HANOVER — A cacophony of noise descended upon Hanover High’s turf field in the waning minutes of regulation Friday night.

Dozens of stomping feet rattled the bleachers. Parents’ voices clamored from the sidelines. The Hanover student section, glued to the chain-link fence at the back of the end zone, cheered — and jeered — with all their might.

Bears junior running back John Taylor couldn’t hear any of it. He was locked in.

Two hours earlier, the Bears took the field against Trinity, last year’s NHIAA Division III state champions, in what would become a back-and-forth affair, one that needed overtime to decide the victor. Despite the season-opening 27-21 defeat, it was a good launching point for Hanover, which fields a roster laden with nearly 30 underclassmen.

After falling flat in a preseason scrimmage against D-I Keene, Bears coach Sam Cavallaro wanted to see how his team would respond to adversity.

“They accomplished that goal,” Cavallaro said. “They raised up and clawed and fought back (late).”

Hanover’s opening drives of the first and third quarters were both capped by a rushing score from senior David Frechette, who finished the day with 255 yards on the ground. But Trinity was able to respond in both cases.

The Pioneers strung together several stops before closing the first half with a rushing score of their own to tie the game at 7-7. Frechette’s second rushing touchdown was immediately followed by an 86-yard kickoff return from Trinity junior Davey Durepo. A third touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter handed the Pioneers a 21-13 lead.

Cavallaro had leaned on his experienced running back trio — composed of Frechette, Taylor and senior Tanner Longmoore — all game. Now he needed one more push from with 5 minutes, 16 seconds left on the clock.

Frechette used his speed to run outside the defenders and propelled Hanover down the field. He accounted for 60 yards on five carries in that drive, which was aided by a couple solid bursts from Taylor, to position the Bears two yards from the end zone.

“On that trips play, you have me, John (Taylor) and Caleb (Franklin); once we push that block out, he just takes off and gets right up field,” said Longmoore of Frechette. “He probably has the best jump cuts I’ve seen.”

With under two minutes remaining, Frechette and Taylor lined up alongside each other in the backfield. The Bears needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion. And it was fourth-and-inches.

Everyone, from the Trinity faithful to the team’s players and coaches, seemed prepared for another pitch play to Frechette. The Pioneer defense had begun cheating to Frechette’s side as a result.

So when Cavallaro asked his players what he thought the play call should be, the answer was emphatic: give Taylor the ball.

“Every one of them says, ‘Hey, they’re keying on (Frechette), can we draw up a play where we go opposite of them?’ ” Cavallaro said. “So we have this torpedo motion and we showed a play, a formation, we hadn’t run all night, and I think (Trinity) was a little confused about it.”

The play worked not once, but twice. Following a string of lead blockers on the left side, Taylor powered in for the touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion.

After forcing a turnover on downs on Trinity’s next drive, Hanover’s game-winning field goal attempt with 7 seconds left was blocked, sending the game into overtime.

The Bears were repelled at the line of scrimmage on two consecutive carries before quarterback Andrew Frechette rolled out of the pocket on the third down. He tried to squeeze a pass to David Frechette through multiple defenders, but it was batted up and intercepted. Trinity only needed two plays to notch the game-winning touchdown on the subsequent series.

“We’ve been playing seven-on-seven all summer and he’s had bad moments, but he always comes back from it,” David Frechette said of Hanover’s starting quarterback. “He wasn’t too discouraged by (the interception). He’s a good leader; he doesn’t get down when he makes a bad play. And that wasn’t really on him, they were all over me and that was the only option.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.