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Stunning late drive sends Pinkerton to title game

Saturday, November, 15 By David Willis
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. — Pinkerton’s Colton Desmarais grabbed for the ball in traffic, clung to it as a fell to the ground, then held it over his head in celebration as he was mobbed by his teammates.

“I just had to keep my eye on the ball and not let anyone get in my way,” said the senior. “I was just holding onto it for dear life and made sure that we were going to win this game. It was just awesome.”

Desmarais’ interception near midfield with less than a minute to go clinched the Astros’ come-from-behind 19-15 victory over archrival Londonderry in the New Hampshire Division 1 semifinals yesterday on a sloppy field.

“We are all so thrilled,” said captain Chris George. “We knew we could pull it off and Colton came through for us in the clutch. We are ready. We are just so excited.”

The top-seeded Astros will play for their stunning fourth consecutive Division 1 state championship on Saturday when they host No. 3 Nashua South in a rematch of last year’s state title game. Pinkerton won the regular season meeting 10-0.

“This is just amazing,” said a nearly speechless offensive lineman Ryan Raymond. “This is what we play for every season. There’s nothing in our plan about not making the playoffs and state championship game every year. Colton make a great play, and I just ran on the field. But it was scary there for a while.”

The Lancers, who were flattened by Pinkerton (31-12) in the regular season, gave the Astros all they could handle.

Londonderry led 9-0 at halftime, then after Pinkerton cut the lead to three, Lancers back Joey McLaughlin broke off a 56-yard touchdown run to make the score 15-6 with 7:19 left in the game.

“We told the kids at halftime that they could hang their head for the rest of the year if they lost, but not for the next 24 minutes,” said Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly. “Then that long run really stuck a needle in us. But the key play was our pass to Matt Mangano.”

 On the Astros’ first play following the touchdown, Ryan Simpson tossed a screen pass to Mangano. The diminutive halfback appeared to be stopped in the backfield for a loss, but shook free and ran 84 yards for a score.

Pinkerton then held the Lancers to a three-and-out. But on the following drive the Lancers’ Jason Silva picked off Simpson for the second time in the game. They then put together a seven-play drive to bury the Astros at their 12-yard line with 1:52 to play.

Simpson completed two straight passes to Colby Verge, but three incompletions later it was fourth down. The senior quarterback was then forced out of the pocked, but flipped the ball out to Sean Allen for a monumental 20-yard gain.

One play later, Verge took a handoff and ran 40 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the game, the game-winner, with only 44 seconds left.

“It is a great feeling to go to the state championship after a game like that,” said Desmarais. “I give credit to everyone on this team. We were a little rough in the beginning, but we came together at the end and made it count.”

The Lancers were led by a pair of halfbacks. Adam Bardwell carried 21 times for 89 yards and a touchdown in the first half, then McLaughlin took over in the second half and tallied 94 yards on 16 carries. Silva had the two interceptions and recovered a stunning two on-side kicks.

“We played our hearts out,” said Londonderry’s rookie coach Jon Rich. “But we gave up a few big plays and just came up short to a very good team.”

Additional stories:

• On the Verge: Halfback Verge's career day leads Pinkerton