Somersworth wins third straight Division IV football state title with win over Newport
LACONIA – A ball-hawking defense forced six turnovers and pitched a second-half shutout as the Somersworth High School football team defeated Newport, 21-7, Saturday afternoon at Bank of New Hampshire Stadium for its third straight Division IV state championship.
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Kayden Bickford caught a touchdown pass from Eric Goodrich that tied the game at 7-7 in the second quarter and his long fumble recovery return set up the go-ahead score by Tayshawn Sheppard that made it 13-7 in the third.
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Seth Worell clinched the victory with a pick-six late in the fourth quarter and capped the scoring with a 2-point conversion with 1:24 remaining.
“I was expecting a pump fake (from the quarterback), and I think he wanted to fake it,” Worell said. “He must have let it go or something and the only thing running through my head was I can seal this off.
“I was on cloud nine,” Worell added. “I had so much adrenaline pumping through me.”
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In addition to the interception Worell also came up with a fumble recovery as did Jack Welch and Thomas Rees as the teams combined for nine turnovers.
“That’s what happens when you have two evenly matched teams,” Somersworth head coach Jeremy Lambert said. “It’s heavyweights throwing haymakers. It was big swings at the beginning, back and forth. We told the kids that’s what it’s going to be. You’ve got to get up every time you’re hit, and they did.”
The Hilltoppers (8-1) overcame three giveaways and a fake punt deep in their own territory that led to the Tigers only TD in the first quarter.
“We kept our heads up,” Rees said. “They’re good. It’s not going to be a breeze. You just need to be mentally strong and push through.”
Since last season when they met in the Division IV final the Hilltoppers and Tigers have been on a collision course to meet in the championship game for the second year in a row.
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“We completely expected it,” Sheppard said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew this was the team we were going to play.”
Somersworth avenged its only loss of the season, 13-12, at Newport.
“It means everything,” Bickford said of the three-peat. “It’s been a dream of ours since freshman year to win even one and the fact that we’ve been able to do it three years in a row is crazy.”
Trailing 7-0, in the second quarter Saturday, the Hilltoppers pulled even when they converted a fourth-and-goal on an 11-yard pass from Goodrich to Bickford, who caught it at the 2-yard line. He fought his way into the front right side of the end zone just inside the pylon.
“It was the second time we ran that play,” Goodrich said. “We just installed it this week for Newport. I made the wrong read the first time and the second time we ran it I made the right read to Kayden and he did all the hard work getting in the end zone.”
Kyle Wilbur’s extra point made it 7-7 and that’s the way the first half ended.
“That was a big play,” Bickford said. “I caught the ball. I didn’t know where I was. I thought I was closer than I was. I looked up and I saw the pylon. I just went for it and hoped I got it, and I did.”
Early in the third quarter a muffed punt by Sheppard gave the Tigers good field position. They churned out one first down to the Somersworth 29 but on the next play Bickford scooped up a fumble and returned it to the Newport 32.
Five plays later Sheppard redeemed himself with a 15-yard touchdown run that put the Hilltoppers ahead to stay, 13-7, with 3:58 left in the third quarter.
“All I remember is we lined up and they told me I was getting the ball,” he said. “I knew it might have been one of my last chances to get the ball and get a touchdown. I just did my best to get in the end zone.”
On their ensuing possession, the Tigers drove to the Somersworth 9-yard line where they had first-and-goal. But the Hilltoppers’ defense stiffened. Three running plays and a sack lost 18 yards, and pushed Newport back to the 27 where SHS took over on downs.
Newport never threatened again.
“The defense was massive,” Lambert said. “They played tenacious all day.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Somersworth football beats Newport in Division IV state championship
