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Alvirne stuns Timberlane, 26-13

Friday, November, 07 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

PLAISTOW, N.H. — Instead of flying into the Division 2 playoffs, Timberlane laid an egg last night.

The Owls (7-3) were dominated most of the way in a 26-13 setback to an Alvirne team (5-5) playing with much more urgency.

With the victory, Alvirne reached .500 for the first time since 1999 and kept alive the faintest of playoff hopes.

“We wanted to reach .500, we wanted to win it for our seniors and we told them. ‘Give us a chance’ for the playoffs,” said Alvirne coach Bob Nimblett. “We feel we’ve been competitive all year, and let a couple of games get away from us, but we were ready tonight.”

Alvirne took a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, held standout Timberlane back to 58 yards on 17 carries, and outgained the Owls 369-195. Ahead 12-6 at halftime, the Broncos allowed just two first downs in the second half.

“Obviously, going into the playoffs, you’re hoping to play your best football and we didn’t do that,” said Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald. “They played inspired football and we didn’t come to play for three and a half quarters.”

Turnovers didn’t help, either. Denied on its first possession despite driving 64 yards to the Timberlane 19, Alvirne scored late in the first quarter, following an interception, on a 1-yard run by Keith Rondeau (30 carries, 151 yards) and made it 12-0 in the second quarter four plays after recovering a Timberlane fumble on the 16.

Trailing 12-0, Timberlane narrowed the gap on its best drive of the day, of 65 yards, that was capped by a 4-yard Furey TD run.

A 49-yard run by Alvirne quarterback Chris Goldsack on a 3rd-and-1 sneak made it 20-6 early in the third quarter, and Timberlane wasn’t able to score until there was 3:48 left in the game on a beautiful 28-yard scoring strike from Erik Hatton to Josh Saffie.

And that proved too little, too late, as Rondeau clinched the win with a 67-yard scamper with 27 seconds left to play.

Timberlane’s running game was stifled almost all night and the only other offensive play of significance in the second half was a 52-yard pass-and-run from Hatton to Furey.

Defensively, linebacker Jordan Regan was in on 14 tackles and had a strong overall game, but he didn’t get much support.

“We have to play better next week, and we don’t have much time, but I think we’ll be ready,” said Fitzgerald.