> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pelham, Souhegan ready for another showdown in D2 football final - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/pelham-souhegan-ready-for-another-showdown-in-d2-football-final/ - Published: 2024-11-23T13:30:44.000Z - Updated: 2024-11-23T13:30:44.000Z - Description: Manchester West coach Andrew Provencher wishes he was patrolling the sidelines this weekend. Unfortunately his seventh-seeded Blue Knights lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Pelham. Provencher isn’t down and out though. As a football fan, he’s anticipating that one of the best games of the 2 - Author: George Scione - Tags: Division II, championship, football, Pelham, playoffs, slider, Souhegan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 Manchester West coach Andrew Provencher wishes he was patrolling the sidelines this weekend. Unfortunately his seventh-seeded Blue Knights lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Pelham. Provencher isn’t down and out though. As a football fan, he’s anticipating that one of the best games of the 2024 NHIAA season will be kicking off at 1 p.m. Saturday when those Pythons (10-1) square off with No. 4 Souhegan (9-2) at Pinkerton Academy in Derry in the Division II championship. “We’re going to see two tremendous coaches with two very talented teams playing for a title,” Provencher said. “It’s going to be a great game. I can’t wait to watch it. It’s going to be a great show for the fans.” If Pelham’s 40-26 road win over Souhegan in the second-to-last week of the regular-season is any indication, Provencher may be on to something. Tied with less than a minute to play in the first half of that regular-season contest, Nathan Migliore took an interception 92 yards for his third touchdown that day and Pelham never looked back. The senior running back scored three more touchdowns in one game just last week to lead the Pythons in their 47-21 semifinal win over No. 3 Trinity, which was the only team to beat them in the regular season, and the last five years. “Pelham is a team with [a big, strong physical offensive line](https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/offensive-line-has-given-pelham-football-stability-despite-constant-shuffling/),” Provencher said. “They want to control the flow of the game. They want to be able to run the ball. They want to be able to dictate how the game is flowing. "Then they have Junior MacKinnon, who is one of the best players in the state, and a few other guys that are very dynamic that make big plays, especially with that offensive line. They’re certainly not one dimensional. Coach (Justin) Hufft inherited a double wing (offense), but has also built off of that and added his own wrinkles of spread stuff. So they are able to give you a couple different looks depending on how the game goes.” MacKinnon leads the charge offensively with 1,255 yards rushing on the season, while Justin Bowlan has 722\. MacKinnon, who was one of 10 semifinalists for the Joe Yukica Player of the Year Award, scored twice in the semis with Bowlan adding one of his own. Defensively, senior linebacker Billy Nicolls is Pelham’s leading tackler in the playoffs. Nicolls and his Pythons defensive teammates will be busy running sideline to sideline on Saturday. “Souhegan just has a lot of extraordinarily dynamic players,” Provencher said. “They’re a team that can score and make big plays. They’ve got (Brayden) Hickman, who’s a dynamic tight end. They’ve got (Michael) Fiengo, their quarterback, who certainly can run, and scoot and throw, a multiple threat kid. "So they’re able to do some things offensively that gets them going. They’re a big momentum team. So I think if they’re riding a good high, I think they are able to ride it for a while and take advantage of teams and double up the score quickly.” Fiengo is [most definitely a dual threat for the Sabers](https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/fiengos-different-style-has-souhegan-football-hoping-for-different-results/) \- throwing for 1,629 yards and 20 touchdowns with only three interceptions for a 69.42 completion percentage, while carrying the ball 119 times for 710 yards and 14 more touchdowns on the ground. Hickman (21 receptions, 654 yards, seven touchdowns) isn’t alone on the receiving end of Fiengo’s tosses. Souhegan also has big-play potential in split end Brody Smith (32, 547, seven) and running back Ryland Raudelunas (17, 257, three), who is also a force in the ground game with 888 yards and 11 touchdowns on 110 carries heading into this weekend. Souhegan reached the title game with a 34-6 quarterfinal win over No. 5 John Stark and a 36-7 upset win over top-seeded Plymouth in last week’s semifinals. “That was awesome,” Souhegan coach Robin Bowkett said of the win over Plymouth. “It was pretty special what we did on Saturday against the top seed. Now, we’re hoping to carry that momentum into this Saturday against another talented and well-coached team.” How do his Sabers, who are going for their first title since beating Plymouth for the D2 crown in 2020, make that magic happen in back-to-back weeks against such stiff competition? “Pelham is good in every facet of the game,” Bowkett said. “We cannot make the mistakes we made in the regular season and expect to win this weekend. Pelham controlled the line that game on offense and defense. They scored in every facet of the game. We need to limit their big plays, not give the ball away, and make the most of our opportunities.” Bowkett stressed the battle in the trenches as the key to his Sabers pulling out another big win, and Pelham coach Justin Hufft - a Souhegan graduate, who began his coaching career as an assistant to legendary high school coach Mike Beliveau in Amherst - couldn’t agree more. “I think controlling the line of scrimmage is always the most important part of this game,” Hufft said. “This game will come down to which team controls the line and can then use that to get their offense moving consistently.” Hufft, who is in his first year as athletic director and football coach, is trying to get the program on another page of the NHIAA history books. A win Saturday would make Pelham the first NHIAA team to win five consecutive championships - D3 titles in 2020 and 2021 and D2 champs in 2022 and 2023. He knows reaching that milestone won’t be easy against these Sabers. “They are so well coached,” Hufft said. “Everything they do they do it with a purpose. They’re fundamentally sound. They really give their all with everything they’re doing. They do not take any plays off. Those kids play hard. They’ve come from behind. They’ve won on the road at Plymouth. They just kind of do everything well and they’ve got talent all over the field. It’s just a tough matchup.”