Wolverines Excite Fans With 'Down to the Wire' Games

Wow! That's how most Windham Wolverines' fans described last weekend as their five youth football teams played against the Pelham Razorbacks for the first time ever. Both sets of fans were treated to some of the best played youth football in the state. All the games were played in Pelham at Muldoon Field and all the teams put on quite a show including a couple of jaw-dropping overtime match-ups!

RESULTS:

Second and Third grade combined

Despite a valiant effort, the Wolverines 2/3 team lost in Pelham on Sunday. Ryan Garcia started the day off with a strong kick-off. Brody Waldron made two stand-out tackles early in the game with an assist by Nick Panzini. Adam Koza continued the defensive onslaught with a great tackle of his own assisted by Evan Logue. Ian Dowgiert also showed a strong effort on defense throughout the first half, bolstered by his teammates Joshua Sweeney, Cole Peterson, Joseph Hero, Lukasz Rondeau, and Keegan Parke. Christian Spinazola and Kolby Kurto added defensive muscle of their own.

The Wolverines' Tiny Mites cheerleaders performed an enthusiastic half time show that brought the audience to their feet. At the beginning of the second half, Samuel Stewart and Andrew Noel threw two key blocks assisting Koza's 50-yard touchdown run. Brett Boucher, Aidan Arinello, and Parke made tackles with assists by Sweeney, Henri Kulesza, and Peterson in the third quarter. The Wolverines went on to score another touchdown, with Spinazola running 54-yards to the goal line. Jacob Micchiche and Boucher made great tackles in the fourth quarter proving the Wolverines were not giving up easily. After the game, Coach Arinello was very positive and said, "The boys did what they came to do--have fun. We walked away from today's game learning a couple of things, and we'll be ready for the next game."                  

Fourth Grade

On Saturday September 8th, the 4th Grade Wolverines traveled to Pelham for their second game of the season and first game ever against the Razorbacks. Pelham won the toss and elected to receive. They moved the ball but were unable to score due to the great defensive efforts of Thomas McNeal, Alec Saklad, Jacob George and Joey Pallaria. Windham's offense strung together numerous productive plays as a result of great blocking by Shane McInnis and Caden White. Pelham was able to stop the Wolverines' attack resulting in a scoreless first quarter. In the second quarter, the offense started to move the ball with an outstanding run by Aiden Carter and solid blocking by Braydan DeCotis. The Razorbacks got the ball back and were driving late in the half. They were stopped on fourth down by a great tackle from Nolan Paquette. It was 0-0 at the break.

Windham started on offense in the second half. They took possession of the ball and then the monsoon began. Even though the rain was coming down in buckets, the Wolverines were able to move the ball down the field. The tremendous blocking of Connor Logue and Nolan Paquette were on full display. Windham held the ball for most of the third quarter but was unable to put points on the board. The score remained 0-0 after three quarters. The fourth quarter mimicked the other three. This time the defense was led by Vito Ortiz who made tackle after tackle throughout the entire quarter. With only seconds to play, the Wolverines stopped Pelham just short of the goal line. The game was locked in a 0-0 tie.

With most of the crowd getting ready to pack up to leave, the PA announcer informed the crowd that the two teams would play overtime. Each team had four downs to score from the 10 yard line. Pelham had the ball first and was unable to score on their four attempts. Windham took their shot at the goal line next. On the first play, Tyler Mueller threw an explosive block allowing QB Westin Lippold to blaze toward the left sideline. Lippold then handed the ball off to Jackson "Lightning" Mahoney who ran the reverse. He sprinted the entire width of the field. Mahoney turned the corner and with the help of a Tommy McNeal block, he sprinted untouched past the right pylon into the end zone. Windham's fans, players, coaches and cheerleaders went crazy. The Wolverines headed back to Windham with an exciting 6-0 overtime victory against the Razorbacks.

Fifth Grade

The fifth grade Wolverines evened their record at 1- 1 with a loss to the Pelham Razorbacks. The first half was a defensive struggle and a game of field possession. On the second drive of the game, Jake Dunlap made a fourth down open field touchdown saving tackle. Later in the first quarter, Pelham was again stopped on downs with key tackles by Jack Potter, Mason Belsky, and Dylan Field to keep the game scoreless. Midway through the second quarter, Pelham scored their first touchdown on a 12-yard run. The extra point run was denied by a Potter tackle. Late in the second quarter a strong defensive stand by Windham on four straight plays stopped Pelham’s momentum. This effort featured tackles from Belsky on three of the four plays. The half ended as Riley Desmarais stopped a long run to keep the score 6-0 in favor of the Razorbacks

The second half was highlighted by key tackles from Bobby Dicicco, Jack Flanagan, Parker Rice, Ian Sargent, and CJ Giardino, however this was not enough to stop the potent Pelham offense from scoring three more times to finish with a 25-0 win.

