Roger Brown
MaxPreps.com
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Upsets were the theme during the first weekend of postseason football.
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Fourth-seeded St. Thomas knocked off top-seeded Somersworth, 14-10, in the Division IV semifinals; and third-seeded Portsmouth beat Milford, 32-0, in the Division III semifinals.
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St. Thomas trailed 10-7 until Mike Barr scored on a 1-yard run with 1:11 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Saints (7-3) prevailed despite committing four turnovers.
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St. Thomas, which was the only team that beat Somersworth (8-2) during the regular season, will face second-seeded Laconia (9-1) in the Division IV championship game Saturday (1 p.m.). Laconia advanced by beating third-seeded Hanover (7-3), 17-14 in overtime.
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Laconia beat St. Thomas 26-0 during the regular season.
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"They handled us pretty good, but we didn't come to play football at all that day," St. Thomas coach Rod Wotton said. "I'm expecting a totally different football game."
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Portsmouth ended its regular season with a 10-7 loss to Milford, but dominated the Spartans in the rematch. The Clippers scored 19 points in the second quarter, and forced five turnovers (four interceptions).
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ÿPortsmouth received two touchdown runs from 270-pound fullback Reed Spiller.
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"Those (the touchdowns) don't matter to me," Spiller said. "I'm just a glorified guard."
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Defensive back Rod Walker had two of Portsmouth's four interceptions. Walker also ran for a touchdown and threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Sam Cote. Quarterback Ben Smith scored Portsmouth's other touchdown on a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter.
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"The kids did what they were supposed to do - they played hard the entire game," Portsmouth coach Bill Murphy said.
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Portsmouth (8-2) will face top-seeded Plymouth (10-0) in Saturday's Division III championship game. Plymouth quarterback Sean Boyle passed for 113 yards and a touchdown to help the Bobcats beat fourth-seeded Souhegan, 21-9, in the semifinals. Souhegan completed its season with a 6-4 record.
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Plymouth, which beat Portsmouth 14-7 during the regular season, has won seven of the last nine Division III championships. Portsmouth will be making its first appearance in a championship game since 1984, when it lost to Nashua (now Nashua South) in the Division I title game.
Playoffs begin in Division I, Division II and Division V on Saturday with the following matchups:
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Division I: Fourth-seeded Londonderry (6-3) at top-seeded Pinkerton (9-0), and third-seeded Salem (6-3) at second-seeded Manchester Central (7-2).
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Division II: Fourth-seeded Spaulding (5-4) at top-seeded Exeter (9-0), and third-seeded Timberlane (6-3) at top-seeded Bishop Guertin (8-1).
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Division V: Fourth-seeded Campbell (5-4) at top-seeded Bishop Brady (9-0), and third-seeded Pelham (7-2) at second-seeded Franklin (8-1).
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Soccer: Exeter Boys, Girls Claim Titles
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Tricia Tufts scored with 17:41 left in the first half to help the Exeter girls defeat Merrimack, 1-0, in Sunday's Class L championship game. It's the first state title in the program's history.
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Later in the day the Exeter boys received a goal from Sergio Guindon with 15:40 remaining in the second half and hung on to beat Pinkerton, 1-0. Exeter has won four Class L championships in the last six years.
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St. Thomas, Gilford and Wilton-Lyndeborough also won girls soccer championships last weekend. St. Thomas defeated John Stark 1-0 in Class I, Gilford beat Raymond 3-2 in Class M, and Wilton-Lyndeborough knocked off Derryfield 1-0 in Class S.
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Lisbon beat Pittsfield 3-0 to win the Class S boys title in a game that was called with 12 minutes remaining because of rough play.
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The Class I and Class M boys soccer championship games each ended in a tie Sunday. Those titles will be determined Wednesday. Hanover will face Lebanon at Nashua's Stellos Stadium (4:30 p.m.) for the Class I championship, and Gilford and Hopkinton will meet at Merrimack Valley High School (5 p.m.) to decide the Class M title.
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Volleyball: Salem Completes Sweep
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Salem, Gilford and Nute won this year's girls volleyball championships. Salem beat Bishop Guertin 3-1 in the Division I final; Gilford beat Somersworth 3-2 in Division II; and Nute beat Sunapee 3-2 in Division III.
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Salem also won this year's boys volleyball championship.