Varsity Insider: Sabers ready for latest challenge

Editor's Note: Sean Cultrera is a senior at Souhegan High School and a two-way tackle on the SHS football team. His Varsity Insider column will appear each week throughout the season.

It seems just like yesterday that I was excited to be a freshman on the varsity travel list with three of my friends. We were all ecstatic that we had a shot to actually see some playing time and get the honor of dressing for away varsity games.

The varsity team quickly jumped out to a 5-0 record that season and I remember the excitement of traveling to Division III's newest edition, the also undefeated Portsmouth Clippers. The Clippers had struggled for years in Division II, but that year in Division III they were 5-0 as well, and it looked like a great challenge for us.

I remember the excitement (and feelings of safety) while watching the game from the sideline. Portsmouth initially took command of the game, but we finally had a drive coming together in the first half. Our tremendous senior quarterback Alex "Jal" Laine was moving the Sabers up the field with his right arm and his feet, and making us believe in a Sabers team without Sean Jellison, until the unthinkable happened. On a designed quarterback run he had ripped open countless times in the prior five weeks, Laine was blown up by a Portsmouth defender 6 yards down field, ending his tremendous senior season abruptly and knocking the wind out of our sails.

I remember just watching him as he struggled to even see clearly on the bench, as this was his fifth or sixth concussion in four years. Portsmouth, however, was juiced and the atmosphere at Tom Daubney Field was through the roof as the Clippers sensed a weakness in the Sabers.

Though we struggled valiantly and made some great plays in the game, the final score still stung us all: 42-21. Doubled up, and without our leader we left the city of Portsmouth bitter and eager for revenge. Thus was a rivalry born in Division III..

Revenge has been ours ever since. The Sabers have now defeated the Clippers all three times since that frigid October night, and we look to do so again Friday night. Two of the four matches between these teams have been battles of unbeatens, and we will not take them lightly, especially those of us who remember that game three years ago. I expect a physical matchup between two highly motivated and capable teams, both of whom are featured in this week's Union Leader/WGAM/WMUR Power Poll.

This could quite possibly be the biggest game in the state Friday night as the Sabers and Clippers suit up for Homecoming at Souhegan High School. It's the biggest regular-season game of the year for us, and I think I speak for all of the Sabers when I say we're ready.