Three years ago, the last time Goffstown and Pembroke met on the Division III football gridiron, the Grizzlies were headed for the postseason and the Spartans were struggling to win a game.

Following the most recent matchup, on Saturday, Oct. 25, GHS coach Rob Cathcart told his team: “I love games like this, but I didn’t want one today.” The Spartans didn’t give his squad much choice.

Though the Grizzlies won the fiercely physical, 44-34 contest, the 10-point margin hardly provided an accurate depiction of the back-and-forth contest.

Pembroke set the tone early when Chris Allen recovered a fumble deep in PA territory and returned it 85 yards to pay dirt.

Early in the second quarter, the Spartans again took advantage of a Goffstown miscue, forcing another fumble before quarterback John Natalizio scrambled 5 yards into the end zone. A Pat McCormack extra point later and Pembroke had garnered a 14-0 lead.

“We pretty much dominated them, quite frankly,” said PA coach Dave Tremblay of his team’s first-quarter performance.

“We hit them, that’s why they fumbled the ball, and yes, we did capitalize on their mistakes.”

Cathcart said he was concerned his team would respond as it did a week earlier against a very good Milford team. GHS was close until the fourth quarter before falling flat when faced with adversity.

Not this time.

It took Goffstown a minute and a half to respond with a 35- yard Jake Staffiere touchdown run and a Tim Shottes point after.

The Grizzlies recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, then quarterback Jamie McGarry produced a 1-yard touchdown run.

Still, the Spartans showed their mettle when Dan Kroll plowed into the end zone with one minute remaining in the first half.

GHS forced a three-and-out to open the third quarter, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty on the punt gave the Spartans a first down. They drove 52 yards and extended their lead on an 8-yard touchdown connection from Natalizio to Kroll.

That’s when the Grizzlies decided they’d had enough.

Led by the four-pronged rushing attack of Staffiere, McGarry, Jim Waller and Connor Nolan, they put together a 71-yard drive that concluded with a Staffiere 2-yard touchdown and two-point conversion.

After forcing a turnover on downs, Goffstown took a 29-28 lead less than one minute into the fourth quarter behind Staffiere’s third tally and a McGarry keeper for two points.

Still, Pembroke refused to fade away. The first play of the next drive, Kroll quieted the home crowd with a 73-yard scamper to put his squad back on top.

But offensively, that was it for the Spartans.

After a couple stalled drives for both units, Goffstown recovered a fumbled punt attempt at the PA 22-yard line and handed the ball to Staffiere, who rammed ahead for yet another touchdown and two-point conversion.

In the final minute, Staffiere added his fifth touchdown of the day.

“I think we played real well, they played well ... Unfortunately, they were much bigger than us, and we just couldn’t shut them down from scoring,” said Tremblay. “We tried to score every time we touched the ball, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but they were able to stop us when it counted.”

The Spartans needed to win to have any chance at a postseason berth. Instead, the Grizzlies enter a win-and-they’re-in regular season finale for the second year in a row.

Last year, still in Division II, GHS missed the postseason by one point, falling in a rainsoaked upset to visiting Timberlane, 21-20.

“The Timberlane ghosts, I’m sure, will haunt practice a little bit this week, and I’m sure that will be in the back of our minds because we certainly don’t want that to happen again,” said Cathcart. “The fourth seed is everything these guys have been working for, and we definitely want another shot at Souhegan (which trounced the Grizzles, 41-0, to open the season on Sept. 6). First, we’ve got to take care of business against Con-Val.”