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Pinkerton locks up No. 1 playoff seed

DERRY, N.H. — Pinkerton Academy gives you so many worries offensively, maybe opponents let the other Astro aspects slip through the cracks.

Yesterday, with its playoff life on the line, Manchester Central had a little something brewing in the second half at Pinkerton.

But the Little Green — superb on offense and solid enough on defense — just didn't dot the I's or cross the T's, allowing second-half kick return TDs to Pinkerton's Manny Latimore and Emmitt Smith as the Astros prevailed, 49-28.

With the win, Pinkerton locks down the top seed in the upcoming state playoffs, locks up a postseason spot for Salem and locks out the Little Green of any of the fun.

"This puts us in a great place," said Latimore. "First seed, home for the playoffs, and hopefully the state championship, too. It's where we wanted to be."

Manny being Manny, the sophomore Latimore scooped up a squibber a the Pinkerton 19, reversed right and accelerated away from everyone to squelch the Central excitement after the Green had sliced the margin to 28-21 with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

"I didn't think it would be there, but the open hole was there," said Latimore. "I needed that one block, and Sean Conroy got it for me. I just read it and went."

Central had one more gasp, marching right back through the air 58 for a 17-yard Riley Cote to Junior Brown scoring connection, but the Astros did it again.

This time, the senior Smith into a logjam, but backed out and raced to the right flank, speeding 79 yards for the kick-six and the final back-breaker.

Pinkerton had plenty of success offensively as well on the ground. Kevin Davies (16-142) and Smith (15-159) accounted for the major chunks of ground, but QB Matt St. Onge (5-31, 1 TD) joined in the fun as well.

Freshman Ryan Day, filling on on PAT duty for the injured Coombs, was a perfect 7 for 7 in kicks.

Defensively, Pinkerton struggled in the passing game, allowing Cote to throw for 185 yards and three TDs.
It's the second time in three weeks that Pinkerton, which played without starter Ryan Coombs (knee) in the secondary, was carved up through the air.

Does that worry the Astros?

"Sure it does. Not having Coombs out there didn't help either," said Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly. "It's high school football. If you can beat us thrugh the air, fine. High school football is about running the ball. We have to stop the run first and then we'll play pass."

Pinkerton closes out the regular season at Memorial next week before hosting the state semis in 13 days against Salem.

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Pinkerton pair plows to 1,000-yard plateau

While Pinkerton Academy coach Brian O’Reilly would prefer not to think about statistics, even he couldn’t smother yesterday’s accomplishment in the 49-28 win over Manchester Central.

Both senior captains, Kevin Davies and Emmitt Smith topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season in the victory.

“It’s a really nice 1-2 combo to have,” said O’Reilly, whose defending state champs locked down the top seed in the upcoming playoffs with the win. “They’ve answered the bell, and then some as seniors.  Emmitt was sporadic doing some great things last year, and Kevin did big things at the end of last year, but they are both dominating this season.”

Smith carried 15 times for 159 yards, making it 88 for 1,130 on the year. Davies bulled his way for 162 yards on 16 rushes to raise his season mark to 1,082 on 115 tries.