Football Playoff Notes: Newport, Memorial making postseason history

Newport High School is making another title run on the football field this fall. It’s just doing so one step higher than in previous years.

The Tigers enter this postseason playing for a chance at hoisting the Division III plaque, not Division IV.

After reaching the Division IV final in three of the last four seasons (winning in 2020), Newport head coach John Proper wanted to elevate his program and requested the divisional shift at the end of last season.

“Knowing what we had coming back and with it being a two-year cycle, I knew that what we had for upperclassmen we could be competitive for the next two years,” Proper said. “At the end of those two years we’d reassess to see where the program is at numbers wise and go from there.”

Led by senior quarterback Aaron Fellows - who has thrown for 592 yards and eight touchdowns, and rushed for five more scores on 346 yards - the Tigers have certainly been competitive this fall and their coach is not at all surprised with their success.

“That was our main goal for this season,” Proper said of earning a playoff berth in the first year up in Division III. “Especially moving up. We knew we’d have more competitive games. The key was to make the playoffs and then anything can happen from there.”

Now fifth-seeded Newport (5-3) opens its Division III title run in Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal at No. 4 Gilford (5-3).

It’s a rematch of the regular-season finale that saw Gilford win 26-12. Proper feels good heading into this follow-up contest.

“We feel really good about it,” Proper said. “The key against a team like Gilford is that if you can run the ball to eat up time and yardage on offense, and limit their big plays on defense we would do well.

“Last week, we ran the ball well, but couldn’t limit the big plays. That’s been our main focus this week - a bend-but-don’t-break, not just defense, but team in general.”

On the flip side, Manchester Memorial hasn’t had much playoff success in recent years.

Unlike Newport, the Crusaders are in the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Memorial’s last title? How about winning three straight Division I championships from 1971-1973. There were three more prior to that in 1962, 1965 and 1969.

That’s quite the title drought - 51 years. Forget a championship, over the last 21 years just making the playoffs has been a struggle.

Until now.

Seventh-seeded Manchester Memorial (6-2) not only qualified for the tournament, it’s hosting a game. The Crusaders welcome No. 10 Winnacunnet (5-3) to town Friday night in a Division I first-round matchup. The winner gets to travel to Exeter next week for a quarterfinal game against the second-seeded Blue Hawks (8-0).

Memorial head coach Rob Sturgis credits the offseason work ethic of his entire roster for this year’s resurgence.

“We could see it build at the end of last season,” Sturgis said. “We started to see the entire locker room buying in. The focus was different this offseason. We started to see something change - in attitude, in building bonds, in the way they were just attacking the offseason. You could see we were taking a step in the right direction because we finally started to see a change in the way our kids started to attack the offseason.”

Sturgis credits the bonds forged in the weight room with how strong the team came out this fall - dropping the out-of-state opener to Central High School of Providence, RI, by five points, then reeling off four straight wins over Dover, Spaulding, Portsmouth-Oyster River and Goffstown.

Back-to-back losses to Concord and Exeter may have derailed previous Memorial teams, but these Crusaders bounced right back, closing out the regular season with wins over Winnacunnet and Timberlane Regional.

“When your whole team grinds together for eight months in the weight room, you really build a trust in each other,” Sturgis said. “You learn how to fight through adversity. When things aren’t going your way, you know you can look to the guy on either side of you and believe they’re going to keep fighting right along with you.”

In that regular-season meeting just two weeks ago, Memorial beat Winnacunnet 37-7, thanks in large part to the arm and legs of Collin Beaulieu.

The senior quarterback scampered 75 yards for a touchdown on Memorial’s first play from scrimmage. The Crusaders held a 30-7 lead at halftime, and Beaulieu came out of the break strong eventually scoring on a 36-yard hookup with sophomore tight end Joel Gomez on their first drive of the second half.

Winnacunnet’s lone score came courtesy of senior quarterback Riley McDaniel’s 50-yard run with 4:15 left in the first half.

In the rematch, Memorial will look to Beaulieu, Gomez, and junior slot receiver Jacob Schuff to produce points, while leaning heavily on junior lineman Januel Pena-Ramirez to keep grinding in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

“It’s hard to beat the same team twice in one season, especially from a program as good as Winnacunnet is,” Sturgis said. “But if these guys keep building off of what we’ve worked on from the offseason through today and they keep on fighting together, this could be a lot more than just Memorial’s first year back in the playoffs.”

Movin' on Up

Newport isn’t alone in its quick ascension to the top of a new division. Enter Somersworth and Trinity.

Joining the Tigers in Division III after dominating the field in Division IV over the last four years is Somersworth.

The duo had met in three of the last four Division IV finals with Newport winning in 2020, and Somersworth hoisting the title plaque in 2022 and 2023. The Hilltoppers have won the last three Division IV titles, also beating Fall Mountain in 2021.

Somersworth is now ready for the Division III playoffs, and it gets one heck of an introduction to the next level as the eighth seed. The Hilltoppers (3-5) visit Litchfield to face top-seeded Campbell (8-0) in the Division III quarterfinals on Saturday morning.

Somersworth is hoping for a different outcome than its 38-20 regular-season loss to the Cougars back on Sept. 27.

The winner advances to next week's semifinal round against the winner of the Gilford-Newport matchup.

Over in Manchester, 2023 Division III champion Trinity jumped up to Division II.

The Pioneers, who had reached the Division III final in four of the last five years and won twice (2019, 2023), only lost once this fall. That was to undefeated Plymouth.

Third-seeded Trinity (8-1) will host No. 6 Bow (5-4) on Saturday night in the Division II quarterfinals for a shot to play the winner of No. 2 Pelham (8-1) and No.  7 Manchester West (6-3) in next weekend’s semifinal round.

Did You Say Playoffs?

Two teams making some noise all regular season were Alvirne and Manchester West.

West made a fast turnaround from its 1-8 finish last season to 6-3 this fall and a return to the postseason for the first time since 2007. Friday night’s Division II quarterfinal at No. 2 Pelham (8-1) will be the Blue Knights’ seventh playoff appearance. West is hoping seven proves lucky as it’s still searching for its first postseason victory.

The Blue Knights held their own through halftime of the regular-season meeting on Oct. 12, trailing by only one at the break. However, Pelham’s offense broke free in the second half as the Pythons turned that 7-6 lead after two quarters into a 49-22 blowout win.

Over in Hudson, Alvirne (6-3) will be hosting a D1 playoff game for the first time, as the eighth-seeded Broncos welcome No. 9 Concord (4-4) to town Saturday afternoon.

Alvirne is hoping for a repeat performance of its 30-14 Division I Central Conference regular-season win over Concord back on Oct. 16.

The winner gets the privilege of visiting top-seeded and two-time defending champion Bedford (8-0) in next week’s quarterfinal round.

Finals Dates Locked In

The dates may be set for title games, but times and the locations are still to be determined.

Division IV's championship game kicks off first, with the winners of this week’s semifinals between No. 1 Raymond (7-0)-No. 4 Franklin (4-3) and No. 2 Mascoma Valley (6-1)-No. 3 Hillsboro-Deering (4-3) squaring off Nov. 16.

Division II and III finals take place Nov. 23 and the Division I championship will wrap up the 2024 season on Nov. 30.