Bedford remains at top of Union Leader/ESPN NH football power poll

Here is the Union Leader/ESPN New Hampshire football power poll for Week 3 of the 2016 season.

These are the top 10 high school football teams in New Hampshire, with record, first-place votes/points in parentheses, plus last week’s ranking:

1. Bedford, 3-0 (5/68), 1st
2. Merrimack, 2-1 (59), 2nd
3. Exeter, 3-0 (1/56), 3rd
4. Goffstown, 3-0 (1/50), 4th
5. Salem, 3-0 (46), 5th
6. Windham, 3-0 (31), 6th
7. Bishop Guertin, 3-0 (26), 9th
8. John Stark, 3-0 (17), NR
9. Pinkerton, 1-2 (10), 7th
10. Timberlane, 1-2 (7), 8th

Also receiving votes: St. Thomas, 3-0 (5), NR; Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough, 3-0 (3), NR; Monadnock, 3-0 (2), NR; Plymouth, 3-0 (2), NR; Nashua North, 2-1 (2), 10th; Dover, 2-1 (1), NR.

Voters are:

• Roger Brown, Union Leader
• Alex Hall, Union Leader
• Chris Duffy, Union Leader
• Nick Anastos, ESPN New Hampshire
• Pete Tarrier, ESPN New Hampshire
• Dave Haley, New Hampshire Sports Page
• Joe Marchilena, NH-HighSchoolSports.com

And here is how I voted in the poll:

1. Exeter, beat Keene 49-6
2. Bedford, beat Londonderry 47-0
3. Merrimack, beat Manchester Central 55-19
4. Salem, beat Pinketon 41-28
5. Windham, beat Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton 58-7
6. Goffstown, beat Timberlane 35-14
7. Bishop Guertin, beat Spaulding 68-33
8. John Stark, beat Lebanon 42-6
9. Nashua North, lost to Dover 23-21
10. St. Thomas, beat Souhegan 31-12

With everyone winning last week, my top six teams remained the same from a week ago, although I felt like Salem and Goffstown pulled off more impressive wins than the other teams at the top. We're going to start to find out a little bit more about these teams starting this week, with Goffstown playing at Bedford on Saturday.

This week will also tell us more about the top D2 team in the poll, Windham, as the Jaguars travel to play Souhegan, which is 1-2 on the year. But the Sabers' two losses have come on the road against the other D2 teams I've got in my poll. Souhegan lost to John Stark by 21 points and to St. Thomas by 19.

Bishop Guertin and John Stark both had lopsided victories and moved up in my poll, passing Nashua North, which I kept in despite the loss to Dover. While the Cardinals win over Spaulding wasn't much a surprise, John Stark's thrashing of Lebanon was an eye-opener.

As for North, there are five teams in D1 with a 2-1 record. One of those teams - Merrimack - is already in the poll. I feel that North, despite the loss, is the next best one.

After blowing out Sanborn and Pelham to start the year, St. Thomas got on Souhegan early last week. The defending champions in D2 are 3-0 with road games at Kennett and Windham over the next two weeks.