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Pinkerton's ground game crushes Goffstown

Friday, October, 25 By Jeff Hamrick

DERRY — When he's 64, chances are Matt Madden will remember the day he turned 18.

Yesterday was the Pinkerton senior's birthday and he sure had a good time, scoring three times and surpassing the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career, leading the Astros to a 56-21 victory over Goffstown.

"The funny thing is in eighth grade on my birthday, I got three touchdowns, too," said Madden, who finished with 101 yards. "That was my most memorable (birthday), but this is my final year so it's a special night.

"I told coach to give me the ball whenever he needed it, and I'd get the first down. Nobody was going to take me down because I wasn't going to go down easy."

Madden, who gained only 75 yards on 13 carries the first seven games, got the Astros (6-2) rolling with scoring runs of 2 and 10 yards. But while Goffstown (3-5) scored on three consecutive second-quarter possessions, Pinkerton managed only a 21-15 lead at the half.

The Astros, who gained all 432 of their yards on the ground, turned up the heat after intermission. T.J. Urbanik scored on a 32-yard run and a 45-yard punt return while Madden, Ryan Day and Michael Curley each had touchdown runs to power Pinkerton's rout.

"You have to give (the Grizzlies) credit," O'Reilly said. "They made us work defensively and they kept our offense off the field. They also limited our big plays ... but I wasn't looking for the big (gains) so we kept it between the tackles a lot and we wore them down in the second half."

Leading rusher Manny Latimore was held to 17 yards on his first eight carries, but still finished with a game-high 178 yards on 21 rushes.

Goffstown, meanwhile, had only 188 total yards, which included 55 yards on 24 passing attempts. The Grizzlies averaged less than six yards on their 10 completions.