HOPKINTON – Perhaps, for all the time spent wondering what adjustments the Bow football team had to make to Division II, the question should have been the other way around.
Maybe it’s Division II that has to start adjusting to the Falcons.
It’s hard to come to a different conclusion based on what September has had to offer. Bow looked just as deep, versatile and formidable Saturday afternoon as it did in its opening win, trampling Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton, 42-6, at Hopkinton’s Houston Field.
Bow ran at will and crushed the Redhawks’ ground game, following the script of its 42-0 victory over Pembroke last week, and this time added throwing the football to a bag of tricks that so far looks as effective against a new tier of competition as it did during the Falcons’ D-III days.
“We were able to settle down and take command,” said Bow Coach Paul Cohen, whose team broke open what was a scoreless tie after the first quarter with 28 straight points. “From then on, it was pretty much us. They had a lot of difficulty answering anything that we were able to do on either side of the ball.
“We’ve scored 70-some points in two weeks. That says it all, right there.”
Once again, the theme of Bow’s victory was domination along the line. The Falcons (2-0) blew up blocks and stuffed the Redhawks’ talented backs, never letting H-D/H (1-1) sustain enough of a drive to challenge the mounting lead.
There was one miscue – Henry Yianakopolos (six carries, 73 yards) broke free from tacklers for a 67-yard run with 4:56 left in the third quarter, making the score 28-6. Aside from that, Redhawk ballcarriers ran 24 times for 32 yards.
“The bottom line today, they beat us up,” H-D/H Coach Jay Wood said. “They punched us right in the mouth, on offense and defense. Their line was just boom, boom, boom, very physcical. That’s where the game ended.”
It transferred into the passing game. Nate Alford routinely got himself into quarterback Caleb Yianakopolos’s face, tipping a pair of passes for interceptions, one for himself and one for teammate Andrew Berube.
“It felt great. I love the work we put in, it all pays off on the field,” Alford said of the line’s performance. “It’s exciting to make plays. You envision those. … I was happy to be there, glad to have the opportunity.”
It was the same story on offense. Bow rushers ran 49 times for 267 yards – 125 of them going on 15 carries to Jack Corriveau, who scored the Falcons’ first two touchdowns on a 2-yard dive and 37-yard jaunt. He added a third in the final minute of the third quarter when a Bow fumble near the goal line bounced straight to him in the end zone, increasing the lead to 35-6.
“It wasn’t possible without the line,” he said. “I told the line before the game, ‘You give us five yards of blocking, we’re going to double it in yards.’ We ran the same play like 10 times, and it was all because of the line.”
Cohen saved some of the credit for his junior halfback.
“He’s very, very elusive,” he said. “He just has an innate ability, and you really can’t coach that. You can show them what you want them to do, but especially at the high school level, they either have that or they don’t have it. Fortunately for us, Jack does have it.”
When the Redhawks doubled down on their efforts to stop the Bow ground attack, the Falcons had the answer for that as well. Long a program that would play whole games without trying a pass, Bow got eight completions on 12 attempts for 87 yards from quarterback Matt Harkins, many of them keeping drives alive.
A 7-yard screen on 4th-and-4 to Alford set up Corriveau’s first score, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Harkins to Mac Kimball with 6:08 to go in the third followed up Mark Borak’s 5-yard touchdown run, and a beautiful rollout pass hit Corriveau in stride for 51 yards to pave the way for Justin Mooney’s 1-yard run with 6:51 to play, the final score of the game.
“Over the past several years, we’ve had that ‘Oh, Bow’s ground-and-pound, that’s all they can do,’ ” Cohen said. “I think we have shown anybody who was watching today, if you only assume that we’re going to blast right, blast left, that is on your peril. We have a stable of running backs, we also have a stable of receivers.”
A skeptic of the Falcons’ success would point out the competition, specifically that the wins came against a Pembroke team that’s struggled in recent years and a fledgling H-D/H program playing its first season as an NHIAA varsity team.
