EMPTYING the notebook to make room for more football ...
• Like many placekickers, Blake Thompson had dreamed of being in a situation like Saturday’s.
BLAKE THOMPSON
Playoff game tied. One play remaining. The fate of his team riding on his left foot for a field goal well within his range.
“I looked up at my dad (John) in the stands, said Thompson afterwards, “and I was like, ‘It’s time,’ and he was like, ‘Yup.’”
From Cody Gray’s snap, to Sam Ogden’s hold, to Thompson’s 32-yard boot, everything was perfect, and that’s how his Londonderry High football team beat host Exeter 31-28 in a thrilling Division I state semifinal.
Too much pressure for a 17-year-old? Before a big crowd, on the road, with a berth in the championship game at stake?
You might think so.
You might think wrong.
“I was more nervous going out for the opening kickoff,” said Thompson, a 6-2, 200-pound senior. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. The whole team’s behind me. (Teammates) were saying, ‘We trust you with everything.’”
As did Lancers coach Jimmy Lauzon. “I absolutely had faith in him,” said the coach.
And for good reason. In practice, on the grass field at Lancer Park, Thompson has hit from 55 yards, he said. Saturday’s kick came on artificial turf on a dry day with a bit of a wind at his back.
“So it’s really just a chip shot,” he said. “I wasn’t even thinking about myself.”
Visualization, said Thompson, is his key to success. That and a quick prayer on the sideline.
And that timeout Exeter called before the kick?
“I loved it when they iced me because it’s like you have more preparation time for the kick,” he said. “It’s really just you and the ball.”
It was a big day for Thompson. Aside from the game-winner, he went 4-for-4 on PATs to raise his career total to 85. His second PAT on Saturday broke the school record of 82 set in 1996 by Charlie MacInnis, according to Londonderry stats man Leon Guertin.
And now, the Lancers brace for their neighboring nemeses in the biggest game of all: Londonderry-Pinkerton for the state title, back at Exeter High. Mack Plaque on steroids.
And one thing is for sure: The Lancers trust their kicker.
— In case you missed it, Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor submitted a pretty fair performance on Saturday in the win over Brown: 308 yards passing, with four touchdowns, and 171 rushing, with three TDs. The 479 yards of total offense broke a program record — and the program has existed since 1881.
• Ivy League football, formally organized in 1956, has seen a three-way tie for the title five times and Dartmouth has been involved in all five, including the past two seasons. Oh, and make that a league-leading 22 crowns for the Big Green and 2-for-2 under coach Sammy McCorkle.
• Friday’s night’s hockey game, Dartmouth at Boston College, has the feel of an Eastern showdown — like we’re all back in the ECAC again, pre-Hockey East, and young Bob Gaudet is between the pipes. OK, let’s return to the present: The Eagles are ranked No. 5 in this week’s USCHO national poll, Dartmouth, No. 15. The Ivies play fewer early-season games than teams from other leagues, and the Big Green (5-0-1) have skated a mere six times, but they are the only unbeaten club in the country.
• Because of the FCS playoff game on campus at 1 p.m., UNH tweaked its weekend hockey schedule to change the Saturday home game against RIT to a night game. So, Wildcat fans, that’s a pair of 7 p.m. contests against the Tigers, Friday and Saturday nights.
• With the clock winding down and UNH trailing Maine 2-1 last Friday night, the best-case scenario played out for the Wildcats: a skilled offensive player with the puck on his stick going one-on-one against the goalie. That player, L.A. Kings draftee Ryan Conmy, turned a Black Bear defenseman inside out, skated in alone, but was denied by Albin Boija, who covered up the five-hole.
• Nathan Davis’s UNH men’s basketball team had high hopes coming into the 2024-25 season. We’re still a ways from conference play, but the Wildcats are 0-8 against Division I competition and it wasn’t even close on Monday night at Columbia. UNH hosts Dartmouth next Tuesday night.
• When Jim Montgomery coached his first game with the Blues on Monday, he stood elbow-to-elbow with assistant coach Claude Julien. St. Louis beat the Rangers, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden. To paraphrase the great Bob Lobel, “Why can’t the Bruins get coaches like that?”
• Watching “The Comeback, 2004 Boston Red Sox” on Netflix emphasizes what you may already feel about the Sox, namely a longing for those days when they were major players in trades and free agency.
• The scene is set like a Thanksgiving Day dinner table: Former Hanover youth soccer player Mikaela Shiffrin can win a landmark 100th World Cup ski race over the weekend on the slopes she calls home in Killington, Vermont.
• Calling Shiffrin a former Hanover youth soccer player is like calling Tom Brady a former San Mateo (California) Little Leaguer.
• The Londonderry-Pinkerton matchup should be worth the price of admission. Too bad it’s kicking off at the same time as the UNH home playoff game.
