By Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

Bishop Guertin earned the No. 1 seed for next weekend's Division II semifinals with a convincing 45-9 victory over Exeter on Friday night.

Quarterback Andy Vailas scored three TDs for BG, which outscored Exeter 24-0 in the second half. Vailas scored his first TD on a 45-yard pass from backup quarterback Steve Cuipia on the game's first play.

Vailas scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter and a 1-yard run in the fourth.

"I think Andy Vailas is the best athlete in the state," BG coach Tony Johnson said. "He proved it tonight. We played a very good game offensively, defensively and on special teams."

BG, which lost to Exeter in last year's Division II championship game, improved its record to 8-2 overall and 7-1 in Division II. Top-seeded BG will face either Keene or Dover in the semifinals. Keene will clinch the final playoff berth if it beats Merrimack on Saturday.

Exeter (7-3, 6-2) will be the No. 3 seed, and will play a semifinal-round game at second-seeded Timberlane (7-3, 6-2) next weekend.

BG outgained Exeter 423-164. Exeter accounted for nearly half of its total offense on its third possesssion, when quarterback Andrew Kukesh capped a nine-play, 72-yard scoring drive with a 25-yard TD run.

"We definitely didn't expect that," Exeter coach Bill Ball said. "We couldn't sustain anything. I certainly don't feel very good about how we competed in the second half. We have to get back to playing Exeter football in November. This will be a real character check for our guys."