Souhegan football holds off St. Thomas to open with a win

DOVER - Luke Manning began the Souhegan High School football team’s scoring on Saturday afternoon by catching a touchdown pass, and ended it as the closer at quarterback.

Manning caught all three passes from starting quarterback Austin Jain on Souhegan’s opening drive against St. Thomas Aquinas, including a 8-yard touchdown catch. He’d go onto form a formidable quarterback duo with Jain and finish with a hand in four of Souhegan’s touchdowns during a 34-25 Division II season-opening victory over the Saints. 

In all, the junior had 42 receiving yards, completed 4 of 8 passes for 62 yards with two touchdowns, and also ran for 82 yards on 18 carries and a score.

Both teams reached the Division II semifinals last year, as Souhegan finished 7-4 and St. Thomas went 9-2.

“It’s so fun,” Manning said. “I didn’t know what position I was going to play coming into the season, and being able to play both at the same time is just awesome. I get to be all over the field. We have plenty of athletic kids who can play all over the field, and ultimately that helps us.”

Jain was no slouch in completing 10 of 17 passes for 168 yards, but Souhegan (1-0) took its first lead of the day when Manning got his first action behind center and engineered a 7-play drive that ended with a Ryan Hauser 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Sabers a 14-13 advantage with 9:27 left in the second quarter.

After Souhegan stopped St. Thomas on fourth down on the Sabers’ 29, Jain completed passes of 32 and 11 yards to Connor Holland (seven catches, 115 yards) down to St. Thomas’s 18-yard line. Manning replaced Jain and eventually finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown keeper to give Souhegan a 21-13 lead with 3:29 left in the second quarter.

“We’re just blessed we have two quarterbacks who can get it done and both play," Souhegan coach Robin Bowkett said. “If you have guys who are athletes and have a certain skill set, just let them go do that. If it’s quarterback, it doesn’t have to be one guy. With Luke, he plays receiver, but he can play quarterback and do a great job.”

Jain took back quarterbacking duties on Souhegan’s next drive and worked Souhgean down to St. Thomas’ 15 following an 11-yard completion to Hauser. Jain got hurt on an incomplete pass on the next play, but Manning’s first completion of the day on third-and-10 resulted in a 15-yard touchdown pass with four seconds left in the first half to Jake Civiello and gave Souhegan a 28-13 lead.

"I saw (Jain) down and I knew right away I had to go in and take it to St. Thomas” Manning said. “That’s what I had to do (Saturday) and nothing really changed.”

Souhegan took a 34-19 lead early in the fourth quarter after Manning connected for a 15-yard touchdown pass to Civiello.

Along with a new coach in Dave Bryant, St. Thomas had to replace the prolific quarterbacking output that Shawn DeKorne produced the past three years. 

Despite the loss, junior Cam Paquette produced a memorable debut. Paquette completed 31 of 54 passes for 335 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. Paquette connected on three of those touchdown passes (9, 60 and 5 yards) to senior Will MacLean (nine catches, 119 yards). St. Thomas sophomore Cooper Blomsttrom also caught seven balls for 109 yards.

Paquette tossed a swing pass on fourth-and-goal from the 9 that Adam Stewart beat to the pylon to bring St. Thomas within 34-25 with 6:40 left in regulation. Stewart was stopped on a draw play on the two-point conversion attempt.

St. Thomas had one last chance to get closer late in the game after Paquette completed a 23-yard pass to Stone Compton. Hauser ended the threat with an interception.

“I couldn’t be more impressed with Cam,” Bryant said. “He made the safe throws, made the smart throws, and that is all I could ask him to do. Games like this will help is confidence.”

St. Thomas will host Alvirne (1-0) next Saturday, in a rematch of last year’s semifinal that the Broncos won, 22-19. Souhegan hosts ConVal (1-0) on Friday.

“I’ve never been to St. Thomas as a coach, they’ve always come to us the past two years and it’s always come down to the final minutes,” Bowkett said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight here, and any win home or away is great.”