Hanover
In a game that went from tractor pull to track meet and back again, Bow built a 24-7 lead early in the second half and withstood repeated Marauder comebacks for a 38-24 semifinal victory on Saturday at Merriman-Branch Field. The Falcons (9-2), having made the jump from D-III this season, meet Plymouth — which shocked No. 1 Windham, 20-18 — in next Saturday’s title game at UNH’s Wildcat Stadium.
Seventh-seeded Bow set up in a plethora of formations — wing-T, straight T, I, power I, spread — and the combination proved too difficult for third-ranked Hanover (9-2) to stop. The Falcons ran up 418 yards of total offense, with quarterback Matt Harkins putting his hands all over it.
“We knew going into this season we had a lot of veterans, and we knew that we’d have to open things up and change our attack on both sides of the ball,” Bow coach Paul Cohen said. “A lot of things we used today we haven’t used in a few weeks, but we had them from the beginning of the season. We knew at some point, if things went our way, we’d use them when necessary. And today, that certainly showed.”
Hanover seemed done and dusted when Bow fullback Jack Corriveau raced right up the middle on an 88-yard touchdown run for a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter. Instead, the Marauders fought back with all they had.
Quick strikes around a timely turnover enabled the Marauders to twice close to within a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Harkins put an end to Hanover’s insurrection with a clock-sapping, 12-play drive closed by a 15-yard TD sweep from wideout Nate Alford with 1:48 to play on the 6-foot-3 senior’s first carry of the day.
“They were more physical than us in the first half, and we were kind of surprised by that,” Hanover coach Sam Cavallaro said. “They won the battle, because they kind of ran it down our throat and stuffed us on defense.”
After exchanging first-half touchdowns, Bow took a 17-7 lead into halftime with the help of a Marauder turnover.
Harkins (8-for-12 passing, 115 yards, two TDs) hit Alford on a 26-yard drag route to open the scoring late in the first quarter, but Hanover answered on the next drive with quarterback Connor Stafford connecting on a 17-yard TD pass with Avery Monahan.
Bow regained the lead on a 1-yard Justin Mooney dive with 1:53 left in the half. After Alford intercepted a Stafford pass at the Bow 47-yard line, the Falcons marched deep enough to get a 40-yard Mac Kimball field goal with 12.2 ticks on the clock for the 10-point halftime cushion.
Corriveau’s gallop less than four minutes into the third quarter upped Bow’s lead to 17 points. It also upped Hanover’s tempo.
“At halftime, we just said, ‘We can draw up all these different Xs and Os, but it’s really about you guys just stepping it up and bringing the pads,’ ” Cavallaro said. “I think, in the second half, they responded.”
Moises Celaya’s 33-yard field goal 11 seconds into the fourth quarter was the pistol crack that ignited the contest. Michael Staiger’s strip sack of Harkins and teammate Robert Putnam’s fumble recovery prefaced a 2-yard Caleb Putnam TD run to get the Marauders with 24-17 just two minutes later.
When Harkins went up the gut on a 58-yard touchdown keeper to deliver more Bow points, Stafford responded with a 61-yard catch-and-run score to Monahan, who beat double coverage and sauntered untouched into the end zone with 7:53 to play. Hanover trailed by just 31-24 and needed one stop or turnover to reverse the contest completely.
But it never came. Cohen went read option with Harkins, and the junior signal caller capably mixed keepers with short tosses to milk the clock and drain Hanover. Alford’s score on an inside sweep in the final two minutes closed the book on the Marauders.
“It’s a cliche, but it’s true: At this point in the playoffs, somebody goes home, somebody continues on,” Cohen said. “For us, it was necessary to keep on going.
“These kids have showed that, yeah, we stepped up a level. We wanted to make a statement. … We ruled in Division III for a few years, as it were, but now we’re arrived in Division II.”
Audibles: Corriveau, buoyed by his long TD run, had a game-high 107 ground yards on nine carries for Bow. Harkins added 97 yards on 13 attempts for the Falcons, who ran up 312 rushing yards. … Stafford threw for 130 yards, completing 4 of 13 attempts with two interceptions. … Hanover senior Reed Winter, who returned to action last week following three on the sidelines with an injury, saw limited action on offense, but was omnipresent on defense. … Caleb Putnam had a team-best 56 yards on 16 attempts for the Marauders. … Hanover graduates 11 seniors.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.