A week after earning the first playoff victory in the program’s short history, the Hillsboro-Deering-Hopkinton football team suffered its first playoff defeat.
The No.4 Redhawks concluded a stellar season Saturday with a 42-13 loss in the Division III semifinals to the undefeated top-ranked Monadnock Huskies in Swanzey.
The Redhawks finish the season at 7-4, with half of those losses coming to the Huskies (11-0), who will play No. 3 Campbell (9-2) – an 8-0 winner over No. 7 Stevens – for the D-III title on Saturday at the University of New Hampshire’s Wildcat Stadium starting at 11 a.m.
HDH beat Lebanon in the quarterfinals last week, but Monadnock proved to be too tough. The Redhawks were stuffed for zero yards on 13 rushing attempts, while quarterback Mike Oberheim was 10 of 25 passing for 134 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Caleb Yianakopolos led HDH with 76 yards from scrimmage and hauled in a TD from Oberheim. Colby Quiet (24 yards), Jack Morrall (24 yards) and Jack Horne (19 yards) each reeled in two passes.
Vincent Waddell led the defensive effort with eight solo tackles and 19 assists. Reed Tanuvasa (five assists, half sack) caused and forced a fumble, while Yianakopolos also forced a fumble. Thayer Maughan, Kevin McCaffrey and Alex Brown were also defensive contributors for the Redhawks.