They say if you don’t like the New England weather, wait a while. That’s apparently what the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association has done with its baseball and softball schedules.

Both sports have been given an extra week to play games, and the softball tournament in all classes have been delayed for a full week.

That wasn’t the case with baseball, which was already planning to play its four titles games on June 14 and June 15 at MerchantsAuto.com field in Manchester, which wasn’t available the week before.

Pushing back the schedule has eliminated the problem of huge gaps between games, some over a week, in the previous baseball tournament schedules. But whenever you play any games in mid-June, you’re sure to have conflicts.

"We have graduation on June 14 at the Verizon, and so does Alvirne and Nashua North,’’ Londonderry athletic director Mike Kobilarcsik said. "I e-mailed them (NHIAA) to make sure they were aware of the possible conflict.’’

The Class L baseball final is slated for June 14 at 5 p.m. The softball final is scheduled for 2:30 in Concord. A lot might depend on how much flexibility the NHIAA has with Fisher Cats officials to adjust starting times.

The final Class L baseball games are currently schedule for May 21, creating a potential gap of 15 days between the regular-season finales and the preliminary round of the tournament.

With the addition of another week, the last day to schedule a makeup game is now Sunday, June 1. But according to Kobilarcsik, the NHIAA has cautioned against moving the first week of the season to the end of the schedule.

"If we have postponements, we’ll try to get them in as quickly as we can, not move everything to that final week,’’ Kobilarcsik said. "Obviously the schools with big issues are the ones up North who still have three feet of snow and ice on their fields.’’

And when it’s over, there will be bills to pay for the spring of 2008.

"We’ve had to rent indoor space for sports like lacrosse, which is a budget killer,’’ Kobilarcsik said. "I guess it’s a good thing I’m retiring.’’

The NHIAA released a statement early Thursday afternoon explaining the changes in the schedule.

"Due to the on-going problems related to the heavy snow from the past winter, the NHIAA has made some initial modifications to the seasons/tournament schedules for baseball and softball,’’ Executive Director Pat Corbin wrote. "As of this time all other spring sports remain unchanged. It each case, schools will undoubtedly be forced to alter existing regular-season schedules due to lack of playable fields/facilities.’’

No offense to the fine folks at Plymouth State University, but after the first year of a planned two-year move the Class M boys tournament seemed to fit perfectly at Southern New Hampshire University.

Saturday's  final between Conant of Jaffrey and Newmarket was between two schools with a lot shorter drive to Manchester and resulted in a standing room only crowd for what, by all accounts, was a great game.

Conant won in overtime to capture its third straight title and SNHU won by exposing itself to a new set of fans across the state.

With Littleton dropping down to Class S next year, fewer and fewer Class M schools find Plymouth a shorter trip. And let's face it, Foley Gymnasium desperately needs -- at the very least -- a facelift. The PSU facility has changed little in the last 30 years.

The Class M boys will be back at SNHU next year and maybe the M girls should be there too.

The NHIAA Division I hockey tournament begins Wednesday night, and of local interest, keep an eye on the Nashua North at Manchester West preliminary round game. The Titans are red hot, having won their last four games to get into the dance and are seeking their first tourney win. Don't be surprised if it happens, because Manchester West, despite beating North 7-2 earlier in the year, isn't exactly tourney tested, not being a major player in Division I the last few seasons. The North-West winner faces BG at Skate 3 in Tyngsborough, Mass. at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The overall pick? It certainly looks as if Bishop Brady and Bishop Guertin, the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds respectively, can reach the finals. Flies in the ointment? If Concord rights the ship, it could give Brady trouble in a potential semi, while Exeter certainly could give BG all it can handle and more, if the top four seeds remain alive after the quarters. Some question the Blue Hawks' goaltending, but it's been good enough to get them the third seed.

The pick: Brady over BG in the finals.

In Division III, Souhegan doesn't have the scoring depth it had a year ago, and the team it beat in last year's semis, Kennett, looks awfully good. Souhegan, as it did last year, has to get past Pembroke in the quarters (Saturday at 7 at Hudson's Cyclones Arena). It says here the Sabers will get past Laconia in the semis, and fall to Kennett in the finals. Tough calls, and hockey is the most unpredictable winter sport. Enjoy the tournaments.

