BOW – On paper the Pythons and their 41-game win streak – the longest in the state and the fourth longest in the nation – looked vulnerable. With most of last year’s starters graduated, an injured starting quarterback and a resignation by their new head coach one day before the season opener, a loss would have been understandable. But regardless of whatever circumstances the Pelham High School football team experienced in the 24 hours before kickoff, none of it seemed to matter when the Pythons took the field.

The Bow Falcons played well in stretches, but two-time defending Division II champions Pelham made more big plays and untimely second half penalties proved costly for the Falcons as the Pythons kept their streak alive with a 34-13 season-opening victory.

“I was mostly disappointed in the number of penalties that we had and I was disappointed in the inconsistent play,” Bow head coach Paul Cohen said. “When we play the way we’re capable of, clearly we showed some flashes of brilliance.”

Pelham received the opening kickoff, but ran just two plays before Bow sophomore lineman Dale Berg recovered a fumbled handoff to give the Falcons possession. The Falcons couldn’t take advantage of that opportunity and Python senior running back Nathan Migliore (106 yards on four carries) scored a 92-yard touchdown just a few plays later to give Pelham an early 6-0 lead.

Bow junior Chase Flagg (32 yards on five carries) forced a fumble and Berg recovered it, setting up senior quarterback Brady Lover (2-for-7, 56 passing yards, 38 rush yards on carries) for a 17-yard touchdown run to tie the game, 6-6, before the end of the opening quarter.

Then Pelham senior running back Junior MacKinnon (127 yards on 16 carries) took over, breaking through Bow’s line for a 41-yard gain, setting up the first of his three touchdowns (Migliore ran in the two-point conversion) and catching a two-point conversion after Justin Bowlan’s 6-yard TD run to give the Pythons a 22-6 halftime lead.

The Falcons showed signs of life early in the third quarter with Lover (playing as a running back in the second half with Jack Wheeler under center) scoring an 18-yard touchdown on the first drive of the half to cut Pelham’s lead to 22-13.

Bow committed five of its seven total penalties in the second half, including two personal fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct, enabling MacKinnon’s 17-yard touchdown catch from backup quarterback Kevin Hardy (2-for-2, 48 passing yards) and a 10-yard TD run up the middle in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

Hardy also had an interception to end Bow’s final drive.

“We had (playing both quarterbacks) as part of our plan anyway, to work both of them in the first game in high pressure situations to see how they developed from a year ago,” Cohen said. “But Pelham is a good football team. They took advantage of the things we did wrong.”

On the other sideline, the Pythons experienced what was surely a rollercoaster of emotions in the day leading up Saturday’s opener. Pelham, a program that last lost on Sept. 20, 2019 and has won two D-III and two D-II championships since then, hired John Trisciani as head coach over the summer, but Trisciani submitted his resignation on Thursday night and was received by administration Friday morning.

New athletic director Justin Hufft, who also started over the summer after previously working as Goffstown’s athletic director and head football coach, stepped in as acting head coach. 

He declined to comment on personnel matters.

“I’m happy for the kids. They played really hard. I’m so proud of the way the kids played,” Hufft said. “They had some really good leadership from their senior captains and overcame some early mistakes.”

While Pelham committed eight penalties overall, they cost less yardage than Bow’s seven penalties and the Pythons did a better job keeping their composure in the second half.

“I thought they really kept their heads about them,” Hufft said. “Stayed disciplined and didn’t respond to the personal foul stuff late.”

Pelham only returned four starters this season, and one of them, starting quarterback Nick Muise, was injured in a preseason jamboree. But Saturday’s result showed that Pelham is still the team to beat in D-II and it will take a consistent performance to beat them.

“We need to put it together completely,” Cohen said. “We had a good preseason. We did well against Concord in a scrimmage, we did well against Laconia last week and we fell short today. … I told them from the first night of conditioning back in June, ‘If you want to have a winning season, you’ve got to show up, you’ve got to labor intensely, and you have to be consistent on the field.’” 

Bow hopes to find that consistency again when the Falcons next play at Merrimack Valley (0-1) on Friday night. Pelham also plays on Friday night in a home game against John Stark (1-0).