But this is the same Redhawks team that thumped Manchester West, 34-0, last week and had already shown promise at competing in D-II, even if Saturday had a humbling effect.
“I told the kids, ‘Don’t worry about it. Bury it. We’re going to win some games,’ ” Wood said. “We shot ourselves in the foot offensively big time with inopportune timing of penalties and whatnot, especially on our first series.”
Wood also didn’t downplay the teaching value of a loss like Saturday’s as his players get used to the varsity climate.
“They’re going to see it on tape,” he said. “It’s all the technique, and they’ll see it again. Hopefully we get better and we progress.”
There’s not much higher Bow can go – only another opponent Friday in Gilford-Belmont, against which it can continue to prove its place in the new division.
“These guys can hold their heads up and puff their chests out just a little bit more, because this is now second victory,” Cohen said. “I tell them ‘For now, you guys are kings of the mountain. So enjoy Saturday and Sunday. But Monday, reality smacks you in the face and it’s time to prepare.’ ”
(Drew Bonifant can be reached at 369-3340, abonifant@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @dbonifant.)
John Stark 42, Gilford-Belmont 0
Key players: John Stark – Drew McQuarrie (7-for-10 passing, 110 yards, 2 TD; 8 carries, 50 yards rushing, 2 TD); Kyle Booker (6 carries, 30 yards, 2 TD; interception return TD); Leif Mailloux (5 receptions, 40 yards, TD); Jack Glew (kicker and punter, 4 kicks into the endzone)
Highlights/key moments: The Generals’ offense started strong quickly, taking a 21-0 first quarter lead and a 42-0 lead at halftime.
Records: John Stark 2-0; G-B 0-2
Kearsarge 47, Franklin 34
Key players:Kearsarge – Justin Norris (5 rushing TD, 1 passing TD), Noah Tucker (8 tackles); Franklin – Taryn Laramie, Lucas Ford
Highlights/key moments: The Golden Tornadoes took a 21-0 lead early on, but injuries to key players in the second quarter hurt Franklin’s depth and the Cougars made some adjustments to cut their deficit to 28-21 at halftime.
Coaches’ quotes: “Very proud of the resilience our kids showed. A lesser group of men would have hung their heads after a terrible start. We just kept digging and found a way.” – Kearsarge’s Zach Matthews
Records: Kearsarge 1-1; Franklin 1-1
Newport 36, Winnisquam 0
Highlights/key moments: The Bears had a tough time against the defending champions. The Tigers are undefeated so far this season.
Records: Newport 2-0; Winnisquam 1-1
Hanover 53, Merrimack Valley 29
Key players: MV – Evan Martin (112 rush yards, TD, 100 yard kickoff return TD), Mike Smith (10 tackle, 2 assists), Matt Jarvis (10 tackles, 3 assists), JJ Johnston (5 tackles, 4 assists), Josh Farmer (6 tackles, blocked PAT)
Highlights/key moments: The Marauders offensive line dominated the Pride’s defensive line, allowing Hanover to control possession and the clock in Friday night’s game.
Records: Hanover 2-0; MV 0-2
John Stark 2, Pelham 0
Key players: John Stark – Ryan Reynolds (goal), Griffin Caswell (assist), Lawson Murphy (assist), Evan Caswell (goal), Isaiah Lovering
Highlights/key moments: The Generals got on the board 13 minutes into the game off a well struck shot by Nelson. Stark controlled play for most of the first half, but didn’t score until the second half when Caswell scored off a long range shot that hit the far post and bounced in to complete the scoring in Friday night’s game.
Coach’s quote: “We did a nice job controlling play today despite a small and bumpy field. A little frustrating we didn’t finish our chances but I have no doubt we’ll start finishing them soon. It’s been a good week for us, two wins both by shutouts. The team is playing well and we continue to improve each game.” – John Stark’s Jeff Vogt
Records: John Stark 3-1-0; Pelham 0-3-1
Oyster River 3, Coe-Brown 2
Key players: Coe-Brown – Corbin LeBlanc (2 goals), Ethan Barbeau (assist), Alex Gray (assist), Don MacCallum, Mike Mulligan, Mitchell Wade (played well)
Highlights/key moments: The Bears took a 1-1 tie into halftime, but couldn’t keep up with the Bobcats in the second half en route to suffering their first loss.
