NEWPORT – The No. 1 seeded Newport-Mount Royal Tigers used a solid running game and a stingy defense that produced two scores off of turnovers to defeat fourth-seeded Hillsboro-Deering, 42-7, in an NHIAA Division IV semifinal game at Maryn Field on Saturday.
Newport’s Ayden Hodge, the Division IV player of the year, had three scores as the Tigers (8-0) put up all their points in the first half and pulled many of their starters for the last two quarters when the Hillcats (4-4), last year’s D-IV champs, produced their only score.
Newport will play Newfound for the state championship on Saturday at Laconia High. The second-seeded Bears beat third-seeded Mascoma Saturday’s other semifinal game, 44-28, in Bristol, N.H. Newport shut out Newfound, 22-0, in a battle of unbeaten teams on Oct. 10.
Newport coach Kevin Pollari, in his first year at the helm after being an assistant for six years, said the Tigers did what they were planning to do.
“They worked hard all week in practice and followed the game plan and made great plays today,” Pollari said. “We are a power running team. We have a big line up front and those boys love to move bodies.”
Newport received the opening kickoff and scored on its first possession, a 66-yard, 10-play drive. Hodge, Josh Seymour and Joe Gosselin sharing the running duties before Hodge punched the football home from the 4-yard line at the 6:37 mark of the first quarter.
After a three-and-out by the Hillcats with a punt from their 17, Newport took over on the Hillsboro-Deering 38 and Gosselin ran for the touchdown four plays later. With its second two-point conversion of the game, Newport led 16-0 with 2:35 left in the quarter.
The Tigers picked up their third score with less than 30 seconds left in the quarter. On a fourth-and-4 from Newport 49, the Hillcats tried a sweep to the far side only to fumble the football, which Gosselin scooped up and carried to the end zone, making it 22-0 after a failed two-point conversion.
The Hillcats had little success on the ground or in the air all day and were unable to manage a sustained drive against the Tiger defense.
Newport had its only miscue of the game on a lost fumble at the Hillsboro-Deering 26-yard line after getting to the 18 on a 26-yard pass play from Jaxson Lord to Brycen Flewelling. Newport’s defense forced the Hillcats to punt and the Tigers took over. On a third-and-long following a QB sack and penalty, Hodge got his second of three touchdowns on the day on a 49-yard dash around the end to bump Newport’s lead to 28-0 with 7:44 seconds left in the half.
Hodge and lineman Isiah Nash teamed up for a defensive gem on Newport’s next score. With H-D facing a second-and-long at its own 36, Hillsboro-Deering quarterback Mason Poland went back to pass and Nash hit his arm as he released the ball. The ball popped into air and into the waiting hands of Hodge, who ran 25 yards untouched into the end zone for a 34-0 lead with six minutes left in the half.
Newport added its final score just before halftime, aided by a Hillcat miscue. A bad snap on a punt forced the visitors to cover the football and turn it over the Tigers on the 22-yard line. Lord then hit Newport teammate Corey Richardson in the end zone for a score on the first play from scrimmage and, after the two-point conversion, Newport led 42-0 with about two minutes to go in the half.
Hillsboro-Deering got on the board on its first possession to start the third quarter after Haven Porter took the kickoff from his own 30 to the Newport 42-yard line. Three plays later, Poland hit Noah Welch for a long completion to the 3, and Porter ran it in from there.
Pollari, who recently shared D-IV coach of the year honors with Newfound counterpart James Hardy, said he expects a tough matchup with the Bears on Saturday: “I know he will change things up a bit from the first game. It should be a really good game.”
Newport’s last football championship came in 2020, a 43-0 defeat of Somersworth in the D-IV final. The Toppers, who now play in D-III, denied the Tigers in D-IV in 2022 and ’23. Newfound will be playing in the program’s first state football final at any NHIAA level.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
