DERRY, N.H. – The best of the best in New Hampshire high school football were put on notice here last night.
If Pinkerton Academy, the defending N.H. Div. I state champs, can put its season together like it put together its second half adjustments against Windham High on Friday night, beware.
While the Astros controlled the opening night game from box to wire, it was anything but easy, despite the final score, 28-0.
Pinkerton’s defense, the real No. 1 star last night, opened with a three-and-out. Four plays later, one of the state’s top quarterbacks Aiden McDonald threw up a perfect strike to wide receiver Noah Rao for a quick early lead.
But that was it for Pinkerton, which was halted twice inside the Windham red zone.
“They always play us tough. Always,” said Astros coach Brian O’Reilly. “They’re tough kids. We didn’t make it easy on ourselves, but they deserve a lot of credit.”
Windham was able to muster only 40 yards of offense in the first half. Subtracting sack yardage, they barely covered that amount in the second half.
Pinkerton, on other hand, turned a 7-0 first half lead into 21-0, with two more McDonald long passes, 50 yards to Brady Spellman and another 49-yarder to Rao.
The Astros defense, led by junior Braden Connolly’s two sacks (10 tackles), never let the gritty Windham offense get free.
“The first half was not our best, but we showed what we can be in the second half,” said Connolly. “We made big plays, big sacks, big stops on fourth down (3). And when our offense gets going like it did, we are going to be tough to beat. We have work to do, this is only the first game, but we have a lot of winners on this team. I can’t wait to see what we can do.”
McDonald, the Astros highly-touted quarterback, stepped up with the three biggest plays of the game, perfect, long passes to his receivers for touchdowns.
“On my touchdown, I gave him a look on the line,” said Spellman. “The safeties were up a little, respecting our running game. I was wide open and Aiden threw it perfectly. It was a lot of fun.”
Pinkerton plays at Manchester Central, which lost to Nashua North last night, at 6:30 p.m. next Friday night.
“We have some cleaning up to do,” said O’Reilly, “but I’m proud of the way we rebounded in the second half. We had a lot of guys perform when we needed them. It’s time to turn the page and get ready for Manchester Central.”
Pinkerton 28, Windham 0
Derry, N.H.
Windham 0-0-0-0 – 0
Pinkerton 7-0-14-7 – 28
1Q
P – Noah Rao 41 pass from Aiden McDonald (John Pappas kick), 7:30
2Q
No scoring
3Q
P – Spellman 50 pass from McDonald (Pappas kick)
P – Rao 49 pass from McDonald (Pappas kick)
4Q
P – Spellman 18 run (Pappas kick), 4:29
Stats
Rushing: P (33 rushes, 114 yards) – Spellman 10-62, Joseph Osanya 8-22, Jonathan McKinley, 1-4, Ryson Michaud, 5-9, Jimmy Knudsen, 1-4, AJ Scholz, 3-6, McDonald 2-(-4), Jordan Ball, 2-9; W – Mike Brearly, 17-50, Samuel Schreiner, 1-4, Joe Coviello, 2-6, Kevin Murphy, 1-1, Alex Economu 6-32
Passing: P – McDonald 6-11-0, 162 yards; W – Kevin Murphy 6-17-1, 28 yards
Receiving: P – Rao 3-91; Spellman 3-71; W – Joe Coviello 3-18; Mike Brearly 2-2, Brandon Jacobs 1-6