Newport Football Squaring Off for Sunday’s Championship Game

NEWPORT – The wait is almost over as the top-ranked Newport football team is set to take on Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough Sunday in New Hampshire’s Division III championship at UNH.

The Tigers earned their second-straight trip to the title game behind a relatively easy regular season, and convincing wins over the first two rounds of the tournament.

Coach Larry McElreavy’s team rolled through its regular-season schedule a perfect 8-0, with its closest contest coming in a 14-8 victory over Franklin in Week 7. From there, Newport rolled its way to a 56-12 victory over Somersworth in Round 1 behind an impressive five-touchdown effort from running back Noah Wade, before an equally impressive 47-7 victory over Bow in last weekend’s semifinal.

And in that game, it was wide receiver Stephan Nix who turned most heads with a three-touchdown performance that included a pair of beautiful catches on passes from quarterback Dylan McNamara. The Tigers will be up against an Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough team it faced once during the regular season, in which Newport came away on the winning side of a 34-21 decision.

The Tigers will still be weary though, after falling to a Campbell team during last year’s title game that it also beat during the regular season. Newport will need more big things from the two-headed running back dup of Wade and CJ Lawrence, as well as big plays from the likes of Nix and McNamara to avenge last year’s loss with a coveted title.

Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m., so good luck to those Tigers.