It wasn’t what many people expected, and New Hampshire’s 40-6 victory in Saturday’s Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl certainly wasn’t what the Vermont team expected.
“Obviously our offense didn’t do the job,” Vermont coach Mike Hatt said. “We had virtually no run game. I can’t believe we didn’t score more, but that’s a credit to them. New Hampshire’s offensive line took over the game in the second half.”
New Hampshire built a 21-6 lead at halftime, and put the game away by scoring on its first two second-half possessions.
“Everyone was saying Vermont was the better team this year,” New Hampshire quarterback Andy Vailas (Bishop Guertin) said. “We kept that inside us. We prepared very well throughout the week and we were a tough team today.”
Six different New Hampshire players found the end zone. Vailas opened the scoring on a 55-yard run with 12:18 remaining in the first quarter, and hooked up with Concord’s Colin Brown for a 42-yard TD pass later in the quarter.
Brown’s TD came 31 seconds after Vermont wide receiver Mark Comstock (Rutland) scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Grant White (Springfield).
“It didn’t faze us at all when they scored,” Vailas said.
Franklin’s Austyn Turner scored the first half’s only other touchdown on a 17-yard run. Pinkerton Academy fullback Chris George (4-yard run), Keene tailback Ray Boulay (6-yard run) and Con-Val halfback Justin Morgan (5-yard run) scored New Hampshire’s second-half touchdowns.
The New Hampshire defense held Vermont to 65 yards rushing on 26 carries.
Vermont tailback Mick Wong missed most of the second half with an injury and finished the game with a team-high 31 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Wong was selected as Vermont’s Gatorade Player of the Year following the 2008 season.
White completed 16 of 32 pass attempts for 256 yards, but was intercepted twice. Exeter’s Andrew Kukesh and Manchester Central’s Jake Tremblay had New Hampshire’s interceptions.
“New Hampshire played very hard, especially on defense,” White said. “Their defensive backs were good. They were ready for our pass game and they shut us down. They deserved to win today.”
The victory stretched New Hampshire’s winning streak to nine games, which matches the longest winning streak in the game’s history. New Hampshire also won nine in a row from 1989 to 1997. New Hampshire has a 41-13-2 edge in the series, which began in 1954. New Hampshire’s last loss came in 2000 (47-40).
Vailas ran for a game-high 67 yards on 10 carries. Boulay gained 65 yards and 16 attempts, and Plymouth tailback Nick Barnes gained 61 yards on 10 carries.
New Hampshire ran the ball on 59 of its 62 offensive plays and gained 349 yards of total offense. Vermont had 321 yards of offense.
“I was very pleased with how our backs performed today, especially when you consider Zocco (Nashua South running back David Zocco), Vieira (Pelham running back Bruce Vieira) and Birt (Laconia running back Christian Birt) weren’t here,” New Hampshire coach Greg Husband said. “We felt comfortable with the way our defense was set up. Those kids worked hard all week and performed well on both sides of the ball.
“These guys are great kids. I had a lot fun with them and I’ll miss them. I’ll have a lifetime of memories.”
