Exeter (4-1) at Portsmouth/Oyster River (5-0)

Kickoff: Friday, 7 p.m.

The breakdown: Potential game-of-the-year candidate, Exeter travels to Portsmouth to take on the ClipperCats in a battle of two of the top teams in all of Division I.

“It’s a big game, obviously a Seacoast game and a little rivalry between the two schools,” Exeter head coach Bill Ball said. “We’re going to go out there on Friday night and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

Aside from last week’s loss to St. John’s (Shrewsbury, Mass), Exeter is 4-0 against Division I New Hampshire teams, with a scoring margin of 130-34.

Ball said the ClipperCats are a much improved team with a lot of skill on both sides of the ball, which makes Friday even more of a challenge.

“(Aidan) Thomas is doing a great job of directing that offense,” Ball said of the Portsmouth quarterback. “They have good balance. (Angus) Moss is a fine receiver, then they have (Cole) McLaughlin and (Brooks) Connors in the backfield. We’ve got our hands full. We can’t worry about one area, we have to play a real fine game across the board.”

Portsmouth won its out-of-state matchup last week, 20-14 over Oxford Hills, one of the top two teams in all of Maine. Additionally, the ClipperCats are 4-0 against Division I teams, with a margin of 154-34.

Portsmouth head coach Brian Pafford talked about the challenge the Blue Hawks present.

“They are incredibly well coached and an incredibly disciplined team that makes no mistakes,” Pafford said. “They execute their offense and defense as well as anyone in the state.”

Coach’s Comment: “I think it’s do what we didn’t do last year, which is not have seven penalties against us, not let an opening kickoff go, not making a mental mistake and leave a guy wide open in coverage wise,” Pafford said on learning from last year’s game. “Just more mature as a team, making sure we believe what we’re doing, execute and give us at least a chance to beat them.”

Our prediction: This will be a great game played on both sides, and one team will suffer its first in-state defeat of the season. A game that will go down to the wire, the ClipperCats will get a long-awaited win over Exeter. Portsmouth/Oyster River 24, Exeter 21.

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Kickoff: Friday, 7 p.m.

The breakdown: The Warriors enter the second half of the season still looking for their first win, while the Grizzlies will arrive in Hampton on a four-game losing streak.

Since opening the season with a 33-20 win over Nashua South, Goffstown has been outscored 141-26 in its four losses.

Winnacunnet failed to score in its first two games, and has scored just one touchdown in each of its past three games - losses to Memorial and Exeter, and at out-of-state Bangor, Maine last Saturday.

The Warriors hope playing at home for the first time in three weeks will get them into the win column. However, home has not been kind to the Warriors of late, losing their last seven games. WHS has not won a home game since the 2021 season where it advanced to the Division I championship game against Londonderry.

Coach’s comments: “Goffstown presents plenty of challenges,” Winnacunnet head coach Ryan Francoeur said. “They are really well-coached. Coach (Nick) Hammond does a great job with that program, a lot of pride in that program, and they always come to play. We’ll have to be at our best for sure, but we’re looking forward to the opportunity this week.”

Our prediction: The Warriors have been getting more consistent drives on offense, and have picked up the efforts on defense. It all comes together this week against the Grizzlies. Winnacunnet 17, Goffstown 13

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St. Thomas (3-2) at Laconia (2-2)

Kickoff: Friday, 7 p.m.

The breakdown: The Saints look to win back-toback games for the first time this season and spoil Laconia’s Homecoming in the process. Both teams are coming off victories last week and both are in playoff contention in Division II East. St. Thomas defeated Pembroke, 55-12, while Laconia downed Gilford-Belmont, 27-19.

Coach’s Comment: “We want to get into the playoffs,” said STA coach Ed McDonough. “I don’t think a loss will derail us, but it will make it tougher. If we can get to 4-2 with three games remaining, I like our odds.”

The run-first Saints scored more points last week (55) than the first four games combined (42). They rushed for a season-high 290 yards against Pembroke and seemed to be clicking on all cylinders with quarterback Michael Skowron at the helm. McDonough was encouraged by what he saw last week on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve been running the ball well,” McDonough said. “The lines have gotten better. I thought we did a nice job being physical and wrapping up defensively. Hopefully, we can bring the same level of effort up to Laconia on (Friday) night.”

McDonough said the Sachems have some talented players at the skill positions.

“I think it’ll be a competitive game,” he said. “We’re 3-2 and now we’ve got four games remaining. Hopefully we can keep getting better each week and make a playoff push.”

Prediction: The Saints continue to run the ball with

Kickoff: Saturday, 2 p.m.

The breakdown: Spaulding enters Saturday’s matchup fresh off of a 57-point performance in last week’s out-of-state win over Edward Little, Maine led by running back Hunter Trueman’s four rushing touchdowns.

The Red Raiders will look to put together another week of a high scoring output when they face a Central team that has allowed 115 points in its three losses this year with two of the losses being at home.

But, Spaulding head coach Kevin Hebert said he knows Central head coach Ryan Ray will always have the team prepared.

“Talented group of players, those guys have talent on the field,” Hebert said. “They look to be pretty big, pretty strong and stout up front defensively. So we’re going to have to try to keep momentum going from last week, as far as we were able to establish the off tackle area a little bit last week, and they always present some athletic issues as far as having kids who can run and those kinds of things. So we’re going to have to try to keep them in front of us for sure.”

If the Red Raiders want to grab a playoff spot, Spaulding has to win on Saturday.

Coach’s Comment: “We want to continue to build off of last week, and even though it was an out-of-state game, I’m hoping that the guys bring a little bit of that confidence with them,” Hebert said. “We’ve got a month on the schedule here, and we’re trying to take one at a time. And this is one, that again, we feel we should be able to compete for four quarters and do the things we always preach which is take care of the ball and try to create turnovers and limit explosive plays defensively. I think we’ll be able to hang in there.”

Our prediction: The Red Raiders will lean on their terrific skill players and will shut down Central on defense to pick up a Division I win on the road. Spaulding 35, Manchester Central 6.

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Our record on game picks

Last week’s record: 6-4, Season-to-date: 30-10.