BY RYAN O'CONNOR
The Grizzlies had the Division II playoffs in sight, but on one rain-soaked Saturday afternoon they allowed the postseason to evade their grasp.
Though many local football and soccer games were postponed Nov. 3 due to inclement weather, Howard Sobolov, Goffstown High School athletics director, and Rob Cathcart, GHS head football coach, decided to play on.
When the Grizzlies lost to Timberlane, 21-20, in their final regular season matchup, Cathcart wouldn’t – and couldn’t – blame the storm for his team’s inability to finish off a non-playoff opponent in a must-win game.
Goffstown muffed a punt return, botched an extra-point snap, fumbled at the goal line and lost another fumble late in the fourth quarter deep in their own territory.
The opposition took advantage of every miscue.
“We lost a game that we could have won and that was apparent,” said Cathcart. “(Timberlane) put the ball on the ground, too, they just seemed to come up with their (fumbles).
“A high school kid is always quick to point the finger. You know, the weather … the ball … the ref … the calls … But if you’re going to learn what you want to learn in the game of football, you’ve just got to take responsibility.”
After forcing a three-and-out on Timberlane’s first drive, the aforementioned muffed punt led to seven Owls’ points.
But the Grizzlies turned to the four-headed power attack of Kerry Tower, Ryan Allen and Kiah Colbert, all seniors, and junior Tom Foote, along with the cool head of quarterback Nate Cathcart, to lead them to 20 unanswered points.
Foote scored first from the 1-yard line, which immediately countered Timberlane’s touchdown.
The Grizzlies drove down to the Owls’ 1-yard line the next drive, only to see the ball fumbled out of the end zone, giving Timberlane the ball on the touchback.
Still, Goffstown’s defense prevented further damage and, just prior to halftime, Tower powered four yards into the end zone on a first-and-goal to put GHS ahead 13-7 after the botched extra point.
It was more of the same to begin the second half as Goffstown’s Mike Bisceglia recovered a Timberlane onside kick attempt that hit him square in the chest, and his team marched 53 yards to pay dirt, capped by another Tower touchdown.
But then “the wheels came off the cart,” said Cathcart.
Timberlane put together a long scoring drive of its own, then stalled Goffstown’s rebuttal with back-to-back sacks to knock the locals out of the red zone and force a turnover on downs.
The Owls moved back into the red zone and were almost stopped when, on 4th-and-goal from the Goffstown 5-yard line, tight end C.J. Dupuis broke through man coverage and found the ball in his hands as he glided through the back of the end zone.
21-20 Timberlane.
With 3:43 left in the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies had time to come back, but the first snap of the ensuing drive was put on the ground and lost at their 20-yard line.
Though Goffstown pushed the visitors to 4th-and-9, Timberlane, rather than kick a field goal in the sloppy conditions, ran for a first down. And Goffstown watched its 2007 campaign tick away.
“It’s just incredibly disappointing. Everybody just got their hearts ripped out of them,” said Catchcart of his stunned players and coaches. “You’re one point away from the playoffs. How much closer can you get?”
Despite the sudden end to an otherwise successful campaign, Cathcart said he hopes his players eventually look back on 2007 as a season of exceeded expectations.
“We landed somewhere where some people thought we wouldn’t,” he said. “We represented the school well and have a lot to be proud of. They’ve accomplished some things that people didn’t think they would accomplish.”
Goffstown finished 5-4 on the season, including a come-from-behind 24-20 victory at playoff-bound Winnacunnet and a near-upset 17-14 loss to D-II top-seed Exeter.
NHIAA officials are currently discussing the likely possibility that Goffstown will return to Division III next season as the Granite State football landscape makes room for Bedford High School’s varsity football program.
The Grizzlies made the D-III playoffs in 2005 and, Catchcart said, should his team once again join the lower division, the experience of the last two years will serve as nothing but a benefit for the program.
“We had a pretty good team coming back last year, so we thought we were going to have some success in Division II last year. We weren’t overly concerned about it and we were certainly successful in terms of competing, but we didn’t win a lot of football games,” he said of the Grizzlies’ 1-8 2006 season. “We discovered that really the bottom line is that Division III is for guys that play football in your building and Division II is for seniors who lift and are in the weight room.”
Those lessons, said Cathcart, will continue being applied no matter where his squad plays in 2008.