Goffstown pulls away in second half to beat H/B

Friday, November 11, 2011

Joe Marchilena photo Hollis/Brookline's Colin Pellerin is stopped by Goffstown's Peter Shea during Saturday's game.

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BEDFORD – Connor Benjamin didn’t do everything by himself Saturday, but he almost did.

The Goffstown High School quarterback accounted for 472 of his team’s 500 offensive yards, throwing for 262 and rushing for another 210 with a combined six touchdowns (four passing, two rushing), as the Grizzlies defeated Hollis/Brookline 39-28. The game was played at Bedford High School because Goffstown’s field wasn’t usable due to last Saturday’s snow.

The win means Goffstown (7-1 in Division III) will be the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and likely host Portsmouth in the semifinals Nov. 12. H/B (6-2) will likely be the third seed and play at Bedford (6-2), the third time it would be playing there this year; the Cavs lost to Bedford 14-7.

“I told the kids it’s a bump in the road, and we get to play right back here,” H/B coach Milt Robinson said. “If we want to get over losing on this field, we’ve got to do it next week.’’

Sean Connors ran for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and added 80 yards and a touchdown receiving, but the Cavs couldn’t stop Benjamin and struggled to move the ball in the second half.

After gaining almost 300 yards in the first half, H/B had just 94 in the final two quarters – 43 of which came on Connors’ touchdown reception from Kyle Gervais after Goffstown had taken a 19-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

The teams combined for almost 600 yards of offense in the first half, as H/B lead 20-18 at the break. Both teams scored on their first two possessions, but the Cavs kept the lead for most of the half thanks to failed conversion attempts by Goffstown.

“It didn’t start well, but we came back and answered them,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “We traded punches in the first half and we made a lot of plays.”

The Grizzlies went ahead for good on their first drive of the third quarter. Benjamin found Brent Simmons for a 45-yard touchdown pass on third-and-10, and then found Simmons again for the two-point conversion, putting Goffstown up 26-20.

The Cavs appeared to have a great scoring opportunity near the end of the third, when they stopped Goffstown and a bad snap on fourth down gave H/B the ball at the Grizzlies’ 33-yard line.

But H/B could only pick up 3 yards on four plays and gave the ball right back.

Seven plays later, Benjamin connected with Chris Garrison on a 40-yard scoring pass for a 32-20 lead with 10:35 left in the game.

Goffstown forced H/B over on downs on its next possession, getting the ball back at the Cavs’ 29-yard line, and three plays later, Benjamin hit Mike O’Donnell for his second touchdown reception of the day and a 39-20 lead with 7:05 to play.

The Cavs finally scored on Connors touchdown reception, and a two-point conversion, to make it an 11-point game, but the Grizzlies recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.