Pinkerton Academy head coach Brian O’Reilly said he and his team were looking to make an example of someone. They found a victim in West High School.

The Astros lanced the Blue Knights, 34-7, on Saturday, Nov. 10, in first-round playoff action.

The week prior, PA, the twotime defending state champion, was stymied at home, losing its first Division I contest in more than two years, 30-7, to Nashua South.

“After embarrassing ourselves last week with our style of play, we needed to send a message to ourselves as well as anyone (else), that it’s playoff football time, that we’re the team people are supposed to contend with, and we need to start playing like it,” said O’Reilly.

The Blue Knights, on the other hand, entered the postseason after coming back from a two-touchdown deficit at beat Salem on the road, 17-14, in a must-win contest.

Moreover, West had nearly defeated Pinkerton in Derry on Sept. 15 when it took an early 14-0 lead.

But by the time the Blue Knights scored against the Astros again, it was almost two months and more than six quarters later, and they had allowed 50 unanswered points to the D-I power.

The locals fell in the regular- season matchup, 16-14, and were down 34-0 late in the fourth quarter of the semifinal contest when senior tailback Nick Clement broke loose for a 67-yard touchdown.

“The kids played confident. We had a good week of practice.

You know, after we came here earlier in the season, we thought we should have won that game,” said West coach Travis Cote. “We thought we had a good chance today to come in and play, and they just outperformed us.”

Pinkerton, utilizing its speedy rushing attack, scored first five minutes into the game.

After West turned the ball over on downs, the Astros punched in another score on the first play of the second quarter and ran in three more touchdowns by halftime, taking advantage of two more turnovers in the process.

PA didn’t score in the second half, and they didn’t need to. O’Reilly said the difference between the first time the two squads met and the postseason slaughter was as simple as studying film and making necessary adjustments.

Cote tipped his hat to the opposing coaching staff for altering Pinkerton’s schemes on both sides of the ball. He said, unlike the first contest, it was difficult to be upset because the game was so one-sided from the start.

“Fortunately, this year we’ve been able to do some things … to outscheme (foes) and keep us in games against teams that are bigger than us,” said Cote. “Today we weren’t able to do that.

They came after us, and offensively they just moved us off the ball and drove down the field on the ground.”

Despite the poor end to the season, Cote said the program continues to improve.

“Over the last few years we’ve been very competitive in this league,” said Cote of a West team that’s reached the D-I playoffs two of the last three years.

“It’s going to take some time to get that experience, and hopefully we will continue to build on the seasons we’ve had the last few years.”

Pinkerton remains the only team Cote has not beaten in his four-year tenure as West mentor.

Team notes
West features nine Hooksett players including seniors Kevin Beaudoin, Sam Leger, Adam Lula, Alex Mason, Chris Wallace; juniors Nathan Collins, Nick Florence and Kevin Germain; and sophomore Jeff Wallace.