Sabers wary of road game against Cougars

Souhegan High School football coach Mike Beliveau was impressed with his quarterback in last week’s win over Milford.

True, Beliveau was amazed at the way senior Mike Luks was able to toss the ball around despite less than ideal conditions.

But what caught the coach’s eye even more stretched throughout the whole team, and has all season long.

“These darn kids know how to win,” Beliveau said. “Our kids have shown in years past, some of the teams just know how to win. Last year, they were used to winning, so they knew how. This year, they’ve shown a lot of resiliency in certain games, and after being around last year, these kids know how to win.”

This was supposed to be the year that the Sabers fell back to the rest of Division III, but instead, they’re 5-0 and sitting at the top if the standings. Hollis/Brookline (4-1) has already lost to Souhegan this year, as have Portsmouth (3-2), Goffstown (3-2) and Milford (3-2). The Sabers end the regular season by playing Bedford (4-2), which has already lost two games this season.

And while H/B plays at Portsmouth and Milford plays at Goffstown, Souhegan goes on the road to face Con-Val (1-5) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Peterborough. The Cougars are coming off one of the bigger surprises of the season, having lost last week to winless Pembroke 23-21.

“What I told the team, they’re much better than their record,” Beliveau said of Con-Val. “They played Bedford into overtime. They have a three-year starter at quarterback (in Jon Queen). He can run and he can really throw it well. They always play aggressive on defense.”

Beliveau added that the Cougars always seem to give the Sabers a hard time, too. For the first time in the series, Souhegan will be playing at Con-Val on a Friday night; the school added lights last season.

“It’s a different atmosphere on Friday nights,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of guys banged up and we hope to get them back, but we may not. We definitely have to go play a good game.”

One place Souhegan has been playing well is along the offensive line. At the start of the season, Beliveau was curious how having five different starters on the field from last year’s championship game would affect the offense.

“I’m really happy with the new group this year,” he said. “They did a good job last week against a good Milford team. And our young running backs, like Jason Doheny and Brandon O’Connell, have stepped up to supplement the work of the seniors.”