“The process of realignment has been a new one for all of us at Bishop Guertin. BG submitted its request based on where we are now. We have petitioned up in all sports, well above our Division III status based on population. We basically proposed to stay where we are in everything, but also stated if it is in the best interest of both Bishop Guertin and the NHIAA football comittee we were open to moving up to Division I. We had hoped that this process would include some discussion once the makeup of the proposed divisions was drafted by the football committee.  We have been told the process possibily could be close and since then there has been no more dialogue. We have since contacted the NHIAA and said we are willing to move up based on the proposed divisions for football. At this time we have no idea whether the proposal will be considered or the committe might now be responsible for any potentional change. We have indicated our openness to the move. We will need to see how the process unfolds through the various stages of approval.”

Based on the proposed divisions submitted by the football comittee last week, Exeter moved up to nine-team Div. I because its enrollment is now the ninth largest among football playing schools in the state. Bishop Guertin, whose enrollment of just below 900 students, was the smallest Div. III school based on the numbers, but has traditionally petitioned up to Div. II.

Should the football committee reconsider and move Bishop Guertin up to Div. I without a current Div. I team moving down, it would leave just eight teams in Div. II with nobody in Div. III currently interested in moving up.

The unbeaten and top-seeded Cardinals, 8-0 in their division and 10-0 overall, will open this year’s Div. II playoffs when they host Alvirne at Stellos Stadium on Friday night at 7. Alvirne is making its first post-season appearance in 10 years.

In terms of competition, the best idea is a 10-team Division I that would include both Bishop Guertin and Exeter, who have dominated Div. II football for most of the decade. But there’s one big problem. That would leave only eight  teams in Div. II, which most feel is an unworkable number.

Unfortunately, nobody in Div. III is currently interested in moving up, even to a division that didn’t include Bishop Guertin and Exeter.

As of Wednesday’s NHIAA football committee meeting Exeter was moved up, based on enrollment, and Bishop Guertin was in Div. II, based on its petition. In terms of enrollment, Bishop Guertin is a Div. III school, but has traditionally petitioned up to Div. II.

On Friday night Exeter coach Bill Ball said he’s perfectly happy to stay in Div. I, but his kids would miss their Seacoast rivalry games with Winnacunnett, Dover, Spaulding and Timberlane Regional. One way or another, Exeter and Winnacunnet will continue to play.

But if the possibility exists for Bishop Guertin to move up, where it will play Nashua’s two public high schools, Salem, Londonderry, Pinkerton, Manchester Central, Manchester Memorial and Concord, all a short bus ride away, you can bet Exeter would move back to Div. II.

Maybe Johnson and Ball will discuss that possibility before or after tonight’s game between the two schools.

Exeter is moving up, dictated by its enrollment as the ninth biggest football playing school in the state. Bishop Guertin, however, has decided to stay in Div. II. So next year’s Div. I allignment will stay at nine teams, with Exeter moving up and Manchester West dropping down.

There was consideraby pressure on Bishop Guertin, considered the top team in the state and winners of four of the last five titles in Div. II, to move up. But the Cardinals, whose enrollment is roughly half of the smallest schools currently in Div. I, has chosen to stay down.

Coach and Athletic Director Tony Johnson has repeatedly cited economic factors for the decision to stay in Div. II football. So far the downturn in the economy hasn’t effected enrollment at Bishop Guertin, but he fears it could in the upcoming years. His school competes in Div. I in all other varsity sports.

In other moves tenatively agreed on by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s football committee on Wednesday, but not yet ratified by the classification committee, Pelham will move up to Div. III and Trinity of Manchester will move up from Div. V to Div. IV.

Windham will join Div. V in its first year of varsity competition, while Campbell is expected to move up from Div. VI to Div. V. Campbell’s enrollment numbers put it in Div. V, and its attempt to petition back down to Div. VI wasn’t granted.

Another school is getting ready to offer varsity football. Hillsboro-Deering will play a junior varsity schedule next fall.

Pending the approval of individual New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association sports committees, the Cavaliers would like to play in Division I in girls soccer, girls volleyball and girls lacrosse.

Hollis/Brookline is traditionally strong in all three sports and is looking forward to taking on the challenge of competiting against the state’s largest schools.

“Eight years ago we went from Class M to Class I and some people wondered how competitive we’d be,” Rupp said. “I think the athletes in all three sports are looking forward to and will prepare for this next challenge.”

Beginning next year, New Hampshire will do away with Class L, I, M and S classifications and go to a divisional breakdown in each sport, allowing schools to pick and chose what sports they can move up in.

Rupp said the decision would be evaluated in two years when the school would have the option of returning to the division, based on enrollment, in which they are placed by the NHIAA.

Pinkerton placed all five of its runners in the top 13 to run away with the meet. Bishop Guertin, with four runners in the top 21, finished second. The Cardinals were without junior standout Jeff Lecoste, but senior Francis Hernandez was the overall winner in 15 minutes and 46 seconds, 10 seconds faster than second placde finisher Chris Pietrocarlo of Pinkerton.

Jake Hawkins of Pinkerton was third and teammate Tony Anzivino was seventh. Bishop Guertin senior Joey Jourdain, who finished eighth, was the only other Cardinal to crack the top 10.

Other than the top spot, there were no other changes to the boys top 10, with Hanover ranked third followed, in order, by Concord, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, Londonderry, Manchester Central, Nashua North, Merrimack and Oyster River of Durham.

Manchester Central remained the top ranked tema on the girls side, followed, in order, by Bishop Guertin, Hanover, Keene, Coe-Brown, Pinkerton Academy, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack Valley and Hopkinton.

