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# Running game carries Pinkerton football to win over Londonderry (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/running-game-carries-pinkerton-football-to-win-over-londonderry-video/
- Published: 2018-09-22T14:40:43.000Z
- Updated: 2018-09-22T14:40:43.000Z
- Description: LONDONDERRY - The game plan for the Pinkerton Academy football team was to come out throwing Friday night against Londonderry. Fortunately for the Astros, they have a pretty good running game to fall back on when that didn't work. Pinkerton ran for over three hundred yards and five touchdowns, inclu
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, football, Londonderry, Pinkerton, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

LONDONDERRY - The game plan for the Pinkerton Academy football team was to come out throwing Friday night against Londonderry.

Fortunately for the Astros, they have a pretty good running game to fall back on when that didn't work.

Pinkerton ran for over three hundred yards and five touchdowns, including two first-half drives of over 90 yards, as the Astros handled the Lancers for a 34-14 win in the annual Mack Plaque game. It was Pinkerton's 20th win in a row against Londonderry, going back to 2001, as the Astros improved to 4-0 in the Division I South Conference.

Gannon Fast led Pinkerton with 145 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, while Avery Battle had 82 yards and a score on just nine carries and Gennaro Marra added 78 yards rushing and another score. Quarterback Aiden Goujon also had a 1-yard touchdown run and was 2 of 12 for 39 yards through the air.

"The game plan was to come in and throw the ball down their throats," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "Aiden was a little off. He was fine, but he was a little off. It was frustrating, because in the beginning, everything was open. Switching over to the running attack was like Plan B and we executed it very well. And defensively, not too bad for us."

The Astros' defense forced a turnover on Londonderry's first two possessions, with linebacker Evan Wilson snagging a pass by Evan Cormier out of the air to end the Lancers' first drive after three plays. On the second play of the next possession, Pinkerton's Dylan Poulin recovered a fumble by Londonderry's Alex Tsetsilas.

The second turnover led to another Pinkerton touchdown drive and a 14-0 lead for the Astors with 1:02 left in the first quarter. On its first two touchdown drives, Pinkerton converted four of seven third or fourth downs into first downs or touchdowns, including a third-and-10 and a fourth-and-8.

The Astros also picked up first downs on a third and a fourth down on a 97-yard touchdown drive right before halftime that made it 21-0 at the break.

"It’s become a habit for some reason when we go against them," Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon said. "We can’t get off the field on third down. We knew that coming in, we’ve preached that, we’ve got to come up with stops in big moments. There were a lot of measurements, a lot of short yardage, and it just happened to go their way. A couple of times, we were short."

The Lancers got on the board on the opening drive of the second half, as Cormier hit Jeff Wiedenfeld for a 15-yard touchdown that made it 21-7, capping a 12-play, 81-yard drive. After the Londonderry defense forced a three-and-out, the Lancers faced a fourth-and-6 on their next drive near midfield.

Londonderry went for it and Cormier connected with Jake Holland for a completion close to the line to gain, but a measurement showed that Lancers were about a foot short of the first down.

"That was big because they were moving," O'Reilly said. "That was a big stop."

Eight plays later, Battle scored from 2-yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 28-7 Pinkerton.

"We said we’re going to come out, we’re going to score, we’re going to get a stop and get the ball back, and we did all that," Lauzon said. "And then we didn’t score that second time. I felt like we had to score there and make it a seven-point ball game."

Fast added a 45-yard touchdown run to make it 34-7 with 5:35 to play, and Londonderry got some momentum back after Cormier hit Tsetsilas for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 4:03 remaining.

The Lancers recovered the onside kick after that, but their drive stalled at the Astros' 34-yard line with 1:50 remaining and Pinkerton was able to run out the clock.

Cormier finished with 219 passing yards - 188 in the second half - on 23 of 33 with two touchdowns and an interception, and also had 55 yards rushing. Wiedenfeld had 45 yards on the ground on 10 carries and 30 yards on six catches, while Tsetsilas also had six catches for 67 yards.