Pelham powers its way past Souhegan to win D2 football championship (video)

BEDFORD - New division, same result.

After winning back-to-back titles in Division III, the Pelham High School football team moved up this season looking to prove it was still a championship contender.

The No. 2 Pythons showed that and more Saturday, utilizing a powerful running game and taking advantage of turnovers to roll to a 35-6 win over No. 4 Souhegan in the D2 championship game at Bedford High School. It's Pelham's third title in a row and extends the program's winning streak to 30 straight and 36 of the last 37.

"I think this one was the best," Pelham senior Ethan Demmons said. "We were kind of the underdog, everyone was counting us out. We moved up to D2 and they didn’t think we could do it again. Obviously, we proved them wrong. We knew we could do it again."

Demmons was a big part of the win over Souhegan, as he scored three touchdowns while rushing for 137 yards on 22 carries. Dom Herrling added two scores, one rushing and one receiving, while gaining a combined 96 yards on offense, and Alex Carroll had 152 yards on the ground on 14 attempts.

As a team, Pelham (12-0) rushed for 390 yards, averaging 6.7 yards per attempt, and outgained Souhegan (10-2) 411-267.

"That’s the style I love best and they know that," Pelham coach Tom Babaian said. "We practice that way and that’s what we intend to do, just impose our will and that’s what we did."

The Pythons did that in the first half by forcing turnovers, getting two of their five takeaways on the Sabers' first two drives and turning both into touchdowns. In the second half, Pelham did it with the running game, as it had a 21:07-2:29 edge in time of possession after halftime.

"That’s what we wanted to do, run the clock," Babaian added. "You have a team that wants to throw, throw, throw and we want to limit how many times they can actually throw, and that’s what we did."

Souhegan was forced to throw at times thanks to Pelham's run defense, which held the Sabers to 82 yards on 16 carries, with 51 of those coming on a fourth-quarter run by JJ Bright (10 carries, 58 yards). Romy Jain completed 11 of 21 passes for 185 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.

Charlie Maroun had five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown for Souhegan and Cole Manning also had five receptions for 68 yards. The Sabers played most of the game without leading receiver Madux Mcgrath, who appeared to injure his shoulder in the first quarter and didn't return.

"Great job by them," Souhegan coach Robin Bowkett said. "That’s an awesome defense, best defense we’ve seen all year. They fly to the football, they have athletes everywhere and they’re huge. They’re all like 6-2. They’ve got great players and they made a ton of great plays.

"When one of your best players goes out and we’re kind of moving guys who haven’t played other positions. That whole second quarter, we’re trying to figure it out. You plan for the ‘oh crap’ scenarios, but that might not have been one of them."

Souhegan picked up a first down on the game's opening drive, but two plays later, Jain was picked off by Herrling, giving Pelham the ball at the Sabers' 21-yard line. Two plays later, Herrling scored from 20 yards out to make it 7-0 with 9:40 left in the first frame.

Jain hit Manning for a 30-yard reception on third-and-6 on the next drive, and on the next play, the sophomore quarterback completed a screen pass to Mcgrath that he took 50 yards for a touchdown. But Souhegan was called for an illegal shift before the snap, negating the play.

Jain hit Maroun for a 40-yard gain on the next play, but the ball was knocked out by Jake Travis and recovered by Carroll, giving the Pythons a first down at their 15. Six plays later, Demmons rumbled in from 3 yards out for a 14-0 lead with 4:28 to play in the first.

It looked like Pelham's next drive might stall just outside Souhegan's 20, but on fourth-and-10, Travis hit Herrling for a 22-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 9:26 remaining in the second quarter.

"The play was broken," Herrling said. "I was inside and broke outside and (Travis) found me. He made a beautiful throw right over the defender. Felt great. We were fourth-and-10 and we had to make a play."

Souhegan was able to answer that score, goin 64 yards in 10 plays and scoring on Jain's 5-yard pass to Maroun with 5:21 to go until halftime. Then, on Pelham's next offensive play, Carroll fumbled and Maroun recovered, giving the Sabers a first down at the Pythons' 30.

Pelham's defense forced the ball over on downs, but two plays later, Demmons fumbled and Carson Behn recovered for Souhegan at the Pythons' 43. This time, the Sabers were able to move the ball, getting down to the 4-yard line.

But on third-and-goal, Jain was picked off by Connor Travis with under a minute to play in the half.

"We were down and we thought they were going to score," Herrling said. "We stood tall, knew we had to make a play. Connor Travis came up and made a huge play. He was going to run the ball and Derek Muise took him down (in the end zone). Smart play."

Pelham opened the second half with an 8-play, 47-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown run by Demmons. After Souhegan went three-and-out, the Pythons turned in a 12-play, 49-yard drive with another touchdown run by Demmons, this time from 2 yards out.

That made it 35-6 just 41 seconds into the fourth quarter and Pelham was able to hang on to get the win.

"These kids have done that all year though," Babaian said. "They’ve executed. Had long drives, short drives, turnovers, I mean, they just have done everything. They’ve done everything a high school program can do. And now they’re perfect again."