The Bishop Guertin captured their division in the Catholic Memorial race, edging Franklin, Ma., by a single point. Senior Leah Ferrara was the top finished for the Cardinals and she was fifth overall.

Here’s a look:

MERRIMACK:

The Tomahawks are looking for their first Division II win of the year, and hoping for more. They have games with the Red Raiders,Dover and Keene at home over the last five weeks (Alvirne and Winnacunnet on the road will be tough tests) and that’s a lot more manageable than facing Nashua North, Bishop Guertin, Timberlane and Exeter in four of the first five weeks.

“I’m looking forward to the second half of the year,” Merrimack coach Joe Battista said. “Defensively we have to get to the point where we get some three-and-outs. We need to get some confidence where we shut down the other team and get our offense the ball.”

Right now, leading the Tomahawks in tackles is junior inside linebacker Cody Gladstone.

“I’m just looking forward to not playing the top ranked teams week to week,” Battista said. “But I don’t think we’re getting pushed around (at the line of scrimmage) like we were last year.”

BISHOP GUERTIN

Why is Cardinals coach Tony Johnson worried about a team that has already lost to Exeter and Dover, the latter a club BG routed last week, 51-0? Because the Warriors are desperate, for one; two, they have an excellent all-around option quarterback in Steve Cronan, and three, they are always tough at home.

“The bottom line is they are tough at home,” Johnson said. “They are going to come after us. They need this game after two losses, and that’s a big factor.”

One thing that has helped the Cardinals so far is health. Usually by now, going by past seasons, they would have lost one or two key starters to injury. But that hasn’t happpened, partly, Johnson thinks, because they’ve shortened practice time and focused more on mental preparation than physical.

“We’ve shortened practice by about 15 minutes,” he said. “We’re getting more efficient. We don’t need to bang each other in practice. I look at my team and judge, ‘Are these guys ready? Do they need to get ready?’  It’s more mental preparation than physical. We don’t need to bang that much.”

ALVIRNE:

As they play their third road game in three weeks, the Broncos are looking to their offensive line to set the tone and chew up yardage and clock time.

“Our guys have been doing a good job for us up front,” Alvirne coach Bobby Nimblett said, noting the work of linemen such as Mike McLaughlin, Tom Eldridge, Jeremy Baker and Ryan Vigeant. “They’re doing an excellent job down blocking and read blocking.”

And when they aren’t? “Our backs,” he said, “have done well enough to make up for any errors…If we can clean up some of (the mistakes), we’ll be a good offense.”

— TOM KING

Gates will open at 5:30 with ticket prices set at $4 for adults and $2 for students.

The game is one of 16 events in the fall version of Burque Jewelers Battle of the Bridge. So far, the series is tied at 2-2 with North prevailing in a softball game for coaches held in August. The other events that have already been decided include South prevailing in both boys and girls cross country and North winning in golf.

Freshman football kicks off this week’s games on Thursday at 6 at Stellos. Friday’s events include boys and girls junior varsity soccer at 3:30, freshmen volleyball at 3:30, junior varsity volleyball at 3:30, varsity volleyball at 4:30 with the football game at 7. All three volleyball matches will be played at South, with boys JV soccer at South and girls JV soccer at North.

On Saturday the two schools play junior varsity football at 10 (Nashua North), junior varsity field hockey at 1 (Stellos), varsity field hockey at 2:30 (Stellos), varsity girls soccer at 4 (Stellos) and boys varsity soccer at 5:30 (Stellos).

Originally score tabulations had Hendricken eeking out a narrow victory, after it had beaten Bishop Guertin by a small margin to win the Elite Division of the Manchester Invitational a week earlier. Before the race, Hendricken was the fourth ranked team in the Northeast, while Bishop Guertin was ranked sixth.

Bishop Guertin was the only team to place its top three runners in the top 10 in team scoring Saturday, with Frances Hernandez, Joey Jourdain and Jeff Lecoste finished second, ninth and 10 respective. Bishop Hendricken had just one runner in the top 25, but placed all five scoring runners in the top 47.

Brookville High School of Snellville, Ga., was the overall team winner. They are the No. 1 ranked team in the Southeast.

The Battle of the Bishops between Bishop Hendricken and Bishop Guertin will resume at the New England Cross Country Championships in November.

For the second straight week the Cardinals were edged narrowly at the finish line by Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, R.I., who won last week’s Manchester Invitational. Hendricken finished second on Saturday to champion Brookwood High School of Snellville, Ga.

Bishop Guertin senior Francis Hernandez finished fourth in the five kilometer race in 15:23, just 10 seconds behind the winner, Brian Atkinson of Melbourne, Fla. The Cardinals had three runners in the top 15, with Joey Jourdain finishing 14th in 15:49 and junior Jeff Lecoste finishing 15th in 15:51.

Trent Fontanella (52nd, 16:31) Brandon Latham (92nd, 17:01) finished fourth and fifth for Bishop Guertin. Brookfield is the No. 1 ranked team in the Southeast Region, while Bishop Hendricken and Bishop Guertin are ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Northeast according to the DYESTAT web site.

The Cardinals, who race in North Carolina on Saturday, were edged last Saturday by Bishop Hendricken of Warwick, R.I., who they will meet again this week.

Rounding out this week’s boys top 10 is Pinkerton Academy, Hanover, Concord, Coe-Brown of Northwood, Londonderry, Manchester Central, Merrimack, Nashua North and Oyster River of Durham.

Manchester Central, which won the girls Elite race, tops the girls rankings, followed by Keene, Bishop Guertin, Hanover, Coe-Brown, Pinkerton, Exeter, Londonderry, Merrimack Valley of Penacook and Hopkinton.