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SALEM -- Even fullback Darren Brown admitted he was a touch surprised by his team’s aerial attack yesterday.

“We’ve had trouble with different things in the passing game all season,” said the senior. “But it sure worked today.”

SALEM — The moment Salem’s Jerickson Fedrick entered the end zone with 2:01 left to play in the game, the running back simply could not contain his excitement any longer.

“I gave a high-5 to a few kids on the sidelines I felt so good,” said the sophomore. “I don’t know how I would have reacted if we had lost, but we are back on top, just like we wanted to be.”

DERRY N.H. — This is not the way Pinkerton Academy wanted to go into the playoffs.

For the third time in four weeks, the Astros were unable to score more than two touchdowns as Nashua North dominated the second half and ran away with a 23-14 victory in the final game of the regular season. Pinkerton (5-5 overall, 5-3 Division I) will travel to top-seeded Salem in the semifinals next week. Nashua North (8-1, 7-1) qualified for the postseason for the first time in the school's six-year history and will play host to Manchester Central in the other semifinal.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Penalties at crucial times in the second half destroyed Pinkerton’s chances for a comeback victory against Manchester Central yesterday. The plethora of penalties included a 15-yard facemask and a roughing the kicker call that greatly aided a late scoring drive by the Little Green, who beat Pinkerton 21-10.   “Penalties killed us,” Pinkerton quarterback Ryan Simpson said. “That’s what lost us the game today. We stopped them and stopped them and then gave them chances right back to score.” The Astros trailed 14-10 late in the fourth quarter when the hosts went for a fourth-and-nine play from the Astros’ 29. Pinkerton wrapped up running back Mike Cavanaugh four yards short of the first down marker. But wait one second. A facemask penalty gave Manchester Central a first down at the 11. The Astros held tough and forced Manchester Central to kick a field goal four plays later. But the running-into-the kicker penalty gave Manchester Central yet another first down and it scored after the Astros got called for another penalty for having 12 men on the field. Cavanaugh said, “We watched film all week. We took three days of practice just to watch film on them so we really knew what they were doing.” Pinkerton also got flagged early in the fourth quarter with an illegal procedure and a holding penalty after driving to the 10-yard for a first-and-goal play. Those penalties forced the Astros to kick a field goal, which it missed.   Pinkerton was without running backs Eric Guinto and Kevin Davies who were out with concussions. “We came in and we thought we were going to win,” Simpson said. “We thought we were going to come back in the second half and just shut them out but we didn’t.”

DERRY — For the better part of three quarters, the upset seemed to be in reach.

Pinkerton had Brockton, the No. 2-ranked team in Eastern Mass., on the ropes, dominating the Boxers in the first half and leading by a touchdown late in the third quarter.

DERRY, N.H. — Pinkerton players were fired up and very rowdy in the locker room during halftime yesterday after scoring 14 points in the final 33.3 seconds of the first half.

CONCORD, N.H. — He has a name that just makes him sound like a superstar.
Pinkerton running back Emmitt Smith hasn’t received enough playing time this season to post stats like the all-time NFL rushing leader his parents named him after.
But the sophomore displayed some quickness and moves of his own when he returned a punt 64 yards for the Astros’ first touchdown just 1:14 into yesterday’s 35-10 rout of Concord.
Smith was named one of the starting punt returners because Jeff Guilherme was injured.
“I knew I was going to be a punt returner this week with the injuries and I was just hoping I’d get that chance and I know there was so much blocking on that,” Smith said. “I didn’t have to do that much but it felt good just to run that one back for the first time.”
Smith’s parents are originally from New York but they are not surprisingly Dallas Cowboy fans.
“My parents are diehard Cowboy fans,” said Smith who was born in 1994 during the NFL running back’s prime.
Pinkerton ran 46 times for 469 yards. Eleven different backs received carries.
Mike Mazzola ran five times for 170 yards and Kevin Davies ran five times for 87 yards to help Pinkerton build a 21-3 halftime lead.
Right after Eric Guinto’s 65-yard TD run was called back, Mazzola took a handoff 75 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.
“I said (to Guinto), ‘Sorry, man, I know that was yours,’” Mazzola joked. “We just called the next play and we said we had to score and we did.”
Mazzola added an 80-yard touchdown run 22 seconds into the second half to put his team ahead 28-3.
“Rainy night, it was tough to throw in the rain and we just wanted to try to establish the ground game and get on them early and empty the bench and for the most part we got that accomplished,” Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly said.

SALEM, N.H. - Back in August, folks around the Granite State chuckled at the thought of Salem High in Division 1. Nobody's laughing now, especially the folks up Route 28 in Derry. Before a boisterous homecoming crowd of about 1,000, Salem High decimated Pinkerton Academy, 24-7, to remain unbeaten at 4-0 and send a deafening message to any remaining doubters. "This is different, this is worse (than the season-opening rout by Bishop Guertin)," lamented a shell-shocked Brian O'Reilly after the undersized Devils tore the heart out of the Astros by winning the ground battle, 284-112. "This one, they dominated us. Whether it was Eric (Guinto) or anyone else, there were no holes to run through. Defensively, we were driven off the ball." The victory was only the second in 20 tries for Salem against Pinkerton Academy under O'Reilly, and it was extra special for coach Jack Gati, who posted win No. 100 at Salem. "Everyone underestimated us," said Salem sophomore Jerickson Fedrick. "They thought we were the same team from the past. They thought they were going to run over us. The past few years they've been beating us. We wanted it to be different this year." Salem pretty much called all the shots from the opening kick, shredding the Astros in pretty much every way to build a 17-0 halftime lead which went to 24-0 after three. Junior Max Jacques shouldered the bulk of the work with 27 carries for 145 yards, but anytime the Astros got too focused on Salem "5," the Fedrick (10 carries, 70 yards) and fullback Alex Sobrado (10-64) were more than willing to inflict a little pain. Rounding out the attack was solid QB play out of junior Matt Cannone, who clicking on 5 of 9 completions - including four chain-movers to reliable Kyle Henrick - for 53 yards. "(This shows) that we're the best team in our division," said Jacques, who pushed his area-leading rushing total to 560 yards on 83 carries. "We have a good offensive line, everyone works hard and we run the ball a lot. That's what we do."

DERRY, N.H. – After a failed first drive, Pinkerton looked for someone to set the rhythm for the day. And Eric Guinto was happy to oblige.

DERRY (NH) _ When you coach a perennial state title contender, opening the season with a 28-point defeat is something that can leave some scars. Pinkerton's Brian O'Reilly wanted to make sure it didn't turn into a lingering wound.