Exeter season comes to an end
Bove-to-Smith TD pass is lone Blue Hawks score
LONDONDERRY — The Exeter High School football team didn’t back down to the tough challenge against Londonderry in Saturday afternoon’s Division I quarterfinal.
Fifth-seeded Exeter, which lost to Londonderry by a score of 35-0 in the regular season, saw its season come to an end in a 27-6 loss to No. 4 Londonderry. The Lancers, who improved to 9-1, will face top-seeded Pinkerton in next Saturday’s semifinal. Pinkerton handed Londonderry its lone loss of the season.
“We knew we’d have our hands full,” Exeter head coach Bill Ball said. “I thought we came out and played pretty inspired in the first half.”
“(Londonderry) killed us on the edge,” Exeter senior Tanner Smith said. “They’re aggressive, strong and a great team. My guys, I’d put us up against them again, I love this team. (Londonderry) had some dogs for sure, and I’m excited to see how they do the rest of the postseason. I’m proud of the effort from my team. We played hard until the last whistle.”
Here are five highlight’s from Exeter’s final game of the season.
Late touchdown gets Blue Hawks on board
The last time these two teams faced, the Blue Hawks were held scoreless, but a lengthy, and well-put together drive in the fourth quarter made sure Exeter wouldn’t be shutout again.
The Blue Hawks marched 14 plays on 71 yards, ending on a 3-yard pass from Jack Bove to Smith in the back corner of the end zone with 3:38 remaining. The extra point was blocked and the Blue Hawks trailed, 27-6.
“Jack threw a good ball to me,” Smith said. “It felt good to get one last touchdown to end my high school career, for
sure.”
“Nice for Tanner to get a touchdown, and nice for Jack to throw it (to him),” Ball said. “Nice way to end it.”
Exeter keeps heads held high
Obviously, the Blue Hawks wanted to be the last team standing in this year’s Division I field, but nonetheless, Ball said the team performed well throughout the year.
“This team, from day one to right now, got a lot better as the year went on, and I think we proved that today,” Ball said. “Really proud of the seniors, proud of those guys. They worked hard and we knew this was going to be a competitive game unlike the last time. We needed to play well and we did. Couple of plays here and there, but (Londonderry) is a very good team, hats off to them, they deserved to win.”
Ball added, “my appreciation goes out for my senior class. Those kids put a lot into the program, they came out here and were able to have a pretty good season,” he said. “Seven-win season, it’s time to pay our due respects to the 2023 team and get ready for 2024.”
Lancers' late first half surge proves costly
Londonderry’s first score came on its opening drive as Seth Doyon ran one in from 8 yards out with just under 8 minutes left in the first quarter.
However, it was the final 3 minutes, 16 seconds of the half that the Lancers did most of their damage and took a 20-0 lead into intermission.
Londonderry, with a 7-0 lead, started a possession at its own 5. But before you knew it, the Lancers were at the Exeter 4 thanks to Jake Schena’s 91-yard run. Exeter’s Sean DeLello tackled Schena at the 4, but quarterback Sam Ogden scored on the next play, giving the Lancers a 13-0 lead.
Exeter started the next drive on its own 29 with 2:34 on the clock. The Blue Hawks failed to pick up a first down and were set to punt with just over a minute left.
The Blue Hawks were already kicking into the wind, so the Lancers were more than likely going to have good field position. However, Doyon got through the line, and blocked the punt. Londonderry’s
Lucas Palma recovered the ball as it trickled into the end zone for a touchdown, increasing Londonderry’s lead to 20-0 with 58 seconds left in the half.
“A couple of big plays hurt us,” Ball said. “Obviously the toss sweep down the left sideline hurt, and the blocked punt didn’t help. When you play a team like this, you can’t have those mistakes.”
Londonderry’s Cam Brutus added a 3-yard score early in the fourth.
Overall better performance than a month ago
The Blue Hawks wanted to run the ball better than they did against Londonderry in the regular season.
Exeter’s Tyler Bland had 32 rushing yards in the first half, and finished with 67 rushing yards on 17 carries. He had a long of 20 on Exeter’s scoring drive.
Exeter’s Daniel Batstone rushed 12 times for 39 yards, Kenny Verhelle gained 32 yards on nine attempts and DeLello had 24 yards on five attempts.
“I thought we came in and wanted to move the ball better, and we did,” Ball said. “I thought we played better defense, we rallied to the ball.”
The Blue Hawks had 11 first downs in the game, compared to seven in the regular-season meeting.
“The first half wasn’t bad, it was that (91-yard) toss play,” Ball said. “The toss play killed us. It was a big play in the game, and it happens. That’s what speed does to you. Other than that, I thought we played pretty well.”
Exeter had a few missed opportunities
The score shows a three-possession margin of victory, but the game was closer than 21 points, and Ball was pleased with Saturday’s showing.
Exeter narrowly missed a 30-yard field goal on its opening drive that would have made the score 7-3 to end the first quarter. And the blocked punt was just an unfortunate play for Exeter, while a great play made by Londonderry.
The Blue Hawks moved the ball into Londonderry territory two more times in the first half, but punted on a fourthand-11 from the 36.