Winnacunnet football clinches top seed with win over Manchester Central

MANCHESTER - It was a big night for both the Winnacunnet and Manchester Central high school football teams at Gill Stadium on Friday night.

At stake for Winnacunnet was the No. 1 overall seed in the East/North Cluster. On the other hand, with a Central win, and other outcomes throughout the weekend, the Little Green would be joining Winnacunnet in the playoffs.

The Warriors were able to pull out a 42-21 victory on the scoring of their quarterback Patrick MacDougall and their opportunistic defense. Another key for Winnacunnet was playing a complete, four-quarter game, as recently they have not had to play their starters the entire game.

The scoring came early with Winnacunnet's Louis Granger running back the opening kickoff from 71 yards out and he was not touched. With the Warriors (8-0) tacking on a two-point conversion the score was 8-0 and it remained that way until there was six minutes left in the half.

Central (5-3) scored relying on big plays, with the first big play coming on a 69-yard touchdown connection between Alex Hawkom and Jeremyah Rivera. They failed on the conversion making the game 8-6. On the Warriors ensuing possession, they scored on MacDougall’s first TD run, this one from 17 yards out.

After both teams traded interceptions deep into Central territory, Hawkom had his next big play, taking a sneak right up the middle for 51 yards. This drive resulted with a 6-yard TD pass from Hawkom to Jeremy Chandler. This cut the Warriors lead to 15-13 at half.

On the Warriors first offensive possession of the second half, they were able to punch it in from 8 yards out with another MacDougall TD run. However, Central was able to once again respond with another long TD pass, this time from 45 yards, between Hawkom and Rivera. That made the game 22-21.

When asked about Hawkom and his three TD performance, along with 64 rushing yards, Central coach Ryan Ray said, “Alex is a great quarterback. Not just a good quarterback, he is a great quarterback.”

Three minutes later, McDougall had his last touchdown, pushing the score to 28-21, and it was Winnacunnet’s defense that shined in the fourth stopping, the Little Green on one final possession.

“We knew this was a good team and they played well tonight," Winnacunnet coach Ron Auffant said. "One thing we did that you might not have noticed is that we switched to a lot more zone in the 4th putting out kids in a better position to make plays”

Late in the game Winnacunnet halfback Jordan Fuller had the last of his 130 yards with a touchodwn and Evan Welch had a pick-6 to cap off the scoring for the Warriors.

Central will have an early playoff game next week in Bedford, with the winner getting into the postseason. Winnacunnet travels to Spaulding where the Warriors plan on getting players with lingering injuries healthy.