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# Pinkerton football's road to the final had more twists and turns than expected
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/pinkerton-footballs-road-to-the-final-had-more-twists-and-turns-than-expected/
- Published: 2018-11-13T14:55:16.000Z
- Updated: 2018-11-13T14:55:16.000Z
- Description: Things can change quickly in Division I football. One week, a team is on pace to be a top seed and have home field through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and then all it takes is one loss to change the course of a season. That was the case for the Pinkerton Academy football team going into it
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, football, NH High School Sports Insider, Pinkerton, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Things can change quickly in Division I football.

One week, a team is on pace to be a top seed and have home field through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and then all it takes is one loss to change the course of a season.

That was the case for the Pinkerton Academy football team going into its Oct. 19 game against Windham. The Astros were 6-1 and in first place in the South Conference, looking like they'd be the top seed in their cluster.

But a 35-21 loss to the Jaguars dropped Pinkerton from the top seed to needing to beat defending-champ Winnacunnet in the regular-season finale, or risk missing the playoffs entirely.

"We went from the penthouse to the outhouse in one game," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "It’s not like all season long we’ve been struggling. We had the playoffs start for us one week early."

The Astros went on the road to beat the Warriors 40-14 to clinch a playoff berth, getting in as the fourth seed in the South/East Cluster. That meant if Pinkerton was to reach the final, it'd have to win two more games on the road, something no team had done since the new D1 format was put in place in 2013.

But that's what Pinkerton did, holding off Londonderry in the quarterfinals for a 20-14 win, and dominating Salem in a 30-7 semifinal victory.

"It was a little bit different this time than it has been in the past," O'Reilly said. "It was an outlier though. Before we lost to Windham, we were the No. 1 seed."

The 35 points scored by Windham was the most the Astros allowed all season, and only one of two times they gave up more than 15 this year. Pinkerton allowed 13.7 points per game this season, including the playoffs, the second-best total in D1 this season after Bedford, which gave up a little over 9 points per game going into Saturday's championship game.

"The defense has been maligned because of two games where teams ran the ball down on them," O'Reilly said. "This is the eighth team we’ve held under 14 points. We’ve got a pretty good defense."

While the Astros defensive line has been stellar this year, led by tackles Rob Fahey, Allen Gault and Tom Moreau and ends Gannon Fast and Mike Sarette, it's been the linebackers who O'Reilly feels have been the key to Pinkerton's success.

Led at linebacker by junior Jake MacInnis, the Astros added senior Jackson Clark during the offseason after he transferred from Central Catholic, and have gotten big contributions from sophomore Evan Wilson.

The question going into Saturday's title game against Bedford, which will kickoff at 6 p.m. at the University of New Hampshire, is how does Pinkerton slow down the Bulldogs.

Including the playoffs, Bedford has averaged 45.2 points a game this year, and Saturday's 30-8 win over Merrimack was the Bulldogs' lowest output this season. It was also only the second time this year they've been held under 40 points.

"The one thing I like about Division I football in this state, when you get to the championship game, you’re playing someone you don’t see during the year, you haven’t scouted, they don’t play anyone you play, so it’s a mystery," O'Reilly said. "(Bedford coach) Derek Stank is a great coach. Their scores are just out there. Is it them? Is it who they play? It’s probably them. We’ll find out."

It'll be the second time the teams have met in the D1 championship game, as Pinkerton beat Bedford 37-0 in the 2014 title game. The teams last met in 2016, in a game Bedford won 37-14.