By Roger Brown
MaxPreps.com
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No New Hampshire football coach has won more games or more championships than Rod Wotton, who added one of each when St. Thomas Aquinas defeated Laconia, 21-3, Saturday in the Division IV championship game.
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It was victory No. 317 and championship No. 21 for Wotton, who won 17 of those titles while he was the head coach at Marshwood High School in Eliot, Maine. His overall record is now 317-65-3.
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It was an improbable ending to the season, since the Saints (8-3) were the fourth seed and dropped a 26-0 decision to Laconia earlier this year.
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"We come into the season looking to be one of the top four, then you play from there," Wotton said. "It's justice to people who said we didn't belong here."
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St. Thomas forced seven turnovers (five interceptions) and received two touchdown passes from quarterback Ryan Gould to split end Matt McLaughlin. The Saints' other TD came on a 29-yard run by halfback Mike Barr in the fourth quarter.
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Second-seeded Laconia (9-2) made it a 7-3 game on Beniz Celebic's 31-yard field goal with 1:59 left in the second quarter, but the Sachems were held to 40 yards of net offense in the second half.
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Sam Foster came up with two of his team's five interceptions, and Nate Howard recovered two Laconia fumbles.
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Wotton also guided St. Thomas to the Division IV championship in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
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"We were lucky to even be in the playoffs," Gould said. "Nobody expected us to win."
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The state's most successful program in the last decade added to that success when top-seeded Plymouth defeated third-seeded Portsmouth, 35-20, in Saturday's Division III championship game.
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It was Plymouth's eighth Division III championship in the last 10 years and its 14th title overall.
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"When we go in to pick up our equipment, our goal is to have a state championship when we return it at the end of the season," Plymouth halfback Spencer Dauer said. "That's what we set our eyes on at the beginning of the season. It's what we practice for every single day."
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Dauer had two 9-yard touchdown runs, and Plymouth quarterback Sean Boyle added TD runs of 34 and 67 yards. Shawn Sweeney rushed for 116 yards and scored Plymouth's other touchdown on an 8-yard run.
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Plymouth (11-0) led 14-13 at halftime, but outscored Portsmouth (8-3) 21-0 in the third quarter.
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Senior tailback Rod Walker scored both Portsmouth touchdowns on runs of 1 and 42 yards.
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"As I told the team earlier, the farther you go into this the more it hurts (when you lose) - that goes for coaches as well as players," Portsmouth coach Bill Murphy said. "The better team won today and my hat's off to them."
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Football: Title Matchups Set
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The state's three other football championships will be decided Saturday, when top-seeded Pinkerton Academy (10-0) meets third-seeded Salem (7-3) in Division I; top-seeded Exeter (10-0) faces second-seeded Bishop Guertin (9-1) in Division II; and top-seeded Bishop Brady (10-0) plays second-seeded Franklin (9-1) in Division V.
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Pinkerton and Bishop Brady are each seeking back-to-back titles. Bishop Guertin will be attempting to win its third consecutive championship.
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Boys Soccer: Pittsfield May be Penalized
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The Pittsfield boys soccer program may be handed a one-year suspension or a more severe punishment after several unsportsmanlike incidents occurred during the team's 3-0 loss to Lisbon in the Class S championship game.
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The game was called with 12 minutes remaining because of rough play shortly after a Lisbon player suffered a fractured leg. Three Pittsfield players and one Lisbon player were ejected from the contest.
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Officials are investigating reports that a Pittsfield player was physically restrained by teammates as he swore at a referee, and that fans taunted the injured Lisbon player while he was waiting to be loaded into an ambulance.
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"It was probably the lowest point of my career in terms of seeing inappropriate behavior and just poor sportsmanship," Patrick Corbin, the executive director of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association, said.
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Corbin said the suspension may not be limited to the school's boys soccer program, and that Pittsfield could receive an indefinite suspension from the NHIAA.
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A fight broke out in last season's Class S championship game between Pittsfield and Woodsville.