Offense leads Winnacunnet past Pinkerton in D1 football title game

DURHAM - All season, the Winnacunnet High School football team has been able to shut down opponents with its defense.

In Saturday's Division I championship game against Pinkerton, the Warriors were able to do it with their offense.

No. 1 Winnacunnet scored on its first six possessions, and didn't have to punt until the game was well in hand, on the way to a 41-21 win over No. 2 Pinkerton and the program's first undefeated season. The Warriors (12-0) also won their first D1 title and first championship since 2012.

Jordan Fuller ran for 184 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and Patrick MacDougall and Evan Welch connected for three touchdowns, including one on Winnacunnet's first two possessions, as the Warriors jumped out to a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Winnacunnet led 35-7 at halftime, and after scoring to open the second half, the Warriors were a blocked extra point away from putting the game into running time.

"The game plan was, we knew we weren’t going to stop their run, but to contain their running backs," Winnacunnet coach Ron Auffant said. "Offensive, (it was) ball control, try to use a lot of clock time. We got that big lead on them and in high school, it’s tough to come back from that. Being able to do the job against their run game and running ourselves was big."

Winnacunnet held a 403-323 edge in yards, including a 301-147 advantage on the ground. MacDougall added 73 yards rushing and was also 6 of 8 passing for 102 yards and the three touchdowns to Welch.

Pinkerton (10-2) got 60 yards and two touchdowns on the ground from Gannon Fast and Ty Hicks had 52 yards rushing, but most of those yards came in the second half. Hicks also caught three passes for 149 yards and a touchdown, but quarterback Aiden Goujon was just 4 of 15 passing for 176 yards and was sacked three times.

"Their offense is what disrupted us," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "When you fall in a hole quick, then you can throw away half the game plan you had, which for us is running the ball and picking up three and four years per carry.

"We challenged the team at halftime to not fold it up. Are we going to let the clock run in the second half or are we going to play? We played until the end. We weren’t going to roll over. They were a far superior team."

After Pinkerton went three-and-out to start the game, Winnacunnet marched down the field, going 69 yards on nine plays, with all of it on the ground until MacDougall found Welch for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 with 7:01 left in the quarter.

On the kickoff, Hicks field the ball just in front of the goal line and returned it 29 yards, but fumbled as he was going to the ground and the Warriors recovered at the Astros' 38. Four plays later, MacDougall connected with Welch again for a 10-yard score to make it 14-0 just 2:05 later.

"The quarterback and receiver improvised on that," Auffant said. "That was a great catch and it set the tone. Us getting up on them early set the tone. We had to. They’re a dangerous football team. They score a lot of points."

Pinkerton answered with a 58-yard touchdown pass from Goujon to Hicks a little more than a minute later to cut the lead to 14-7, but the Astros couldn't find a way to stop the Warriors. Winnacunnet responded with a six-play, 63-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Fuller.

Winnacunnet had the ball for nearly nine minutes of the first quarter, and increased the lead in the second on another 13-yard touchdown pass from MacDougall to Welch and a 22-yard scoring run by Fuller.

"He ran like a man," Auffant said of his sophomore running back. "He was just incredible. Great season and we didn’t expect that. He’s got a great future ahead of him and he just looks strong. You’ve got to give credit to our line. They made holes and they made everything happen."

Fuller added a 2-yard touchdown run as Winnacunnet opened the second half with a seven-play, 70-yard drive to go up 41-7. Pinkerton's Allen Gault blocked the extra point to keep the lead from reaching 35 and keep it from going into running time.

Fast added a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:50 left in the third to finish off a 14-play, 80-yard drive by Pinkerton, and the junior scored from a yard out with 2:16 to play to finish off the scoring.

"We’re capable of a lot of things," Auffant said. "We’d played really good football, but I think this was our best against a really good team. We got out and got on them. We needed to score at least four touchdowns and I thought that’d be tough. I’m a little surprised. Tribute to our offensive line, and I think we got confidence as we went on."