Lebanon seeking perfect ending
Division IV Semifinals
No. 4 Monadnock at No. 1 Lebanon
- When and where: Saturday (2:30 p.m.) at Lebanon High School.
- Team records: Lebanon is 9-0. Monadnock is 5-4.
- Regular-season result: Lebanon won 13-6 in Lebanon.
- Noteworthy: Lebanon has become the feel-good story in the state this year, and secured the top seed by beating Trinity 14-6 Saturday night at Gill Stadium. ... Senior running back Cody Patch may have reserved a spot for himself on next year's Shrine Maple Suger Bowl roster by rushing for a season-high 214 yards in that victory. He scored both Lebanon touchdowns. ... Monadnock dropped a 37-27 decision to Laconia on Friday and backed into the playoffs by winning a three-way tiebreaker with Plymouth and Kennett. The Huskies were 0-3 against the rest of the Division IV playoff field this season. ... Lebanon is making its third playoff appearance in the program's history and has yet to win a playoff game. The Raiders' only other unbeaten season came in 1987, when they played in the now-defunct Connecticut Valley League. Lebanon was not allowed to participate in the NHIAA playoffs that year because many of its regular-season games were against Vermont opponents. ... Monadnock running back Blake Bolewski rushed for 232 yards in last Friday's loss to Laconia. That effort put him over the 1,000-yard mark this season. He also rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season, and is the only Monadnock player to eclipse that mark twice. ... This will be Monadnock's first playoff appearance since 2004. ... Patch completed the regular season with 1,027 yards rushing on 109 carries. He has scored 19 TDs, 14 of them on the ground.
No. 3 Laconia at No. 2 Trinity
- When and where: Saturday (1 p.m.) at Manchester's Gill Stadium.
- Team records: Trinity is 8-1. Laconia is 7-2.
- Regular-season result: Trinity won 25-22 in Laconia.
- Noteworthy: Trinity dominated the regular-season game between these teams statistically, but needed a later touchdown to pull out the victory. Some stellar special teams play helped Laconia overcome an 18-0 deficit and take a 22-18 lead in the fourth quarter. Trinity capped the scoring when quarterback Jake Goldstein threw a 49-yard TD pass to 6-foot-7 tight end Andrew Lauderdale with 6:35 left. ... Laconia's comeback included a kickoff return for a TD and a punt return for a TD. A blocked punt set up Laconia's third TD, an 11-yard run by Ronnie Steele. ... Laconia was held to 46 yards on 33 plays in the loss. ... Trinity went unbeaten en route to last year's Division V state championship, but moved to Division IV in the offseason. ...Trinity's 19-game losing streak ended Saturday night, when Lebanon beat the Pioneers 14-6. It was the first time Trinity scored fewer than 24 points in a game this season. ... Laconia enters the postseason on a five-game winning streak. Its only other loss this season came against top-seeded Lebanon (27-15). ... The winner of this game will either play at top-seeded Lebanon or be at home against fourth-seeded Monadnock for the Division VI championship game.
-- Capsule compiled by Roger Brown
Coming Wednesday: Division V capsule previews
