> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 'Drive of the Decade' gives Sabers fourth title - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/drive-of-the-decade-gives-sabers-fourth-title/ - Published: 2010-11-23T23:10:57.000Z - Updated: 2010-11-23T23:10:57.000Z - Description: The Souhegan High School football team already had won championships before winning the Division III title last Saturday. But now the Sabers have “The Drive of the Decade.” - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Division III-IV, Fall Sports, Division III, football, playoffs, Souhegan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/shsfball1009-shs1-1.jpg "SHSfball1009 SHS1-1") The Souhegan High School football team already had won championships before winning the Division III title last Saturday. But now the Sabers have “The Drive of the Decade.” That’s what the Souhegan coaching staff is calling the possession that led to the game-winning touchdown in a 24-21 win over Portsmouth. On that drive, the Sabers went 85 yards and scored on a touchdown run by quarterback Mike Luks with 51 seconds remaining. “Yards and points were tough to come by throughout the entire game,” Souhegan coach Mike Beliveau said. “To go 85 yards and punch it in inside of a minute, and to have some of the things that happened on that drive happen, it made it a spectacular finish.” It didn’t start well for Souhegan as it was face with a third-and-long early in the possession. The Sabers completed a pass on that down, but Portsmouth was called for pass interference and the penalty gave Souhegan more yardage and a first down. Three plays later, Souhegan was faced with another third down and Beliveau was in for a bit of surprise. “We hit a pass to a kid who was in the game that I didn’t even know was in the game because my normal slots, (Chris) Chininis and (Chris) Almeida, are cramping up,” Beliveau said. “This little guy, Denny Desserault, this kid that plays on the JVs, but he’s got a lot of talent, he’s probably 5-6, he goes up with two guys around him and comes down with another third-down reception.” Faced with another third down, Matt Schagrin used all of his 6-3 frame to haul in a pass. “We throw the ball on another third-and-long along the sideline and Matt Schagrin is literally horizontal, toes in bounds, making a fingertip catch going out of bounds,” Beliveau said. On the next two plays, Souhegan got two big breaks. Portsmouth was able to get to Luks and his throw was tipped by four Clippers before it tumbled to the ground. But on the ball’s way down, one more Portsmouth player had a shot at it, but it went in and out of hands. Nick Hession made a reception for the Sabers on the next play and brought the ball down to the Portsmouth 35 before getting hit from behind. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/shsfball1009-shs88-1.jpg "SHSfball1009 SHS88-1") “While he’s running, (Hession) gets hit from behind, the ball squirts free and there’s two Portsmouth kids who dive on it,” Beliveau said. “The next thing you know we look, and coming up underneath, with the championship on the line, is little Denny Desserault again. Unbelievable.” Luks completed another pass to the 15 and from there, the Sabers turn to their running game. “We saw that they don’t have six men in the box, so we run Mike Luks up the middle and get to the 5,” Beliveau said. “We run Mike up the middle two more times in a row, and we’re doing it quick. He’s in the end zone and we go for two. Who is it? It’s Denny Desserault scooting around. He’s got nothing and he cuts it back and dives into the end zone.” Portsmouth got the ball back on its own 40, with all of its timeouts left, but the Clippers threw two incompletions sandwiched around a sack by Brendan McKenna to face a fourth-and-long. “Fourth down, they try a hook-and-ladder to (Aidan) O’Leary and he pitches to (Bill) Lane,” Beliveau said. “We’re on O’Leary and we’re on Lane and the game ends. And after that, all I remember is getting doused with ice water. I was very happy to have that happen. “We’ve had some great wins and four titles, but we’ve never drove at the end of a game to win like that. We had an unbelievable defensive effort from Nick Calvetti at corner and Jack Kennedy at defensive tackle.” What was most surprising about the game to Beliveau was that it was so similar to the game the teams played in the regular season, which Souhegan won, 23-14 on Sept. 10. “In the first game, we were better at punt return and we had two big ones in this game; we were better in the pass game and just by virtue of the volume of passes we threw,” Beliveau said. “We stopped their run in the first game and we stopped it this game. And they stopped our run again.” A couple of Sabers set school records during the championship game. Luks completed 31-of-54 passes for 305 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. The number of pass attempts was a single-game record, which Luks had previously set against Portsmouth in the regular season. McKenna caught two touchdowns in the game, giving him 11 for the season, which set a record for touchdown receptions in a season. And Schagrin caught nine passes, giving him 45 on the year, which broke the previous record of 40.