-- TOM KING

Everyone asks the same question and shakes their head. How is it that all the good high school basketball rivalry games in the Nashua Area take place during the first two weeks of the season, with South opening against Bishop Guertin and North this week and North playing Bishop Guertin on Jan. 4. In between, the three schools play in the same Christmas Tournament.

According to Pinkerton Academy athletic director Bob Royce, who schedules Class L boys and girls basketball, the scheduling is totally random unless an athletic director puts in a request to play a game in a certain time frame.

Nashua AD Angelo Fantasia could ask that North-South, or either school's games with Bishop Guertin be moved to later in the season. But Royce said he gets very few such requests during the winter season.

"Most request to play a certain school on a certain weekend happen during the fall,'' Royce said, "because of homecoming football games.''

Nashua has already put in its request to move the North-South football game to early October, with the hopes of creating a weekend of rivalry games in all sports between North and South, similar to the Mack Plaque weekend games between Pinkerton and Londonderry.

And how is it that Nashua North and Londonderry haven't met once in the last four years in either boys or girls basketball, even though Class L schools play all but one opponent in the division.

Once again by chance, according to Royce. South and Exeter have also not met in the last four years.

 

All season long it looked like Londonderry High School senior Ryan Griffin was headed for the University of New Hampshire to play wide receiver next fall.

But after sizing him up on film and during a recent basketball practice, the University of Connecticut has landed the athletic, 6-foot-6, 220-pounder.

"I don't think they took him for a particular positon,'' Londonderry boys basketball coach Jim Zorbas said. "They just saw him as a great athlete.''

Griffin played football for three years at New Hampton Prep, but left when the program was de-emphasized, returning to his hometown to play football his senior year.

The last thing the Campbell High School football program needed or wanted next year was to be placed in the new Div. V in the NHIAA's six-division allignment.

But that's where the Cougars were orginally placed, in a division that includes established programs like Bishop Brady, St. Thomas of Dover and Kearsarge Regional.

Campbell, with 575 students, just three more than Gilford, would have been the smallest public school in the division. But with a likely cooperative program being formed between Epping and Newmarket, the Cougars will likely be placed where they'll be more competitive, in Div. VI.

Division VI will be the only division in the state with 10 teams. All the others will have have nine next fall, creating two open dates for schools in Div. I and Div. II, who play a 10-game regular season schedule.

Somersworth, whose school population puts it in Div. VI, will petition up to Div. V, allowing Fall Mountain of Langdon to drop to Div. VI. The Fall Mountain program has struggled to compete in recent years.

When athletic directors from Div. III and Div. IV football teams met on Monday, Souhegan was hoping it could continue its rivalry with Plymouth, at least in a crossover game what wouldn't count in the standings.

But Plymouth, which will drop to Div. IV after winning nine of 11 Div. III titles, has agreed to play Milford next fall. The Spartans are petitioning up to stay in Div. III.

Souhegan, instead, will renew an old rivalry with Laconia. Crossover games will no count in the standings.

There was also talk at the meeting about the possibility of Epping and Newmarket merging to form a cooperative team. With a combined enrollment in the 700s, the team would likely play in Div. V if the cooperative team is formed.

It would be the state's third cooperative team. There are currently two in Div. III hockey, Belmont-Gilford and Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough.

While the bottom three divisions in the proposed six division setup for New Hampshire football next fall are still uncertain, with school petitions having yet to hit the football committee, the top three seem pretty set..

Division I remains unchanged, with the same nine teams that competed this fall. Division II's only proposed change is Goffstown dropping ot Division III.

The new Division III lineup, with Milford committing to petitioning up, includes Milford, Hollis-Brookline, Souhegan, Con-Val of Peterborough, John Stark of Weare, Goffstown, Bedford, Portsmouth and Pembroke Academy.

Milford and John Stark's likely petition to remain in Division III allows Kennett of Conway and Kingswood to drop to Div. IV, where it will be joined by 2007 Division III champ Plymouth.

It won't happen on Thanksgiving, but if a plan being talked about by Class L athletic directors gets NHIAA football committee approval, we could have a season opener between Nashua South and Bishop Guertin next fall.

