AMHERST – John Stark Regional High School’s football team has had a season of ups and downs, and that journey came to an end in Saturday’s NHIAA Division II quarterfinal.
The No. 7 Generals (5-5) were undermanned from the start, playing without their starting quarterback and some others following their hard-fought regular-season finale over ConVal, and Souhegan’s defense had an interception, fumble recovery and 11 tackles for loss as the No. 2 Sabers (10-0) shut out John Stark, 41-0.
The Souhegan defensive line won most of the battles in the trenches in a physical game that sent multiple Generals to the sideline with injuries, decreasing their numbers even further.
“We were running low on depth and playing with the injury bug after a hard game with ConVal,” said John Stark head coach John Daley. “We don’t have a bench, we didn’t have enough.”
Despite being shorthanded, the Generals forced a turnover on downs on Souhegan’s first possession and kept the Sabers off the board in the first quarter.
Junior Baker Telgen had his first start under center after starting quarterback Jack Sheppard was diagnosed with an injury following the ConVal game. Telgen was 1-for-7 passing in his first varsity start, completing an 8-yard pass to senior halfback Cooper Twombly.
“He took some snaps at the JV level and took a couple snaps early in the season (against Milford on Sept. 25),” Daley said. “He did everything I asked him to today.”
Souhegan junior Cole Brandt ran in a 13-yard touchdown with 10:03 left in the first half to open the scoring and caught a 15-yard pass from senior quarterback Luke Fallon later in the quarter. Senior running back Jacob Bryan scored on a 6-yard run to give the Sabers a 21-0 lead at halftime.
Telgen led the offense to some first downs, but was picked off by Souhegan senior Liam Bright in the second quarter. Just two plays later, John Stark senior Dawson Palmer forced a fumble which fellow senior William Arnold III recovered to give the Generals the ball back, just three plays after losing possession.
John Stark showed more signs of life and threatened to score before halftime when senior lineman Phineas Twomey faked a punt on fourth and 10 at his own 40, tossing a pass to Twombly for 14 yards. The Generals marched to the 25 with 14 seconds left in the half and Telgen threw some passes that would put John Stark in the end zone, but Bright forced and recovered a fumble on the final play of the half.
Bright caught a 67 yard touchdown pass, breaking a tackle after the reception and running 30 more yards to the end zone, on the first play of the third quarter to make it 28-0. Sophomore Owen Mobley caught Fallon’s third touchdown pass of the day later in the third quarter and junior Cam Foley ran in a 33 yarder in the fourth to complete the scoring.
Fallon finished the game 15-for-21 with 254 passing yards, with Bright (86 yards on three catches), junior Kobe Morin (63 yards on four catches) and Brandt (56 yards on four catches) as his top targets. Foley led the Saber run game with 64 yards on five carries.
Twombly had 56 yards on 25 carries and Palmer had 32 yards on four carries to lead John Stark’s offense, while Palmer and Arnold III each had a tackle for loss. Seniors Camden Towles and Noah Patenaude teamed up for a sack.
Although the playoff run was short-lived, it was still an exciting season for the Generals with plenty of drama. John Stark won its final three games and four of its last five, just to make it to the postseason. Three of the Generals’ five wins were decided by three points or less. John Stark punched its ticket to the playoffs with a 28-27 victory over ConVal when the Cougars missed an extra point kick at the end of the game.
“We had a season of ups and downs,” Daley said. “It’s my first year here, they’re still getting used to me, our system, our program. And I had to learn how to use them effectively. The coolest part of this football team this season was how we won games. It was never pretty. It was a blocked extra point, a PAT from (far) out, a 50 yard field goal could be the difference maker.”
The team also saw the emergence of Twombly as a top playmaker in the division. Twombly ended the regular season second in D-II in receiving yards (610) and No. 4 in rushing yards (1,112).
“Once we shifted him to halfback, because he was slot, he didn’t start playing halfback until week 5,” Daley said. “Most of those numbers came in the last four games of the season. He made stuff happen. The big guys up front figured out I just need to hold my block for half a step and then Cooper’s gone. We found a recipe, unfortunately halfway through the season, that worked.”
Saturday was Twombly’s final football game as a General. He is one of the team’s 18 seniors. Twombly is one of four senior captains, alongside Towles, Arnold III and lineman Parker Hamel.
Daley also highlighted the play of linebackers Arnold III, Palmer and junior Connor McDaniel.
“If I told them to run through a brick wall, they’d say “Yes, coach,” and make every attempt to do it,” Daley said. “Great group of (seniors). They had a lot of heart and were willing to learn as fast as they could. I was just telling them, the only bummer was that I only had one year with them. They’re a great group of guys.”