RallyNorth.net

Windham overpowers Lebanon late

Saturday, November, 07 By By Bill Burt
Staff writer

WINDHAM, N.H. — The scoreboard made it appear pretty easy, a 34-16 win for Windham High over Lebanon in the N.H. Div. 2 quarterfinals.

Well, apparently you would have thought differently if you heard the Windham coaches and players talking at halftime.

"We were getting beat on the line. We were getting pushed around. We couldn't really do anything," said Windham High coach Bill Raycraft. "I told them, 'Is this how the seniors want to go out, playing like this?' The score was tied (7-7), but Lebanon had the edge."

In fact, Lebanon had the edge early in the fourth quarter, 16-14, thanks to a 42-yard field goal and a second touchdown pass.

But from there it was maybe Windham's most important and convincing quarter of the season, at least when it mattered, and it scored two more touchdowns — Victor Pizzotti's third TD run and Matt Shea's first, both from five yards out — and the defense didn't allow a first down the rest of the way.

Windham added a second touchdown in the last minute when Richard Hume alertly picked up backwards pass (really a lateral) and returned it 29 yards.

"The scoreboard lies," Pizzotti. "This was one, tough game. We spoke at halftime and the really the offensive line just took over the game. It wasn't just me. All of (our) running backs started running well."

Windham, the Div. 2 defending champion, improves to 8-1 and plays the winner of the Kearsarge-Kennett game.

"It doesn't matter how it looks," said Windham's top defensive player, Kyle Adamson (9 tackles, 1 sack). "It's all about winning. It's not like we have a ton of great players. But we have a lot of good ones who love playing together. I love this team."