The new divisional format of six nine-team divisions, which is expected to pass, would leave two open dates for both Div. I and Div. II. Under the plan, on the opening weekend there would be nine crossover games between the two divisions, with opponents matched up by last year's record.

So if South and Bishop Guertin are both champions, they would play each other, with Pinkerton opening against Exeter,  Manchester West playing Dover and Winnacunnet squaring off against Londonderry.

The bottom five teams in each division would play the bottom five in the other.

Rachel Gratton's goal 4:34 into the first overtime lifted second-seeded Exeter to a 2-1 victory over No. 8 Pinkerton Academy in the Class L girls soccer championship game at Nashua's Stellos Stadium on Monday night.

NHIAA TOURNAMENTS

Class L boys soccer semifinals

Merrimack 2, Exeter 0

Londonderry 2, Pinkerton 1 (OT)

 

Class I girls soccer semifinals

Hollis/Brookline 2, St. Thomas Aquinas 1

 

Class S girls soccer semifinals

Wilton-Lyndeborough 1, Sunapee 0

 

Division I girls volleyball semifinals

Salem 3, Merrimack 0

Spaulding 3, Pinkerton Academy 1

 

If member schools go along with the six divisions proposal for NHIAA football next fall, look for both Milford and John Stark of Weare to petition up from Div. IV.

It's all about geography and the possibility of relatively short bus rides to all its 2008 opponents is hard to pass up, according to Milford athletic director Marc Maurais.

The petitions would allow both Kennett of Conway and Kingswood of Wolfeboro to drop to a new Div. IV which will include Laconia and Plymouth.

The beauty of the new Div. III is the proximity of all the schools. It will include Bedford, Con-Val of Peterborough, Goffstown, Hollis-Brookline, John Stark, Milford, Pembroke Academy, Portsmouth and Souhegan  

What a difference a few games makes. Before Friday night's game the playoff picture in New Hampshire football was pretty cloudy. Now it's pretty clear.

Three playoff spots have been clinched in Div. I, with Nashua South punching its ticket Friday night with its 22-13 victory over Londonderry. The last spot will be decided simply enough. Whoever wins Friday night's game between 6-2 Salem and 5-3 Manchester West is in.

A West victory would result in a three-way tie for the last two spots at 5-3 with West, Salem and Londonderry. West gets third because it would have beaten both teams in head-to-head play. When the tiebreaking system reverts to head-to-head to decide the last spot, Londonderry gets it because it beat Salem.

A South victory at Pinkerton would clinch the top spot for the Panthers and the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. South could still host a game if it loses and West beats Salem. But if Salem wins and South loses, South would head back to Salem in the semifinals and Londonderry would play at Pinkerton.

Meanwhile in Division II, it all comes down to one game. If 5-3 Goffstown beats Timberlane, it edges out 6-3 Winnacunnet for the final spot. In a three-way tie with Goffstown, Winnacunnet and Dover at 6-3, Dover gets the third spot because if beat both Goffstown and Winnacunnet. Goffstown's victory over Winnacunnet on Friday night put it in position to clinch.

Second-seeded Bishop Guertin will host Dover in the semifinals, while top-seeded Exeter hosts either Winnacunnet of Goffstown.

If you think New Hampshire is too small to have six high school football champions, you're probably right. But with 55 teams set to compete next year in NHIAA play, the state's football committee proposed six division -- five nine-team, one with 10 -- at its meeting on Thursday morning.

Just four years ago New Hampshire had just four divisions, but a big influx of new programs brought it up to five for the 2004 season. The state went from three to four divisions again in 1994, but had as many as four divisions as early as 1957.

Perhaps the biggest change next year, if he proposal it approved, is Plymouth dropping from Div. III to Div. IV. The Bobcats have won eight of the last 10 Div. III titles and are favored to win again. Plymouth was in Div. IV in 1995, but moved up in 1996 and had played in all but two of the title games since.

 

 

 

The NHIAA football committee meets Thursday and, according to one committee member the prospect of six divisions is a very real one facing little opposition. Of course, the final number of teams playing varsity football next fall is still in question, with Bedford, Sanborn of Kingston, Inter-Lakes of Meredith and Mascoma of New Canaan likely to go varsity next fall and Trinity of Manchester returning in a lower division.

