BY RYAN O’CONNORFor years, Salem has been an 18-wheeler chugging down the Division I football freeway. SHS, frequently a powerful force, often seemed poised to flatten the competition, only to watch speedy Pinkerton Academy blaze past, garnering title after title – nine total – in a 23-year span. In fact, the Astros entered this ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKManchester Central’s football team, rolling along since mid-October, finished flat against Nashua North. The third-seeded Little Green played well on offense and defense against the Titans, but the second-seeded hosts overcame a 12-3 deficit, scored late following a sequence of fumbles and reached the Division I finals with a ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYIt wasn’t difficult for Trinity High School head football coach Gary Leonard to forgive his star wing back. After all, Connor Lyons did score three touchdowns, notch three two-point conversions and kick a 41-yard field goal to lead the Pioneers to a 41-7 victory and their first state title since 1988. The Bedford resident ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYWhen the next fall sports season arrives, expect a change in the landscape of New Hampshire athletics. Beginning with the 2010- 11 fall schedule, all sports will use the divisional format, including the possibility of petitioning up or down. The change, according to athletics directors, provides more choice for schools. Some ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYConnor Lyons earned a much-deserved rest. The Trinity High School gridiron star and Bedford resident found the end zone four times in the first half of a Division V semifinal-round game before taking the second half off during his team’s 37-0 win over Bow on Saturday, Nov. 7. The speedy senior opened the scoring with a ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYFor Bedford High School girls soccer, it was an all-too-familiar scene. Same opponent, same score and same hollow feeling as the final whistle blew. For a second consecutive season the Bulldogs were eliminated by Hollis- Brookline, 1-0, in the Class I semifinals, this time falling to the Cavaliers on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Exeter ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYIt wasn’t the way Paul Cohen envisioned bidding farewell to the Bow High School football campaign. The Falcons, who were at one time 5-0 and tied atop the standings, were thumped by Trinity High School for a second consecutive week, losing in the Division V semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 7, 37-0. “We kind of came ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYMembers of the Gilford defensive backfield tugged at the side of the net, hoping to find a hole that the ball could have slipped through, not willing to believe the ball indeed snuck into the upper right-hand corner of the goal. The Golden Eagles joined the list of teams left baffled after a jaw-dropping postseason run by ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYThere wasn’t much that could douse the excitement of Chris Laberge, who had just led Manchester Central’s boys soccer team to its first-ever state championship match. One thing – actually a team – was the exception. “The soft side of me, and that is a side that isn’t shown often, feels bad for ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKWhenever a Manchester Central girls soccer player looked up, an Exeter foe loomed large on the Southern New Hampshire University turf. The Blue Hawks smothered the Little Green on Friday, Nov. 6, in the Class L state finale, a 2-0 outcome that doesn’t fully indicate Exeter’s control of the contest, nor do justice to ...