Turnovers prove to be too much as Souhegan falls to Portsmouth

AMHERST – The Souhegan High School football team dug itself a hole in the first half for the second straight week, and this time, there was no climbing out.

The Sabers turned the ball over six times in the first 24 minutes and fell to Portsmouth 22-15 in the Division III opener for both teams Friday night.

Souhegan lost three fumbles and threw three interceptions in the first half. Five of those miscues came in Clippers’ territory, and two of them resulted in Portsmouth touchdowns in the second quarter.

But the Sabers weren’t the only ones who couldn’t hang on to the ball; Portsmouth had five turnovers of its own, but that was still good enough to be plus-three in takeaways.

“You can’t sustain any level of offense with six turnovers,” Souhegan coach Mike Beliveau said. “It’s just not acceptable. Last week we had turnovers and came away with a win. This week, we had too many of those.”

Robby McCormick threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions in the first half. The Sabers also lost five fumbles, and of the team’s eight turnovers, five of them came inside Portsmouth territory.

But despite all the miscues on offense, the Souhegan defense managed to keep the game close.

The Sabers found the end zone on a fourth-and-3 on a 37-yard catch-and-run by Denny Desserault with 7:36 left in the game, but the two-point attempt failed, leaving Souhegan down 22-12.

The Clippers got the onside kick, but Dillon Crosby fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Souhegan’s Alex Price recovered at the Portsmouth 27. But the Sabers offense stalled at the Clippers’ 13 and Souhegan had to settle for Tyler Ford’s 30-yard field goal that made it 22-15 with 5:22 left.

Portsmouth was able to hold on to the ball on its next drive, and worked the clock as it moved down to Souhegan’s 27-yard line. The Clippers finally turned the ball over on downs with only four sends left in the game, and the Sabers’ final play ended in another lost fumble.

“We needed to punch the ball into the end zone twice and we only did it once,” Beliveau said. “I thought after the first quarter, our defense stiffened up and made enough plays and even got some turnovers for our offense. But we didn’t convert those into points. At the end of the day, that kind of sloppy play is going to catch up with you. I’m surprised the score remained as close as it did with that many turnovers.”

Portsmouth opened the scoring on its second drive of the game when Billy Hartmann found Colin MacDonald along the sidelines for a 51-yard touchdown pass. Two Souhegan penalties put the point after attempt inside the 1-yard line and Billy Lane easily converted to put the Clippers up 8-0 with 5:22 left in the opening quarter.

Souhegan answered the score on its first play from scrimmage. McCormick floated a short pass to Chris Chininis, who caught the ball in stride and danced through the Portsmouth defense for a 75-yard touchdown. The Sabers went for two, but McCormick was stopped short, leaving the score at 8-6.

The Clippers were finally able to take advantage of Souhegan’s turnovers in the second quarter, the first of which came after back-to-back interceptions.

Keddy Battista got his second interception of Hartmann with about eight minutes left in the half, putting Souhegan’s offense in business at the Portsmouth 32. But on the next play, McCormick was hit from behind and the errant throw went right into the arms of Portsmouth’s Sean Miller.

Four plays later, Hartmann connected with Anthony Kurylak on a 44-yard touchdown and Matt Feeney’s extra point made it 15-6.

McCormick completed a pass to Desserault on second down from the Souhegan 19, but Desserault fumbled and Dan Kaczmarek recovered to give Portsmouth the ball at the Sabers’ 24. Lane scored from a yard out three plays later to make it 22-6 with 5:07 left in the half.

Souhegan had two more possession before halftime, but both drives ended on interceptions by Portsmouth’s Jack Mackey.

“We played hard until the end,” Beliveau said. “With a lot of things working against us, we made a football game out of it. We just didn’t make enough plays to win the football game.”