Newport
With one week left in the regular season, Monadnock, InterLakes-Moultonborough and Stevens have three of the four postseason spots locked up in D-III’s North Division, but Newport and Kearsarge will go into their final games at 4-3 with the last spot up for grabs.
Newport finishes up Newfound on Saturday and will know what’s at stake at game time, because Kearsarge will have completed its Friday night home game with InterLakes-Moultonborough.
Monadnock, meanwhile, which dropped down from Division II this year, has been blazing its way through Division III at 7-0 and a point differential of 296-25.
“They are everything as advertised,” said Newport coach Richard Boone, who tried a variety of offensive and defensive schemes to thwart the Huskies.
“They are very aggressive and experienced,” added Newport line coach Bill Thurlow, in his 51st year coaching the Tigers.
While Monadnock controlled the field on the cold, rainy day, there was a play or two that may have changed the game’s momentum.
Monadnock had already scored and Newport got a nifty kickoff return to its own 42 from Cam Ackerman to begin its first possession.
On the first play from scrimmage, the Huskies must have been anticipating a run, because nobody bothered checking Newport tight end John Hogan, who floated into the secondary without a soul around.
Quarterback Dylan McNamara dropped the ball into his hands, but the slick ball, on a rainy day, went right though them.
“We don’t know what would have happened if we tied the game up then,” Boone said. “That certainly would have been a momentum booster.”
That certainly got the attention of the Monadnock bench, which immediately took a timeout.
Newport looked like it had stopped the first Monadnock possession, but on second-and-8, Jarod Redfield found room on the outside and and made his way down the sideline from 54 yards out as the Huskies got a quick jump on the Tigers.
Newport continued to allow stingy yards, but 3- and 4-yard runs kept adding up to first downs. When Monadnock was faced with a third-and-11 from its own 31, the Huskies passed the ball for the first time, as quarterback JT Cloutier connected with Jarod Redfield on a 14 yard pass to keep their second drive alive. It eventually led to a Levi Bassingthwaite 7-yard-run to make it 14-0.
A Newport halfback pass was intercepted, but Monadnock couldn’t cash in after the Huskies failed to convert on a fourth-and-goal from the 7. But they marched in with touchdown No. 3 on its next possession when a 59-yard drive culminated on a Redfield score from the 1 to make it 20-0 at the half.
Newport hoped that getting the ball on the second-half kickoff could get something going, but a third-down pass, again on the money by McNamara, was dropped.
The Newport defense stiffened as a 12-play drive was stopped, but the Tigers couldn’t move offensively. The next time the Huskies got the ball, Bassingthwaite scored his second touchdown and out a lock on the game.
Monadnock will wrap up its regular season on Friday, when Stevens comes to town.