Here is a possible divisional breakdown:

Division I: Concord, Londonderry, Manchester West, Manchester Central, Manchester Memorial, Nashua North, Nashua South, Pinkerton Academy, Salem.

Division II: Alvirne, Bishop Guertin, Dover, Exeter, Keene, Merrimack, Spaulding of Rochester, Timberlane of Plaistow, Winnacunnet of Hampton.

Division III: Bedford, Con-Val of Peterborough, Goffstown, Hollis/Brookline, John Stark of Weare, Kennett of Conway, Kingswood of Wolfeboro, Pembroke, Souhegan.

Division IV: Kearsarge of North Sutton, Hanover, Laconia, Lebanon, Merrimack Valley, Milford, Monadnock of East Swanzey, Plymouth, St. Thomas Aquinas of Dover.

Division V: Bishop Brady of Concord, Bow, Fall Mountain of Langdon, Pelham, Gilford, Sanborn, Somersworth, Stevens of Claremont, Trinity.

Division VI: Campbell, Epping, Farmington, Franklin, Inter-Lakes of Meredith, Mascoma of New Canaan, Newfound of Bristol, Newport, Winnisquam of Tilton.

Note: 10 teams in Division VI.   

Figuring out playoff scenarios with the NHIAA's tie-breaking procedures can be tricky at times. One scenario we left out of the previous post is not good for Nashua South, should it lose its final two games and finish 5-3.

Under those circumstances, if Salem loses to Manchester Central this week, then beats Manchester West next week, it would create a three-way tie for third among Central, South and Salem.

It would come down to the fourth tiebreaker: rating (winning percentage) against division opponents on the road. Salem and Central would finish 3-1 on the road, South 1-2.

To solve the Central-Salem tie, you revert to head-to-head and Central takes third. Then you use head-to-head to solve the Salem-South tie and Salem gets in by virtue of its 55-20 win over South last Friday night.

 

Nashua South's victory over Pinkerton in a meet last week allowed them to vault by the Astros in the weekly cross country rankings in the New Hampshire Cross Country newsletter. The Class Meets are coming up a week from Saturday at Derryfield Park in Manchester.

The boys rankings, with last week's rank in parenthesis: 1. Con-Val (1), 2. Merrimack (2), 3. Nashua South (4), 4. Pinkerton Academy (3), 5. Kingswood (5), 6. Nashua North (6), 7. Hanover (7), 8. Manchester Memorial (-), 9. Londonderry (8), 10. Oyster River (10).

The girls ranking, with last week's rank in parenthesis: 1. Hanover (1), 2. Pinkerton Academy (2), 3.Manchester Memorial (6), 4. Exeter (5), 5. Keene (3), 6. Coe Brown (4), 7. Manchester Central (8), 8. Bishop Guertin (7), 9. Oyster River (9), 10. Concord (-).

The most recent NHIAA football proposal making the rounds isn't five 11-team division next year, but six nine-team divisions. If Bedford decides to go varsity next fall, one division would expland to 10 teams.  

It would allow Div. I to stay intact with the nine teams it has now. It makes sense, since neither Exeter of Bishop Guertin seem willing to move up. The team that would be forced to join Div. I because of enrollment, Spaulding of Rochester, was beaten 38-0 by 0-6 Manchester Memorial in a crossover game.

Div. II would stay intact with one exception. Goffstown, the smallest school in the division, would be allowed to move back to Div. III. Dropping out of Div. III, because of enrollment, would be perennial power Plymouth, which would rejoin rival Laconia in Div. IV. Milford would also be alligned in Div. IV, but could petition up to Div. III to keep playing traditional rival Souhegan.

Hollis-Brookline would move up to Div. III because of enrollment. The plan calls for eight division games and crossover games between Div. I-Div. II, Div. III-Div. IV, and Div. V-Div. VI.

The plan and other plans are likely to be discussed when the football committee meets on Oct. 25.

In a meeting of the classification committee today two schools, Fall Mountain of Langdon and Stevens of Claremont decided to stay were the numbers put them, and will drop from Class I to Class M. Several other school, including Bow and Kearsarge of North Sutton, petitioned up to stay in Class I.

