Unfamiliar opponent awaits Pinkerton football in the D1 title game

There is at least one way that this year's Division I championship game feels like 2014 to Brian O'Reilly.

When the Pinkerton Academy football team lines up for kickoff against Winnacunnet, it will be going up against a team that has played great defense all season long, and the Astros coach believes his team will find out quickly how it stacks up.

It's a scenario that's not much different from the last time Pinkerton was in the title game, when it went into the final undefeated and taking on a Bedford team that had also been playing great defense throughout the year.

"They were undefeated and they had a similar defense," O'Reilly said. "They were crushing people with their defense. I looked at that for days and came to the same conclusion. It will come down to are we able to move them. It could be close, it could go into overtime, or it could be a blow out on either side."

That 2014 final was, as Pinkerton took a little while to get rolling and eventually crushed Bedford 37-0. The Astros (10-1) will be looking for their first championship since that game against Winnacunnet (11-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at the University of New Hampshire.

"The thing about Division I football, it puts you in a situation in the championship against a team that not only haven’t you played them before, they haven’t played anyone you have played," O'Reilly said. "You can’t look at film against a common opponent, so you can’t gage how good they are.

"It's about whether we can move the ball or not. Whoever’s lines dominate is going to win."

With the exception of about a half of football, Pinkerton's offensive line has been pretty good about making sure the Astros' running backs have plenty of room to go. Pinkerton comes in averaging 44.4 points per game, and has scored at least 40 in its last seven games, including the playoffs.

But that offense will be going up against one of the stingiest defenses in the state, in terms of points allowed. Winnacunnet has given up just 13.2 points per game this season, and only two teams - Manchester Central (21 points) and Bedford (33 in the quarterfinals) - have scored more than 20 against the Warriors.

Although everyone on the Pinkerton roster will be playing in a championship game for the first time, O'Reilly expects them to be ready to play - and to win - from the moment they step on the field.

"We’ve grown up a lot this year and we’re not the team we were at the beginning," he said. "Any nervousness took care of itself in the first quarter against Nashua South. I instill in all the players I coach, that they need to get to the championship, and then they need to win that game. I expect our guys to go in to that game with one thought in mind."