Windham football controls 2nd half to get win over Concord (video)

WINDHAM - The Windham High School football team knew exactly what the stakes were going into Saturday's regular-season finale against Concord.

Win and get the final Division I playoff spot. Lose and the season is done.

In the second half, the Jaguars' defense left no doubt what the outcome would be.

Windham's defense got the ball back to its offense deep in Concord territory four times in the second half, and the Jaguars found the end zone after three of them, more than enough for a 27-7 win over the Crimson Tide in a D1 Central Conference game.

Tiger An ran for 66 of his game-high 96 yards and two touchdowns in the second half while Billy Depietro and Cam Williams also had rushing touchdowns for Windham (3-5 in D1, 4-5 overall).

The Jaguars picked off Concord quarterback Colby Nyhan three times in the second half, with Williams, Dylan Roy and Matt Desmarais each getting an interception.

"We had something right in front of us and we got to see a bunch of high school kids go and take it," Windham coach Jack Byrne said. "I’m just really proud of them. I love that they don’t quit."

Because of that, Windham is going to the postseason in D1 for the second year in a row, something that didn't look possible a few weeks ago, following losses to Merrimack and Portsmouth-Oyster dropped the Jaguars to 1-5 in the division.

But after 28-0 win over Manchester Central last week, the Jaguars knew that, if things broke their way Friday night, they'd have something to play for on Saturday.

"Teams get a second chance," Byrne said of the current D1 playoff format, where 13 teams get in. "I’ve been doing it long enough, I just like watching kids learn those lessons. It’s cool to watch kids bounce back and maybe get their first true test to do that. Watching that is the most special part."

Windham faced some adversity early on, as the Jaguars opened the game with a three-and-out and a short punt gave Concord (1-7, 2-7) the ball on the Windham 47-yard line.

Eight plays later, Nyhan found Connor Hughes over the middle for a 10-yard touchdown reception and a 7-0 lead for the Tide.

"Proud of the effort," Concord coach Jim Corkum said. "We know we don’t have a playoff spot riding on this, or anything like that. The last two weeks, I’ve thought our kids have come out and played hard, left everything on the field. We just ran out of gas in the second half."

After the opening drive, Concord moved inside Windham's 40 three more times with the game still in the balance, but got nothing to show for it.

The Jaguars tied the game on a 16-yard touchdown run by Williams, on a drive that included a personal foul on the Tide on a third-and-9 for Windham from its own 32. The teams went into the half, still tied at 7.

Concord looked like it might take the lead to open the second half, moving down to Windham's 26-yard line. But on fourth-and-8, Nyhan was sacked by Dane Grieco to turn the ball over on downs.

Williams came up with the first of the three interceptions on Concord's next possession, setting up Depietro's 12-yard touchdown run that gave the Jaguars the lead for good.

An made it 21-7 early in the fourth quarter when a bobbled snap by Depietro ended up in the senior running back's arms and he ran 38 yards for the score.

"Those types of plays can certainly be deflating," Corkum said. "I thought a couple of times our defense went out and stepped up and forced them into field goal attempts that they missed. Unfortunately, there were a few other times, were a fumbled snap goes right into the hands of one of the best running backs in the state and he takes it 40 yards. Sometimes you’re on the other end of those and we were (Saturday)."

The final interception by Desmarais set up An's 4-yard touchdown run that finished out the scoring with 7:43 remaining.

Nyhan was 6 of 13 passing for 58 yards with a touchdown and three picks and also had 58 yards on the ground. Travis Dunbar added 56 yards rushing and Jackson Borkush had 47, while Hughes finished with four catches for 38 yards and a score.

Depietro had 67 yards on the ground while going 3 of 9 passing for 22 yards, while Williams added 42 yards rushing.

Official pairings will be released by the NHIAA on Monday, but it looks like Windham will open the playoffs at Londonderry next weekend.