into the varsity lineup as a freshman, and got a chance to start when the Falcons beat Stevens in the D3 title game in 2013\. On Saturday, Alford and Bow will return to the championship stage in the D2 final against Plymouth at the University of New Hampshire.

"It was great to experience that and it's still in the back of my mind," Alford said of the title when he was a freshman. "It will be a cool experience to get to play in a college stadium. It'll be different for sure, but I don't know what it will feel like."

No matter the feeling, whether the game is going well, or isn't, for Bow, Cohen knows his team can lean on Alford when it needs a boost.

"If things are going badly for us, whatever the situation might be, I know he's going to give me everything he has," the coach said. "Aside from his physical attributes, he's very smart. There's a humbleness about him, he's a very workman-like athlete. He's not out for flashy plays. Sometimes they happen, and OK, but he's the type of player I know I can count on."

And Alford expects the Falcons to be at the top of their game on Saturday, after coming up short the two previous seasons.

"It feels great, especially the last two years have been kind of disappointing," he said. "We had the team to go to the championship and we didn't get to that point. To bump up a division and get to the point we should have been at, it's a great feeling."