Pelham turns tables on Trinity, returns to D2 football championship (video)

PELHAM - The win streak may have been lost, but members of the Pelham High School football knew the season wasn't when they lost to Trinity in mid-October.

With a chance at redemption, and at another title-game appearance, the Pythons were ready to go.

No. 2 Pelham scored on six of its eight possessions and forced three early turnovers to avenge its only loss in the last five seasons by getting a 47-21 win over No. 3 Trinity in the Division II semifinals on Friday night.

The win puts the Pythons in their fifth-straight championship game - two in D3, three in D2 - where they will try for a fifth title in a row, against either No. 4 Souhegan or No. 1 Plymouth at 1 p.m. Nov. 23 at Pinkerton Academy.

"Playoffs is a different animal," Pelham coach Justin Hufft said. "We knew we could play better and the kids had a really focused week of practice. They really practiced well and they took the field hungry (Friday). I think they were very motivated to come out and show people what they could do. We started fast and played really hard."

Pioneers coach Rob Cathcart concurred that his team may not have had the experience across the board to be prepared for the atmosphere, especially without junior Anthony Digiantommaso, who was out with an injury suffered in the quarterfinals against Bow.

"The biggest thing was not having Anthony," Cathcart said. "He’s our best player, on both sides. Not having him was the single biggest thing. The second biggest thing was our inexperience in some of the key positions being in a game like this. Our guys, it was a little bit like being in the deep end of the pool."

And while Trinity's offense was stalling, or turning the ball over, near midfield, Pelham's was locked in from the start. The Pythons (10-1) needed just three plays to score on their opening drive and were up 21-0 in the second quarter.

Nathan Migliore scored three touchdowns for Pelham, getting one on an 81-yard kickoff return, another on a 29-yard reception from Kevin Hardy, and his third on an 8-yard run in the fourth quarter. The senior also had 53 yards on the ground, as the Pythons ran for 261 yards as a team.

"Our offense was great all night," Migliore said. "The offensive line put in the work. There were holes everywhere. Everything was wide open."

Junior MacKinnon added 92 yards and two touchdowns rushing and Justin Bowlan had 77 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Ben Maslanek also had a rushing touchdown to go with 35 yards.

Trinity (9-2) was led by quarterback Ollie Service, who finished with 83 yards rushing and lost a fumble, and was 19 of 32 for 217 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. That included a second half where the junior was 13 of 17 for 121 yards and two scores, but by the time he touched the ball for the first time in the third quarter, the Pioneers were down 34-7.

After turning the ball over on downs near midfield on their first possession, the Pioneers tacked on three turnovers on their next three possessions. The Pythons turned two of those into touchdowns and a three-score lead.

"The turnovers certainly helped," Hufft said. "We played well up front. Billy Nicolls is a heck of a linebacker. He was all over the place, making plays. Then the turnovers really helped us, too.

"A lot of the stuff they hurt us with last time, stuff on the perimeter, so we wanted to take that away. I think we did a good job with that, kind of make them be more methodical."

Trinity got on the board on a fake punt right before halftime.

The Pioneers were hit with a delay of game penalty to set up a fourth-and-13 at their own 47-yard line. Service was back in a punt formation, but instead, threw the ball to Davey Durepo, who raced down the right side for the first down and then weaved his way through the defense for a 53-yard score.

But Migliore returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a score that made it 28-7 with just 18 seconds left in the half.

"We had just scored a touchdown and that’s a lot different (situation at half)," Cathcart said. "That probably was the biggest play."

Hunter Henderson caught two touchdown passes from Service in the second half, as he finished with 10 catches for 96 yards, and Durepo had five receptions for 86.

Pelham now has a shot to become the first program in the state to win five championships since the NHIAA restructured its football divisions before the 2013 season. The Pythons are tied with Bedford and Plymouth with four titles in the last 11 years.

"We’re here to win, it’s what we’re used to," Migliore said. "It’s motivating to come in and get a job done."