RallyNorth.net

Astros fall to Central

Saturday, November, 01 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. — Meaningless? Yeah, right.

Even before Manchester Central and Pinkerton took to the field yesterday, the Division 1 playoff picture was pretty well set. Unbeaten in the league going in, the Astros hold the edge in the potential three-way tie at the top and would have to falter twice to lose the No. 1 seed. Barring its own meltdown, Nashua South would get a home game as second seed with the Little Green slotted at third, both teams with one loss.

But before about 1,000 fans at Memorial Field, it was 100 yards of playoff intensity and bizarre happenstance. Central positively owned the football but saw two savage drives end on turnovers. Pinkerton suffered a pair of turnovers itself, but managed to take the lead early in the third quarter despite the offense not getting possession until 8½ minutes had elapsed.

The ultimate blow for the Astros came when speedy junior Eric Guinto was lost for the rest of the season due to a torn left ACL. Returning from a shoulder injury suffered two weeks ago and contributing an 81-yard kickoff return for its only lead of the day, Guinto was returning a kickoff when he dropped the ball and dropped to the turf in pain. Central’s Marc Perroni recovered at the Astro 6.

Two plays later, the second touchdown from junior go-to back Mike Cavanaugh (197 yards on 37 carries) gave the Little Green a 17-7 lead as part of a four-possession scoring streak, locking up a 24-21 victory in the battle of the state’s two top teams.

“We’re going to have to adjust our offense without Eric,” Astro head coach Brian O’Reilly said. “He’s been out before, but we realize the offense has to change from his big play capability to a power offense inside. We can throw even more, too ... But now it’s back to the drawing board.”

The strong arm of junior Ryan Simpson kept Pinkerton close, throwing for 109 yards and scoring passes of 35 yards to Colby Verge and 21 yards to Matt Mangano. But Central led after each score and either answered the Astros or converted crucial third downs to keep possession.

The numbers are daunting. The Little Green played smashmouth football, grinding out 72 plays for 339 yards over 34½ minutes of possession time.

“We had poor execution on offense (with penalties taking a 51-yard gain off the board and creating a long missed field goal attempt),” O’Reilly explained. “And we couldn’t get any continuity because we didn’t have the ball too long.”

Central hit on 10 of 16 third-down plays, including 6 of 9 in the crucial second half. A leaping 27-yard grab by Brett Parenteau on third-and-12 midway through the third quarter led to a 46-yard Cavanaugh TD run, also on third down. And Anthony Sedita’s savvy pass route collected 13 fourth-quarter yards on third-and-5, setting up a Daveon Watley 27-yard TD romp six plays later.

The Astros survived via a Zack Tulley fumble recovery on Central’s first possession and Verge’s interception at the Little Green 9 midway through the second quarter. But Central became unstoppable, posting its 24 points in a span of 11 minutes to hold off the Astros.

“This will show our guys what playoff football is all about,” said Central head coach Ryan Ray, who suffered his own key injury when standout Jake Tremblay was felled by a separated shoulder early in the game. “It’s a great wake-up call.”