Cougars’ homecoming comes with unwelcome defeat

The ConVal football team let an opportunity slip away against Hanover at homecoming on Friday night. Behind the powerful rushing attack of Wetu Selby, however, the Cougars still have a shot at the NHIAA Division II playoffs. 

Under the lights, ConVal took the lead twice over the visiting Bears, both times thanks to rushing scores from Selby. But Hanover’s twin receiving attack of Alek Litvinoff (three catches, 83 yards, two touchdowns) and Peak Temple (three catches, 103 yards, two touchdowns) proved too much for the Cougars to overcome, and the home team ultimately fell 34-22.

“They brought it,” said ConVal running back and captain Gabe Michaud after the game. “They wanted it. They just wanted it more than us. That’s football. They wanted it more than us. But you know what? We’ll see them in playoffs. Because you know what? We’re going to win out.”

Michaud (40 rushing yards) added some offense to another stellar night from Selby, the star ConVal running back who rushed for 284 yards and three touchdowns. The Cougars (1-3) outgained the Bears (2-2) on the ground for the evening, 354-69. 

Selby already broke the ConVal single-game touchdown record earlier this season, but Cougars coach Brad Davis — the man whose record Selby broke — thinks he’s capable of even more.

“I told him going into this game, ‘You’ve got to do more, because you’re the man,’ and he knows that there’s no hiding it anymore,” Davis said. “So to get the kind of runs, get the yardage he wants to get that we need him to get, he’s got to do more. And he did more.

“He didn’t break any long, long ones, but you could see the explosiveness out of him. And they were trying to stop him. So to get that kind of the kind of yardage, those kind of gains, those kind of plays against a team that’s trying to shut you down is a big thing.”

As good as ConVal was at running the ball, Hanover was at passing it. Quarterback EJ Frechette threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the Cougars’ Kurt Dean (6-for-14, 68 yards, 2 interceptions) was bottled up through the air save for a big 34-yard fourth-down conversion to Ace Stevens that set up ConVal’s final touchdown. Dean was forced to scramble out of the pocket on most passing plays and ended up taking a licking but battled through. 

“We had good effort across the board,” Davis said. “I don’t think anybody was holding back this game, which was good to see. Nobody had anything left in the tank after that.

“We preached to them in practice all week (that) we have an ’empty-the-tank’ period. And it’s for this fourth quarter, for these kind of situations, where you just got to leave it all out in the field.”

ConVal lost its lead on a 1-yard toss to Litvinoff toward end of the first half and then got its back broken on the first play of the second half, when Litvinoff caught a ball over the middle and broke free for a 74-yard score to widen the Cougars’ deficit to 28-16.

The ConVal offense took a hit early on when Spencer Bishop was hobbled with a leg injury, as he’d been playing well thus far this season. Linebacker/guard Liam Kimball and linemen Jason Guertin, Cayden Park, Ayden Costi and Ivan Jaimes all had good games as well, Davis said.

Eight teams will get into the D-II football playoffs, the top seeds from the East and West divisions and the next six highest-ranking teams based on the NHIAA’s point-rating system. With Plymouth, Merrimack Valley, Souhegan and Milford all 4-0 and seemingly locked in near the top, there will be four other spots up for grabs.

Selby and the Cougars intend to get one. 

“It’s so much emotion,” Selby said. “Senior year, I feel like I’ve got to try harder and bring us to the playoffs, because I don’t want to leave here without leaving a track. I want more people coming in with an a good note, because this team means a lot to me.

“We’re a family. I grew up with this team. … I just want to leave with something that they can remember.”

ConVal’s road continues at Pelham (3-1) on Friday.