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Pinkerton has no answers in title game loss

Saturday, November, 18 By David Willis
Staff writer

DURHAM — For a few moments, it looked as if Pinkerton had turned the momentum.

Trailing by two touchdowns midway through the first quarter, Astros QB Aiden Goujon dropped back and floated a perfect pass to wide open Ty Hicks. The speedy halfback did the rest, cruising into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown.

That would, however, be as close as Pinkerton would be.

Winnacunnet scored touchdowns on all five of its first-half possessions, on the way to rolling over the Astros 41-21 in the Division 1 state championship game on Saturday night in pouring rain at the University of New Hampshire’s Wildcat Field.

It was the first state title for the Warriors (12-0) since winning the Division 2 crown in 2012. Pinkerton (10-2) last played in the title game in 2014, when it beat Bedford. Its last title game loss was 2013 to Concord.
“It was a very tough game,” said Astros head coach Brian O’Reilly. “We had no answer for their offense tonight. My only question is how they weren’t putting up points like this all season. They are big and fast in the backfield and very dangerous.”
After holding Pinkerton to a 3-and-out to start the game, Winnacunnet needed nine plays to take the lead. The Warriors then forced a fumble on the following kickoff, and four plays later were ahead 14-0.
“When you fall into a hole quick, you have to throw out half of your game plan,” said O’Reilly. “For us, that’s running the ball and gaining 4 yards a rush. We couldn’t do that. Their fast start really hurt us.”
Pinkerton cut the lead in half with the Goujon TD pass to Hicks, but Winnacunnet would follow that with four unanswered touchdowns to lead 41-7 early in the second half.
“We wanted to take Pinkerton out of its running game,” said Warriors head coach Ron Auffant. “The game plan was to contain their rushing attack. Hicks is very scary. And on offense we wanted to control the ball. We ended up getting that big lead on them, and it is very difficult to come back in high school football.”
Employing an old-fashion option offense, Winnacunnet dominated play with its smash-mouth rushing attack. The Warriors finished with 410 yards of offense, 273 of those in the first half as they put the game out of reach.
Led by bruising fullback Jordan Fuller (25 carries, 184 yards, 3 TDs), the Warriors compiled 301 ground yards. And when they had to throw, QB Pat MacDougall (6 of 8 throwing, 102 yards) tossed three touchdowns to Evan Welch.
“Maybe they were doing something that simply beat our scheme,” said O’Reilly. “They have an experienced quarterback and a lot of speed. I just didn’t know why they hadn’t scored as much as I expected.
“Plus, they didn’t fumble. If you can run the option on a rainy day, with all the pitches, and not fumble the ball away, then you are really accomplishing something. And it’s not like our offense was clicking early on.”
Pinkerton could do little to create any opportunities. Two Goujon-to-Hicks pass completions accounted for 106 of the Astros’ 155 yards at halftime, when they trailed 35-7. The Astros had the chance to add another score before the break, but were stopped short of the goal line as time expired in the quarter.
After Winnacunnet scored to open the second half, the Astros broke through with a pair of touchdowns. Junior Gannon Fast ran for a 2-yard score late in the third quarter, then added a 1-yard TD late in the fourth.
Fast led the Astros with 60 rushing yards on nine carries. Star halfback Hicks caught three passes for 149 yards and carried eight times for 52 yards. Josh Liporto led the Pinkerton defense with 11 tackles.
“We challenged the team at halftime to either fold it up or play football,” said O’Reilly. “And our guys played to the end. It was a very hard fought game. We didn’t roll over, but they were obviously a superior team today.”