Exeter fends off Central
Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com
MANCHESTER - There was a point during Friday night's matchup between the Exeter High School football team and Manchester Central when the game was so lopsided it looked like it was headed toward running time.
Strange as it may sound, there was also a point when the teams looked like they might end up in overtime.
Exeter dominated the first half and entered the third-quarter with a 21-point lead, but Central pulled within seven points when Riley Cote tossed his second touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter. The outcome seemed in doubt until there was 1:24 left, when Logan Laurent kicked a 37-yard field goal that capped the scoring in Exeter's 24-14 victory.
"We've been talking all year that things are gonna happen and you have to react, so I thought we reacted extremely well," Exeter coach Bill Ball said. "That's a good football team and that was a good effort by our guys. I liked the way we finished it. I didn't necessarily like the second half, but I liked the way we finished it. That's the most important thing."
Cote finally got the Central offense in gear early in the fourth, when the Little Green got on the scoreboard with a nine-play, 93-yard drive. The TD came on a 22-yard pass from Cote to Junior Brown.
Cote went back to work after Central recovered an onside kick. This time the Little Green moved the ball 47 yards in four plays, the biggest of which was Cote's 24-yard pass to Jordan McCarthy. It was a 21-14 game with 6:11 to play after Stephen Grzywacz made the second of his two point-after kicks.
"At that point we knew we had a couple of timeouts left," Central coach Ryan Ray said. "Our defense was playing much better in the second half than they played in the first half, so I felt comfortable kicking the ball away. I thought we might be able to get them to punt with a couple minutes left on the clock. We felt real good about getting a stop."
Instead the Blue Hawks moved the ball from their own 24-yard line to the Central 20. Ball elected to send in Laurent when Exeter faced a fourth-and-15 situation with 1:24 to play.
"He works at [kicking] year round," Ball said. "That was a big kick. That's a kick he had to make."
Central's final drive ended when Exeter's Brian Henry intercepted a Cote pass with 40.1 seconds left.
The victory clinched a playoff spot for Exeter, which raised its record to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in Division II. Central, which slipped to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in the division, will likely need to win its final two games - Pinkerton and Nashua South - to qualify for the playoffs.
The Blue Hawks got a spark from quarterback Jamie Tymann and their passing game in the first half. Tymann connected with Colby Swane for a 46-yard TD pass in the first quarter, and hooked up with Tyler Grant for a 13-yard TD pass in the second. Grant added a 1-yard TD run, and after Laurent made his third PAT kick Exeter had a 21-0 lead with 2:06 left in the half. The 35-point margin that would have triggered running time seemed within reach.
"Jamie did a good job of getting it on the right people," Ball said.
The Exeter defense did its part as well. Central was held to 50 yards and three first down on 24 first-half plays.
"We didn't execute and a lot of it was us and a lot of it was we were playing a good team," Ray said. "If they're not one of the best two or three teams in the state I'd be very surprised."
Exeter will play at Nashua South next week in a game that will likely determine the No. 2 seed for the Division II playoffs.
"It just gets bigger and bigger, no question," Ball said. "South is a very good football team."
FRIDAY'S SCORES
Bow 42, Bishop Brady 14
St. Thomas 31, Fall Mountain 6
Spaulding 39, Alvirne 13
Laconia 42, Kennett 12
Trinity 50, Kingswood 0
Exeter 24, Central 14
Merrimack 28, West 14
Goffstown 24, Milford 17
Souhegan 46, Con-Val 3
Timberlane 24, Keene 21
Nashua South 49, Salem 20
Memorial 40, Nashua North 13
Londonderry 19, Dover 7
Pembroke 54, Pelham 6
Hanover 50, John Stark 38
Monadnock 48, Merrimack Valley 8
Gilford 53, Raymond 0
