Goffstown football runs over Concord in second half to get first win (video)

GOFFSTOWN - The scoreboard might not have shown it, but despite trailing by a point at halftime, the Goffstown High School football team had Concord right where it wanted.

Turnovers and negative plays on special teams had put the Grizzlies behind, but a clean second half that saw the Goffstown rushing attack take over, turned things around.

The Grizzlies rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns in the final two quarters Saturday and held the Crimson Tide in check until the game was no longer in doubt, as Goffstown picked up a 34-17 win over Concord, its first of the season.

Goffstown finished the day with 461 yards, 376 of that on the ground, and had 19 first downs, including nine rushing in the second half.

Charlie Keith rushed for 127 of his game-high 160 yards in the second half, including a 17-yard touchdown run on Goffstown's first possession that put the Grizzlies (1-3) in front for good. Josh Juneau added 114 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries while Jack Stinnett had 70 yards rushing and two scores.

A lot of that made up for a first half that saw Keith throw two interceptions to go with a Grizzlies lost fumble, a failed conversion attempt and a blocked field goal that Concord's Aidan Kennedy returned 92 yards for a touchdown.

"It was a little fluky," Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said of the first half. "Defensively, I thought we played pretty well even though we were down at halftime. It was just staying with what we were doing and focusing on a couple of things that we liked better than other things.

"I thought the offensive line had a good week of preparation and came ready to play. We felt good about how we were moving in the first half, even though it wasn’t always pretty."

The defense did its part in the second half thanks to three sacks of Concord quarterback Zach Miles, who was sacked five times overall and finished the game 9 of 18 for 114 yards. The Tide (2-2) played most of the game without running back Isaac Gladey, who was hurt in the first quarter and didn't play in the second half.

"Our playbook shrunk dramatically when Isaac got hurt and they were putting pressure on Zach all day," Concord coach Eric Brown said. "He had a hard time getting time to do anything."

Concord got a lot on its first drive of the game, as the Tide took the opening kickoff and put together an 11-play drive that saw them face a fourth-and-3 at the Goffstown 17-yard line. But Miles was dropped for a 3-yard loss, turning the ball over on downs, and the Grizzlies responded with a long drive of their own.

Goffstown went 80 yards in 13 plays, converting three third downs along the way, and taking a 6-0 lead on a 6-yard touchdown run by Stinnett. After an encroachment call on Concord on the extra point, the Grizzlies sent the offense back out for the two-point try, but the Tide stuffed Stinnett to keep it a six-point game.

It was still a 6-0 game early in the second quarter when Goffstown's Josh Picard blocked a Miles punt and the Grizzlies took over at the Concord 27. But the offense couldn't go anywhere and David Gibson came on to try a 29-yard field goal.

The Tide line got enough push to block Gibson's attempt, and the ball passed the line of scrimmage. Concord's Augustine Twite picked up the live ball and tried to hand it to an official as number of players from both sides started to head off the field. The official stepped away and the ball ended up in the hands of Kennedy, who returned it 92 yards for the score and a 7-6 Concord lead.

"We’re so young sometimes," Brown said. "(Twite) is a sophomore and last year was his first year playing football ever. He was ready to hand the ball to the official and the official looked at him.

"There was no whistle blown. He got hit, fumbled, and (Kennedy) picked it up. It was one of those things. I should have told them it’s a live ball on a field goal. Now we know."

The teams traded field goals, with Gibson and Concord's Nate Vandersea each hitting from 19 yards, to make it a 10-9 lead for the Tide at halftime.

But the Grizzlies wasted little time retaking the lead in the second half, opening with a six-play, 60-yard drive that took just 1:55 and ended in a 17-yard scoring run by Keith. The senior quarterback had 47 yards rushing on the drive, but he was stopped short on the conversion to keep it a 15-10 lead.

"Halftime was very different than what it has been in the past," Keith said. "It was very simple to the point that everyone went to their (position) coaches and we discussed what we needed to do. Everyone was focused and right minded. That was key to the start of the third quarter."

Goffstown forced Concord to punt on its next two possessions, and scored off both to take a 27-10 lead late in the third quarter. Juneau set up his own 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter with a 54-yard run, making it 34-10.

Concord added on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Smith to Kennedy to finish out the scoring with 6:17 left in the game.

"Still making mistakes, but I thought we played hard," Hufft said. "I’m proud of how we came out in the second half and started executing a little cleaner. I thought we played really well up front, so we were able to kind of roll away there."