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PELHAM —Monadnock, compared to other opponents, gave Pelham a bit of a test Friday night.

The host Pythons only led 20-8 at halftime before pulling away in the third quarter for a 40-8 victory.Still, the 32-point difference was the narrowest of the season.

Pelham faced its first true challenge of the fall, but the Pythons still punched their ticket to the state title game.
Kevin Bodenrader broke an 80-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left that proved to be the winning score, and Pelham rebounded after allowing a late score to hold off Monadnock 14-10 in the Division 3 state semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
The undefeated Pythons (7-0) advance to the Division 3 state title game, and will take on Stevens on Saturday. The time and location are TBA.
“I’m proud of the team for the hard fought victory,” said Pelham coach Tom Babaian. “This game was a defensive struggle, but we were able to eventually break some long runs for our two scores. Defensively, we were able to step up and make the stops we needed to make in critical situations, particularly on fourth down situations and the fourth-and-goal situation in the third quarter.”
Pelham took the lead in the first quarter on a 61-yard TD run by Jake Herrling.
After Monadnock cut into the advantage with a safety in the third, the Pythons made it 14-2 on Bodenrader’s TD run.
Monadnock struck for a late score, but Pelham twice forced the Huskies to turn the ball over on downs in the second half, including a goal-line stand.
The Pythons will next play for their first state title since winning back-to-back Division 5 titles in 2007-08.
“Next week’s game is for the title,” said Babaian, “so we need to understand that we have to be at our absolute best throughout the week of practice and carry that mentality and focus into the game.”

Wyatt Linville scored twice, including the game-winner, as Sanborn nipped Monadnock 3-2 in boys soccer.  

No. 3 Pelham fell to No. 6 Monadnock 6-5 in the New Hampshire Division 3 boys lacrosse quarterfinals. The Pythons finished the season 12-2.

Sanborn boys soccer may have been the last team to make the cut in the N.H. Division 3 boys soccer tournament, but the No. 17 seeded Indians were the first to advance, coming from behind to beat No. 16 seed Monadnock 2-1 in the first round play-in game. Monadnock scored 25 minutes in to lead 1-0 at halftime, but Austin Kalinowski and Wyatt Linville scored in the second half to get the win. Sanborn (7-9-1) will now face top seeded and undefeated Derryfield in the second round.

Pelham field hockey stunned No. 1 seeded Monadnock 2-1 in double OT, with Emily Bevens scoring the game-winner. Shannon Morin scored the first goal for the Pythons, who will face No. 2 seed Gilford in the Division 3 championship game on Sunday at noon at Bedford High.

Pelham's softball team won its fifth straight game, 11-0 over Monadnock. Olivia Crowley and Sarah Ratcliffe both had three hits and scored twice.

After the tough home loss to Conant, Pelham High got right back on track with a 55-41 win over Monadnock. Keith Brown delivered 25 points, and Cam Deloreto chipped in 19 for the winners.

SWANZEY — Windham pulled out a dramatic 22-19 win over Monadnock on Friday, taking the lead with 1:10 to play before holding the Huskies at the goal line on four straight plays to clinch the win. Trailing 19-14 with under two minutes, the Jaguars drove down the field and pulled ahead on an 18-yard touchdown run by Ben Emrick. Emrick then hit Kyle Adamson on the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game. Following the ensuing kickoff, however, Monadnock picked up several key completions to drive down to the Windham 10 yard line, but Windham held on thanks to some big defensive stops by Victor Pizzotti, Matt Shea and Jay Giles to finish the game. Emrick led Windham with 102 yards rushing on 11 carries, Corey Kneeland had 70 yards rushing and Shane Lafond had 64 yards. Nearly all of Lafond and Kneeland's yardage came on single plays in which the two broke for touchdown runs of 60 and 69 yards in the first quarter. Windham is now 7-1 and has clinched a spot in the state tournament.