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Pinkerton, starting at 112 pounds with a 23-second pin by surging freshman David Owens, built up a 40-0 lead over Exeter and held on for a 40-24 victory. Cam Jaworski (119), Will Cordeau (130) and Colin Crowell (135) also had first-period pins for the Astros (10-3).

Kyle D'Urso's pin at 140 turned the tide for Londonderry, which had been struggling against Exeter in the early goings, and the Lancers ended up cruising to a 51-25 victory. Corbin Kennedy (189), Tom Manley (215) and Kevin Handy (heavyweight) all won by pin to secure the victory and improve Londonderry to 9-1.

Eighth-seeded Pinkerton excelled on the counterattack for most of its Class L state championship game against defending champions Exeter. Unfortunately, there was no chance to answer the game-winner.

Rachel Gratton struck in the fifth minute of overtime for third-seeded Exeter, lifting the Blue Hawks to their second straight state title, 2-1.

EXETER, N.H. — Haverhill was hoping to spoil Exeter's Senior Night festivities but the Blue Hawks made sure that wouldn't happen.

The Blue Hawks' punishing ground game tore up the Hillies' defense, racking up 334 yards on the ground, en route to a 38-18 interstate victory.

Third-seeded Londonderry fell to No. 4 Exeter, the defending state champions, 1-0 in a hard-fought game that was won with just 12 minutes to go in regulation.

"It's really hard," said coach Jim Tremblay. "We have a team that certainly, as a seasonal goal, had the championship in mind. We lost to Exeter 1-0 in the regular season, and we hoped for a different outcome this time, and changed up our strategy slightly.

No. 4 Pinkerton jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first half and cruised to a 3-1 victory over No. 5 Exeter in the quarterfinals of the Class L tourney.

"They play their offense high on the field," said Pinkerton coach Denise Rioux. "So we turned that into a lot of fast breaks and number rushes, and it worked out perfectly for us." Devan Shea, Jackie Benson and Brittany Paris each scored a goal while Nikki Curry added an assist. Julie Medeiros made six saves for the winners, who face Salem on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Bedford High School.

Corey Grant headed home a cross pass from Omar Khartabil for the game's lone goal as Pinkerton stayed perfect (12-0) following a 1-0 win over Exeter. Junior keeper Chris Doyle made eight saves to post his fifth shutout of the season.

PLAISTOW, N.H. | Watching Exeter football is rarely exciting, but the Blue Hawks' fans could care less.

Exeter's grind-it-out attack, largely carried out with a full-house backfield similar to Salem, pounded Timberlane in a convincing 28-0 Division 2 victory last night.