Records: Coe-Brown 4-1; Oyster River 3-0
Pittsfield 2, Canaan-Pittsburg 0
Key players: Pittsfield – Cam Darrah (2 goals), Matt George (assist), Garrett Guerrero-Hadley (assist)
Highlights/key moments: Darrah scored goals in the 33rd and 77th minutes to lift the Panthers to their second win of the season on Friday night.
Records: Pittsfield 2-1-1; C-P 0-5-0
Coe-Brown first
Key players:Coe-Brown – Evan Tanguay (1st), Zach Richards (3rd), Davio DeLuca (5th), River Groves (6th), Tanner Richards (7th); Pembroke – Jason Schoeller (13th), Josh Crandall (31st), Ryan Burns (32nd), Ben Prescott (33rd), Steven Schoeller (38th)
Highlights/key moments: Tanguay defended his home course with a time of 17:25 and Coe-Brown runners claimed fifth-11th place giving the Bears individual and team titles in their homecoming race. Coe-Brown’s score (22) decisively bested Kennett (42), Portsmouth (93) and Pembroke (94).
Coach Korcoulis Invitational
Key players:Belmont – Nick Randos (10th), Ian Remenar (13th), Isaiah Knowlton (42nd), Aidan Rupp (59th), Connor Jackson (65th); Bow – Robert Ciotti (24th), Caleb Olson (35th), Sam Berube (36th), Sam Selleck (40th), Samuel Neff (46th); Hopkinton – Simon Doneski (5th), Kayl Murdough (54th), Shepyrd Murdough (59th), Caleb Wando (67th), Joe Sawitsky (72nd); Pelham – Cameron Starr (1st, 17:13)
Highlights/key moments: Doneski (18:09) was the top local runner in the field of 78 runners, but Bow was the top local team at the 12-team Coach Korcoulis Invitational at Hollis-Brookline. Oyster River (52), Mascenic (84) and Pelham (96) were the top three teams. Bow (181) and Belmont (187) finished seventh and eighth respectively while Hopkinton (252) finished 10th.
Girls’ Cross Country
Coe-Brown first
Key players:Coe-Brown – Alli Pratt (1st), Eleanor McDonough (2nd), Sarah Dupuis (3rd), Abigail O’Connor (4th), Hannah Daly (5th); Pembroke – Avery Gamache (33rd), Amanda Montminy (40th), Stephanie Berube (47th), Julia Valotto (64th), Taylor Beaudoin (67th)
Highlights/key moments: Senior Pratt defended her home course in a time of 20:22 and led the Bears in a top five sweep. Coe-Brown had a perfect score of 15 and won both individual and team titles in the Bears’ homecoming race. Kennett (46), Portsmouth (71) and Pembroke (120) rounded out the team scores.
Coach Korcoulis Invitational
Key players:Hopkinton – Emma Rothe (11th), Sydney Stockwell (12th), Lily Sabol (32nd), Emily Ehrmanntraut (55th), Ella Whipps (61st); Bow – Sohani Demian (15th), Olivia Krause (26th), Nandita Kasireddy (35th), Sarah Ciotti (46th), Emma Conley (52nd); Belmont – Alice Riley (4th), Alexus Day (27th); Milford – Alex Matsis (1st, 20:21)
Highlights/key moments: Riley’s time of 21:20 was the best time among local runners and freshman Rothe (22:10) and Stockwell (22:15) both finished in the top 12, leading Hopkinton to sixth out of 10 teams in a meet held at Hollis-Brookline. The Hawks had the best finish of any local team. ConVal (63), Oyster River (68) and Campbell (109) were the top three teams while Hopkinton (157) and Bow (163) finished sixth and seventh.