By Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

The semifinal matchups for the Division IV playoffs were finalized Saturday, when Hanover beat St. Thomas 7-6 in overtime; and Kearsarge got a touchdown pass from quarterback Bobby Williams to Ryan Jenkins with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter to beat Somersworth 14-10.

Laconia, which beat Stevens 35-0 on Friday, will be the No. 1 seed and will face fourth-seeded St. Thomas in the semifinals. St. Thomas was also the fourth seed last year, when it beat Laconia to win the Division IV state championship.

Laconia beat St. Thomas 28-7 in Dover during the regular season.

Second-seeded Hanover will meet third-seeded Kearsarge in the other semfinal. Hanover beat Kearsarge 44-14 in Hanover during the regular season.

Both semifinal games will be played at the home of the higher-seeded team.

The field for the Division III playoffs is also set. Plymouth, Souhegan, Milford and Con-Val have all secured playoff berths.

Con-Val will play Plymouth this weekend and will likely face the Bobcats in the Division III semifinals as well. Plymouth will be the top seed and Con-Val (6-2) will likely be seeded fourth. A Con-Val victory over Plymouth on Saturday coupled with a Portsmouth victory over Milford would make Con-Val the No. 3 seed.

Milford (6-2) can secure the No. 3 seed by beating Portsmouth. In that scenario, Milford would face second-seeded Souhegan in the semifinals. Souhegan beat Milford 29-7 during the regular season.

Milford holds the tiebreaker edge over Con-Val because the Spartans beat the Cougars 6-2 during the regular season.