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# Plymouth controls possession, slips past Souhegan in D2 football semifinal
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/plymouth-controls-possession-slips-past-souhegan-in-d2-football-semifinal/
- Published: 2023-11-12T20:59:36.000Z
- Updated: 2023-11-12T20:59:36.000Z
- Description: PLYMOUTH - Chris Sanborn knew what his Plymouth Regional High School football team was up against Saturday. But the Bobcats coach also knew that when his team played Souhegan in the regular season, it didn't do any of the things it wanted to do. With the season on the line, No. 2 Plymouth figured ou
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, football, playoffs, Plymouth, slider, Souhegan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

PLYMOUTH - Chris Sanborn knew what his Plymouth Regional High School football team was up against Saturday.

But the Bobcats coach also knew that when his team played Souhegan in the regular season, it didn't do any of the things it wanted to do.

With the season on the line, No. 2 Plymouth figured out how to do those things, keeping the ball away from the No. 3 Sabers while making enough plays on defense early to stay in it. The Bobcats scored late to take the lead and held on for a 21-20 win in the Division II semifinals.

The win puts Plymouth in the D2 championship game for the first since 2020, the last of five straight title-game appearances for the Bobcats. They'll take on No. 1 Pelham at 1 p.m. Saturday at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.

"We knew what we were up against and we had to play really well," Sanborn said. "Our kids played really, really well. That’s an exceptional team and an exceptional coaching staff.

"We went down there (to Amherst) the first time and didn’t do anything of the things we wanted to do. We said (Saturday) that we wanted to do those things that we didn’t do. We were just terrible. I think that was an advantage for us. How could it not be? I told our kids, they’ve got all the pressure."

When the teams played in late September, it was in a steady downpour, and Souhegan was able to get a 49-6 win over Plymouth (10-1).

The Sabers (8-2) scored again on their first two possessions to lead 14-7, but two turnovers in the second quarter and a turn over on downs to end the first half kept the lead from growing.

"Our kids kept battling and they’re always going to keep battling for 48 minutes," Souhegan coach Robin Bowkett said. "Just wasn’t our day. You can’t turn the ball over and then have an opportunity to score before the half and not get it. You feel like if its 21-7, maybe 28-7 … you can’t turn the ball over and win championships. Our defense gave us opportunities."

Souhegan was able to get Plymouth's offense off the field, but more often than not, it took a while to do it. The Bobcats were 7 for 10 on third down, had possession for 33 minutes, 32 seconds, and ran 62 plays, while the Sabers had the ball for just 14:06.

Ben Valenti led the Bobcats with 138 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries while Robbie Thorne had 99 yards and a score on 21 carries. Luke Diamond scored the final touchdown on a 1-yard plunge with 2:35 left and Caedon Manseau's extra point put the Bobcats up for good.

Plymouth ran for 252 yards on 56 carries, an average of 4.5 yards per attempt.

"That’s a great game plan by them," Bowkett said. "They were content with getting four yards at a time and that made sense for them. We still had a chance to get the ball back and go down and score."

Souhegan got the ball back with 2:30 at its own 40-yard line, and on third-and-13, Romy Jain connected with JJ Bright for 22 yards.

Jain threw incomplete on the ensuing first down and was dropped for a 4-yard loss on second. The Sabers used a timeout with 1:38 remaining, but Jain threw incomplete on third and fourth down to turn the ball over on downs.

"I thought we finally figured it out defensively," Sanborn said. "We’ve been telling them how to play defense and we haven’t done it the way we want to play for a couple of years. We finally figured it out. I thought the kids up front were playing really well."

Jain finished the day 9 of 18 for 175 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Bright ran 14 times for 140 yards and a touchdown. But 124 yards of that came in the first half, as Plymouth held Souhegan to just eight yards rushing in the second half.

Chase Knuckles caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Jain, as he got behind the Bobcats' defense on a first-and-26 play after the Sabers had been called for a hold on consecutive plays. That gave Souhegan the lead back with 4:27 remaining in the third, but Plymouth blocked the extra point.

The Sabers took the lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by Jain on their first possession, but that extra point was blocked as well. The Bobcats answered with a 14-play, 56-yard drive that took up 7:48 and ended with Thorne's 1-yard scoring run, with the extra point giving Plymouth a 7-6 lead.

Souhegan needed just 47 seconds to take the lead back. Jain connected with Connor Cassidy for a 27-yard pickup and Bright went 41 yards for a touchdown. Plymouth was called for two penalties - encroachment and a face mask - to put the conversion try at the 1 and Jain ran it in for a 14-7 lead.

The Sabers got inside Plymouth's 30 on each of its next two possessions, but Jain was picked off at the Bobcats' 1 by Jaxon Rineer and then fumbled at the Plymouth 16 to end those chances.

"We were executing fine, we were moving the ball fine," Bowkett said. "We just have to make good decisions. Hats off to Plymouth. They played great."