The state's high school athletic directors met Thursday and a number of important topics were discussed, most of them regarding classification.

On the football front they talked about the possibility of six nine-team divisions (unlikely), and who would move up and down if the divisions remained the same. If the football committee goes strictly by enrollment, as they have in the past, Spaulding of Rochester would join Division I as the 10th team, replacing Trinity of Manchester, which dropped out last winter.

That would leave Division II one team short and, based strictly on numbers, Bedford, which just opened this fall, would enter as a Division II school because of a projected enrollment in the 1,150-range. Those numbers are based on attendance in the current seventh and eighth grades.

But sources say Bedford would not play varsity football next fall if forced to play in Division II, making Con-Val of Peterborough the likely 10th school in Division II.

There was some discussion about forcing Bishop Guertin, the three-time defending Division II champion, to move up to Division I next year, but it would go against NHIAA guidelines. 

Three new schools -- Sanborn of Kingston, Inter-Lakes of Meredith and Mascoma of New Canaan -- are expected to join the ranks of football-playing schools next fall.

As for other sports, five schools will have to decide whether they want to petition to stay in Class I for the next two years. Fall Mountain of Langdon, Bishop Brady of Concord, Kearsarge of North Sutton, Stevens of Claremont and Bow all have the opportunity to drop to Class M because of decreasing enrollment.

Sanborn, whose enrollment has increased since building its new high school, will move from Class M to Class I.

There was also discussion of playing as many as four games each season outside the division in order to create regional rivalries and cut down on transportation costs. The idea could be a nightmare in terms of scheduling.

 

If you remember Laddie Renfroe (Nashua High School Class of 1980), who spent seven years pitching in the minor leagues before a brief major-league stint with the Chicago Cubs,  you might be interested to know his son, David Renfroe, is the starting quarterback for the third-ranked high school football team in the country.

David Renfroe scored a touchdown, kicked a field goal and two extra points for South Panola High School of Batesville, Miss., in a 17-3 victory over rival Olive Branch. It was the 66th straight win for South Panola, which is ranked third nationally by Sports Illustrated and 13th by USA Today.

The younger Renfroe will most likely follow in his father's footsteps and play baseball in college. He's a top Division I prospect with a fastball already over 90 mph.

Renfroe is also the punter for South Panola. His father punted and kicked for the football team at Nashua and played goal for the first soccer team in school history.

The Con-Val boys and Hanover girls continue to top the rankings in New Hampshire Cross Country weekly newsletter.

Top 10 boys teams, with last week's poll position in parentheses.

1. Con-Val (1), 2. Merrimack (2), 3. Pinkerton Academy (3), 4. Nashua South (4), 5. Kingswood (5), 6. Nashua North (7), 7. Hanover (6), 8. Londonderry (8), 9. Coe-Brown (10), 10. Oyster River (9).

Top 10 girls with last week's poll position in parentheses.

1. Hanover (1), 2. Pinkerton Academy (2), 3. Keene (3), 4. Coe Brown (4), 5. Exeter (5), 6. Manchester Memorial (6), 7. Bishop Guertin (7), 8. Manchester Central (8), 9. Oyster River (9), 10. Nashua North (10). 

Local 

Nashua South 21, Manchester Central 20

Milford 6, Con-Val 2

Souhegan 20, Portsmouth 7

Londonderry 41, Nashua North 6

Stevens 53, Hollis/Brookline 33

State

Laconia 38, Kearsarge 0

Hanover 40, Fall Mountain 0

Manchester West 21, Concord 10

John Stark 47, Kingswood 14

Peter Reilly shot the day's best score, a 1-under-par 71, to lead Bishop Guertin to the Class L golf title on Thursday at Canterbury Woods Country Club.

Three other BG golfers broke 80: Nick Tovey (74), Alex Petropulos (76) and recent girls state individual champion, Tracy Martin (77), to give the Cardinals a five-stroke victory over two-time defending champion Concord.

If you haven't seen it already, check out Roger Brown's New Hampshire Football Report. http://www.nhfootballreport.com/

As one wise colleague put it Wednesday night: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association's Football Committee decided to do just that by scrapping plans for playing football finals at neutral site. The plan was full of holes.

 

 

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