On the Gridiron: Grassini big part of Merrimack's resurgance

The Merrimack High School football team heads into the final week of the regular season alive for a postseason berth.

Quite a few things have to happen for the Tomahawks to make the playoffs - a rare occurrence in the last 20-plus years - but even if Merrimack misses out, the 2015 should still be viewed as a success.

The Tomahawks (5-3) enter the finale with as many wins as they had in the last three seasons - combined. It's the most wins they've had in a single year since 2010, the last time they also finished with a winning record, which Merrimack will do this year, regardless of Friday's outcome against Timberlane.

And that rare playoff berth? It would be the first since 2005, which was the first since 1995.

There are plenty of reasons as to why first-year coach Kip Jackson has seen such success in his first year from a program that's struggled for some time. One of those has been the maturation of quarterback Justin Grassini.

As a sophomore last year, Grassini started for the Tomahawks, and at times, made the mistakes you'd expect a sophomore to make. This season, Jackson has seen his signal caller take steps, especially in the last four games.

"He's matured," Jackson said. "It started in the Pinkerton game. You could see him start to get a better understanding of what we were doing on offense and really carrying himself like a leader and like the quarterback we knew he could be."

Two weeks ago, Merrimack trailed Salem by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter when Grassini led a long scoring drive to make it a one-score game. Last week, against Exeter, after the Blue Hawks took their first lead of the game late in the fourth quarter, Grassini helped lead a drive that set up Kyle Newman for the game-winning field goal.

"He's always been able to throw," Jackson said. "He can throw the ball wherever you need him to. Now he's making good decisions."

With just four seniors on the roster, Merrimack should be in great shape next season, when Grassini and several other key contributors this year are in their second and third years as starting varsity players.

A moment to reflect

Goffstown coach Justin Hufft had a look of pleasant surprise on his face following Saturday's win over Bishop Guertin.

For a moment, the Grizzlies coach soaked in what the victory over the Cardinals meant to his program, not just for the 2015 season, but beyond.

"Looking down the road, we've got a lot of challenges in front of us," he said. "(But) to beat established programs that you know are good football teams like this, it speaks a lot about where our program is, which I'm proud of. I never thought that Goffstown would be at this level, and it's kind of a cool thing."

When Hufft took over the program before the 2011 season, Goffstown was coming off back-to-back losing seasons and had a winning record twice in the previous seven years. But that season, the Grizzlies went 8-2, the program's best win total that was matched following Saturday's win.

With one week left to go in the regular season, Goffstown (8-0) has clinched the North Conference title and home field in the playoffs through the semifinals, should it make it that far.

Playoff field set

There won't be a whole lot left to be determined this week among teams in Division III, as all eight playoff spots have been wrapped up.

Some seeding, however, has yet to be determined.

In the South Conference, Winnisquam (7-0) is the No. 1 seed and Bow (6-1) will be the No. 2, but the teams those two are facing this week could switch spots. Bishop Brady (5-2) is third and Somersworth (4-3) is fourth, but if the Hilltoppers beat Bow and Bishop Brady loses to Winnisquam, Somersworth would be third thanks to a head-to-head win.

In the North Conference, all four teams are locked into the positions they currently hold - Newport (7-0), Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough (6-1), Stevens (5-2) and Franklin (4-3), in that order.

Madden Stat of the Week: Saikou Bah had 270 yards rushing and four touchdowns in Trinity's 44-15 win over Hanover.