DERRY, NH — Trinity High made history Saturday, claiming its first-ever NHIAA Division II state championship with a 31-21 win over previously unbeaten Souhegan, at Pinkerton Academy’s Memorial Field.
A three-yard touchdown run by flanker Alex Garand and a 74-yard TD gallop by quarterback Ollie Service broke open a tie game in the third quarter, putting the second-seeded Pioneers (11-1) on top, 28-14.
Service put an exclamation point on his high school career with a typically strong all-around game. He rushed for 123 yards on 19 carries, completed 9 of 14 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. He also made a key interception on defense.
Top-seeded Souhegan (11-1) was able to pull to within one score on a two-yard touchdown run by Ryland Raudelunas (his second of the game) late in the third quarter. But Trinity’s Connor Bishop drilled a 32-yard with 4:19 left in the game to seal the win.
”I looked over at my coach and I saw him yell ‘field goal’ and I knew I had a chance to ice the game right there and that’s what I did,” said Bishop. The senior has kicked for Trinity since his freshman year and called the 32-yarder the biggest kick of his career.
Souhegan came into the title game, not only as the unbeaten No. 1 seed but also as the defending D-II state champ. The Sabres led at halftime in 10 of their previous 11 games and had scored under 33 points just once all season.
With the score tied, 14-14, at halftime, Trinity Head Coach Rob Cathcart told his team it had a major advantage heading into the second half.
“We’ve been in these types of (close) games all season, we’ve been there,” said Cathcart. “But I told them, ‘you know who hasn’t been there? Souhegan.’ I don’t think they’re used to having teams hang around with them.”
The game’s momentum swung over the final five minutes of the first half, thanks to the stalwart play of the Trinity defense.
Souhegan held a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, thanks to short touchdown runs by quarterback Mike Fiengo and Raudelunas, which sandwiched a five-yard TD pass from Service to Davey Durepo.
The Sabres looked primed to seize firm control when Brody Smith intercepted a Service pass with about five minutes left in the half.
Rather than look to grind out yardage on the ground, Souhegan went for the kill — and paid the price. Fiengo threw deep on first down and Service was there to make the interception.
Two plays later, Durepo (eight carries, 101 yards) broke free for a 73-yard touchdown run to tie the game, 14-14.
Souhegan had time to try and retake the lead before the half and came within a yard of doing just that. With the ball at the Trinity 38 and the final seconds of the half ticking off, Raudelunas went up in traffic and pulled down a pass from Fiengo and battled his way toward the goal line, only to be stopped at the 1 by Bishop.
It was the type of clutch play that has been a calling card of the Trinity defense all season.
Trinity senior linebacker/defensive end Dom Detone, who made several big plays against the run, said the Pioneers were determined not to led Raudelunas beat them.
”I’ve been watching film all week on them. I’ve been knowing what to do and just decided to crash down and take advantage of it,” said Detone. “We wanted to show that Ollie (Service) is Player Of The Year and not (Raidelunas).”
With momentum on its side, Trinity took the second-half kickoff, marched 59 yards in nine plays and took its first lead of the game, 20-14, on Garand’s three-yard run. The PAT was blocked.
After forcing a Souhegan punt, Trinity took over at its own 26. On the first play from scrimmage, Service swept left on a keeper, burst through a gaping hole and outraced the Sabre defense for a 74-yard touchdown. He added the two-point conversion to make it 28-14.
With 4:39 to play in the third quarter, Souhegan, a team that given up an average of just 7.0 points per game through its first 11 games (and never more than 20), suddenly found itself in very unfamiliar territory.
The Sabres were able to stay close, with help from an unexpected source — Trinity. Back-to-back personal fouls helped Souhegan put together a 65-yard scoring drive, capped by Raudelunas’ two-yard TD run, cutting the lead to 28-21.
But Trinity wasn’t about to let the momentum, or the championship, slip away.
Patiently bleeding the play clock before every snap, Service engineered a 14-play drive that covered just 37 yards but ate up 9:29 of clock. The drive stymied, due to a holding penalty, at the Souhegan 15. On 4th and 5, Cathcart wasted no time calling on Bishop, who calmly split the uprights with a towering 32-yard field goal that would easily have been good from 50.
“To bleed all that time off the clock and then to be able to get the field goal, that was very important,” said Cathcart.
Now needing two scores and only 4:29 remaining, Souhegan was forced to the air. Trinity’s secondary, a strength all season, was ready and waiting. And when Tate Zubhuza picked off Fiengo at the Trinity 20, the Pioneers’ fans were able to start their celebration.
”We just didn’t want to let anything behind us,” said Bishop. “We knew that they were going to throw the ball to try and move it downfield. So we just did what we could to stop them and one of our corners did what they normally do.”
Saturday’s victory was the 500th in the history of the Trinity football program and completes the Pioneers’ “Championship Grand Slam.” Trinity won the Division I state title in 1988, Division IV in 2011 and Division III in 2019 and 2023.
For Cathcart, it’s his third state championship in 10 seasons at Trinity.