The Bishop Brady football team might have a small roster, but it plays a big game. At least, that was the case on Saturday night when the Giants opened the season with a 28-0 victory over the visiting Newfound Bears.

With Somersworth and Newport, who combined win the last four Division IV championships, now competing in D-III, any team could win the title in a wide open D-IV.

Bishop Brady head coach Robert Clauss thinks it could be his team.

“We’re not numbers-wise big, but they played ironman football,” Clauss said. “They played hard. I’m so proud of our O-line and D-line. They set the tone. The freshmen stepped up. It was a team effort.”

Leading the charge was junior quarterback Joey Richardson, who ran for three touchdowns and 141 yards on 21 carries, went 3-for-8 passing with 64 yards (including a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior Hayden Lafleur) and caught two interceptions on defense as a safety.

“Joey Richardson, the rest of Division IV better take notice. He’s a beast,” Clauss said.

Richardson was a running back and cornerback last year, but Clauss asked him to set up into the QB role with former three-year starter and All-State quarterback Todd Sheppard graduating.

“With the type of offense we run, a flexbone triple option offense, you take your best athlete and make him your quarterback. He stepped up,” Clauss said. “He just scratched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to playing quarterback, and that should be scary for the rest of the division.”

Richardson will have the best protection in the division with a veteran-laden offensive line in front of him that includes senior captains Jason Doyle and Luke Jackson along with juniors Ronan Hetherman and Alex Stuart and senior Bohden Esty-Lennon.

“We know that’s our strength,” Clauss said. “They’re game-changers. They were the first ones off the ball, and that makes the difference. When you’re the first one off the ball every single time, if you block better, if you tackle better, you win the game. It doesn’t matter who you play.”

The Giants pressed that advantage early on Saturday night. Out of Newfound’s 28 players, 20 of them are freshmen or sophomores, and Brady’s defense picked apart the Bears.

Hetherman (three tackles for loss, sack), Richardson (two interceptions), Jackson (two tackles-for-loss, fumble recovery), Lafleur (two TFL, sack), sophomore Chase Thomas (interception, TFL), Doyle (TFL, sack), sophomore Jack Sheppard (TFL), Esty-Lennon (TFL) and junior Daniel Shedd (TFL) all made big plays defensively for the Giants, although they didn’t break onto the scoreboard until late in the first half.

Richardson ran around the edge for a 16-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 with 3:20 left in the second quarter. Newfound sophomore quarterback Abe Furtado (2-for-11, 12 passing yards, three interceptions) was picked off by Thomas on the first play from scrimmage to give Brady the ball on the 25. Richardson connected with Lafleur on the next play to make it 14-0 with 3:06 left.

Freshman running back Ryan Hennessey had the most touches for the Bears, but he fumbled on the first play after the ensuing kickoff, which Jackson recovered at the Brady 25. Two plays later Richardson found the end zone with 1:43 on the clock.

He also punched a 2-yard run up the middle early in the third quarter for the only score of the second half.

Out of the 49 plays Newfound ran from scrimmage, only 15 were for positive yardage.

Clauss also highlighted two soccer players-turned-football players, junior Cole Chandler (30 yards on five carries) and senior Anthony Dow (4-for-4 kicking extra points and four touchbacks off kickoffs), for stepping up in their first-ever gridiron games.

“Thank you to our AD (Annie Mattarazzo) and our soccer coach (Carlos Fuertes), who understands that we’re all in this together,” Clauss said. “We found things tonight, and that’s really exciting.”

Regardless of the roles each Giant played in Saturday’s opener, an important aspect of Brady’s ‘ironman football’ approach is being able to play multiple positions at a moment’s notice. There are only 21 players on the Brady roster, and only 16 were suited up for action on Saturday due to injuries.

“We really work hard in practice with pretending that injuries happen and moving guys around,” Clauss said. “Everybody is cross-trained. It’s what we have to do. We’re a team that’s going to face adversity because of our numbers, but they pulled together instead of getting pulled apart.”

Franklin 7, Farmington-Nute 6

Last season the Golden Tornadoes were one victory away from reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2018, but lost their season finale on a fourth-quarter field goal to dash that dream.

Now Franklin has another chance and is off to a good start following Saturday’s season-opening victory at home.

Senior Harrison Kaplan’s 21-yard sweep in the second quarter gave the Tornadoes a 7-0 lead. That play was set up by a 30-yard pass by junior quarterback Nate Holmes to senior Cole Johnson.

Holmes, a receiver last year, is taking over for First Team All-State quarterback Zeke McCoy, who graduated as one of the most decorated athletes in Franklin High School history. It’s a big loss, but Holmes is ready to step in and is joined by a speedy backfield that includes juniors Cam Labrecque, George Sarkis and David Ranlet and first-year players Johnson and senior Chase Currier.

Holmes will have the benefit of playing behind an experienced offensive line that includes All-State senior tackle Matt Nason, junior center Tyler Bennett, senior guard Allen Emery and junior guard Jacob Adler.

Farmington-Nute scored on a touchdown pass to cut Franklin’s lead to 7-6, but the Tigers failed on the two-point conversion. Freshman Tucker Pope, Sarkis and Nason all had sacks in a late-game defensive stand to preserve the Tornadoes’ win.

“The Tornadoes are absolutely looking at a deep playoff run on the strength of its returning players, as well as the group of new players that will make an immediate impact,” returning head coach Tim Snow said.

Hillsboro-Deering 38, Winnisquam 21

For the first time in school history, Hillsboro-Deering High School has a standalone football program and the Hillcats opened their inaugural season with a road victory over the Bears.

H-D led 14-7 at the end of the first half but exploded in the third quarter, taking a 38-7 lead.

Junior quarterback Joshuwa Perron (4-for-6, 59 passing yards, 3-yard TD run), junior Robert King (229 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, plus a pair of two-point conversions and a kick return TD), sophomore Andrew Abair (rushing touchdown, 16 yards on three carries, two two-point conversions) and junior Dan Richard (43 yards on five carries) led the Hillcat offense.

Although the Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton cooperative team that had existed since 2014 dissolved when Hopkinton dropped from the program, H-D contributed the lion’s share of the players in recent years and has 17 returning players from last year’s team.

Captain Logan Lane (offensive line and inside linebacker) is the lone senior on the roster, although H-D has a large and talented group of juniors. Junior captains King (tailback and outside linebacker), Perron (quarterback and safety) and Jake Iadonisi (offensive lineman and inside linebacker) provide leadership and experience on both sides of the ball.

H-D will host a football game for the first time in the history of the program when Franklin travels to Hillsboro next Saturday.