Sixth Grade

The Windham sixth grade team played the Pelham Razorbacks under the lights and rain-filled skies on Saturday night. The game got off to a roaring start when Cam Burns took a hand-off and ran a sweep down the left sideline 63 yards for a touchdown. Burns picked up key blocks from JP Pallaria, Thomas Hebert and Chris Redard. The Razorbacks would then put on an impressive offensive display and scored four unanswered TD's in the first half. Despite that, the Wolverines still managed several highlight plays. Noah Lynch stuffed a Pelham running back at the goal line, Robbie Furman and Ryan Marotta ran the ball picking up several yards and Jonny "Mac" MacLean stripped the ball from a Razorback running back that was recovered by Windham's Nick Gaiero.

The Wolverines took their "no-quit" attitude into the second half. Alex Webman, Alex Li and Justin Boucher stood their ground on defense and Carter White, Thomas Cortese and Sean Carter provided explosive blocking on the offensive line. MacLean picked off a pass on the Razobacks' 45 yard line and returned it for 15 yards late in the third quarter. Windham's ensuing drive however, would stall. Hunter Delaney, Nick Mueller and Ray Galasso wracked up several tackles in the second half. Pelham was able to overcome the Wolverines' gritty play and scored three times in the second half. Final official score: Pelham 39, Windham 6. 

Seventh Grade JV

The Windham Wolverines JV team beat the Pelham Razorbacks in a grueling, sudden death, overtime game. The game will go down as an all-time "classic" in the history of New Hampshire youth football. Windham took first possession of the ball. Wolverines' running-back Max Faro wasted no time and exploded down the field for 35 yards into Razorback territory. QB Jake Byers then hit Jack Swarbrick with a pass for a long gain but Swarbrick was stripped of the ball on his way to the end zone. Pelham recovered the ball. Windham dug in their heels and refused to allow the Razorbacks to gain much yardage. There were several impressive tackles made by Zach Cunha and Thomas Splagounias bolstered by an outstanding Jonathan Saklad QB sack. Still no points on the board. Control of the ball went back and forth several more times. Tyler Folsom and Royce Belsky played steel-armed defense throughout the first half. Windham took over on downs at the 4:57 mark of the second quarter. QB Byers took a three-step drop and hit Faro for a quick pass. Faro sliced through the Pelham defense and ran into the end zone for the game's first touchdown. The half would end with Windham ahead, 6-0.

The second half continued with the Wolverines and the Razorbacks battling back and forth. Faro, Cunha, Folsom, Joe “Cheech” Micciche and Joe Dunlap continued to play tough gridiron defense. Neither team scored in the third quarter. QB Byers started the fourth quarter by throwing the ball on a rope to Faro with a huge 50-yard gain before being tackled by “Diggy” Lawson. On the next play, Byers zipped another pass to Dunlap, who was taken down just short of the end zone by Jay Giles. Windham, however, didn't make it in. With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines' Cunha and “Cheech” Micciche helped to successfully stop Pelham’s offensive attack. They had defensive help from Jake Aleksa, Collin Peterson and Tommy Costa. With 4:37 left in the game, Pelham finally broke through the Wolverines' D-line with a 12-yard Lawson TD run. Pelham looked like they would easily score on the two-point conversion attempt. It was Windham's Faro again who came out of nowhere to wrap up the Razorback running back on the right side keeping the game tied, 6-6 and on to overtime.

Each team was allowed four plays from the 10-yard line to get into the end zone. Windham was up first. On the Wolverines' third attempt, Faro ran like a bulldozer up the middle to score the OT TD. He then took the hand-off and bounced it to the outside and cut back inside to make good on the two-point conversion. Pelham would score on its touchdown attempt, as well. It was now gut-check time. Pelham snapped the ball and made its push up the middle only to be denied by a brick wall, called the Wolverines' defense. Fans on the Windham sideline erupted. Final score 14-12, Wolverines in OT.

For more information on the Windham Wolverines Football and Cheer program, go to windhamwolverines.org.

Jon MacLean, Lou Zollo, Karin Gelinas, Tim Flanagan and Kelley Stewart contributed to this article.