For four straight seasons, this game has been a Hanover formality. The Bears have won the last four meetings by a combined score of 152-32 — 35-0 last September, 42-12 in 2024, 35-6 in 2023, 40-14 in 2022 — with Milford’s last win in the series coming back in 2021, a 34-7 result. Hanover comes into this game with something to prove to the rest of the state, and more importantly, to themselves. Both teams open west division play coming off Week 1 games that pointed in opposite directions, and both are fielding rosters that look meaningfully different from the ones that took the field a year ago.
Where each team stands after Week 1
Milford opened at Pembroke Academy and won going away, 30-6. Hanover hosted Plymouth and lost 18-11.
The records deserve context in both directions. Pembroke has now dropped ten consecutive games dating back to last season, so Milford’s margin may say more about the opponent than it does about the Spartans. Plymouth, meanwhile, is a D-II perennial contender. A seven-point loss to Plymouth is a more informative result than a 24-point win over Pembroke and the New Hampshire football pundits took notice of that result.
On3’s projection model is forecasting a Hanover 34, Milford 13 finish giving Hanover an 88 percent win probability.
Hanover: experienced, but not the same team
On paper, Hanover returns eight strong starters on offense and eight on defense in Gentine’s second season, anchored by senior quarterback EJ Frechette, Caleb Franklin (WR/DB), William Freitag (G/DE), Hudson Wilmot (C/ILB), Andre Whyte (OT/DT), Peak Temple (TE/S), Jack Richardson (RB/OLB), and junior kicker Dima Petrov (K/WR/DE). In addition, several sophomores saw meaningful action at special teams or as reserves last year and junior Blake Colla (OT/DT) started Hanover’s close playoff loss to the eventual state champion.
However, Gentine acknowledged in August that the team was working to “fill the void after the loss of some key 2025 senior contributors like John Taylor and Roy Lucas,” describing the group as “a young team with some untested varsity players who are working hard to learn the nuances of the game”. Taylor and Lucas were the engine of last year’s 35-0 win over Milford — Taylor ran for 81 yards and two scores, Lucas broke the game open with a
44-yard touchdown catch, and Frechette threw for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
While they did not give up many chunk plays last week and forced Plymouth to earn yards on each play to sustain drives, at times the Bears were unable to shut down the line of scrimmage and fill gaps quickly enough on defense to force changes in possession. Scoring only eleven points against Plymouth, albeit a very strong opponent, reflects an offense still figuring out who its playmakers are.
What Hanover unquestionably has is size up front. Colla, Freitag, Wilmot, Argenti and Whyte are one of the biggest lines in NH. That front battled well against an experienced, strong and physical Plymouth defensive line. Imposing their will in the running game against less tested opponents is the next step this unit must take.
Milford: a new look and a new lead back
Third-year head coach Max Morelli brings back seven starters on each side of the ball off a 2-7 campaign, with a veteran group up front and at linebacker: Ryan Lewis (Sr. OL/DL), Marcus Kern (Sr. TE/LB), Gavin Tessier (Sr. RB/DB), Rocco Bartling (Jr. OL/DL) and Jack McAllister (Jr. OL/LB), backed by a large sophomore class in Xavier Torres, Parker Eaton, Max Cote, Mason Wheeler and Lucas Neubeck.
The most important change is Jacob Hill. The junior stepped in at quarterback last fall out of necessity; this year he opened the season in a new role at running back and scored twice in the first quarter at Pembroke. Jace Wilhemi added a fourth-quarter touchdown to salt the game away.
Morelli was candid in the preseason about where his program sits: “We will still be on the young side, but it’s a group that has more varsity experience than a typical roster that’s constructed the way ours is… we have to keep getting better faster than everyone else does”.
Three things that will decide it
1. Hanover’s front seven against the downhill run. Milford did not throw its way past Pembroke — Hill and Wilhemi ran through them, and Hill’s touchdowns came on explosive early plays. Hanover surrendered three touchdowns to a run-first Plymouth team. Gap discipline from the defensive line and linebacking corps is the single biggest variable in this game.
2. Hanover’s offensive line against Milford’s youth up front. Milford rotates three sophomores through the line and linebacker corps. If Hanover can be successful running behind its size rather than relying solely on its skill group to win in space, that’s the most reliable path to controlling the clock — and the surest way to keep Hill on the sideline.
3. Special teams and finishing drives. Hanover moved the ball against Plymouth but stalled in the red zone. Petrov is a proven elite specialist in this matchup. In an early season game more likely to be decided in the teens, field goals and the field-position battle carry real weight.
The bottom line
Hanover is the more experienced team, has already been tested by a far better opponent, and holds a clear advantage in the trenches. Milford is more confident than it has been in three years, gets the ball to its best athlete in Hill, and is at home.
Prediction: Hanover 24, Milford 10 — provided the Bears can contain Hill.