BRISTOL, N.H. (WHDH) – The New Hampshire State Police – Marine Patrol is investigating the death of a man whose body was recovered from Newfound Lake.

State Police were notified by a paddle boarder around 11 a.m. Saturday of a possible body in the water near Lakeside Road in Bristol. Members of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department also responded and then located and removed the body of an adult male, later identified as John Quinlan, 77, of East Weymouth, Massachusetts.

An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted by the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday.

The New Hampshire State Police – Marine Patrol was assisted at the scene by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, the Bristol Police Department, and the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Marine Patrol Sgt. Joshua Dirth at Joshua.E.Dirth@dos.nh.gov or (603) 227-2115.

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SACO – An early lead had been cut in half and early momentum was starting to slip away, but the Thornton Academy football team still appeared to be in good shape to go into the halftime break Saturday with a seven-point against New Hampshire powerhouse Bedford.

And then a poorly-timed breakdown caused the scales of the game to tip for good.

Bedford scored a touchdown on the final play of the first half, then rode a dominant second half to a 35-21 victory in a matchup of reigning state champions. The Bulldogs (2-0) are two-time defending Division I champions in New Hampshire, and Thornton (1-1) won Maine’s Class A title last year.

“They played harder. … They made some adjustments at halftime, we tried to make some adjustments at halftime,” Thornton Coach Kevin Kezal said. “It’s hard. You can’t get real big plays against them because they’re so athletic. … The minute you get behind the stakes, it’s really hard to generate offense against them.”

It was the third matchup in as many years between the two programs, and Bedford has won all three. This one required some fortitude, however, as Thornton, aided by Bulldogs mistakes, held a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter and a 21-20 advantage in the third.

“Starting down 14-0 is never easy, so we just told the guys that we needed to bounce back and put that in the past,” said Bedford quarterback Jack Maye, who was 15 of 18 passing for 234 yards and two touchdowns while running for a third score. “And getting that ball back with 30 seconds to go obviously helped us to score in that last-second drive. … It was a great momentum shift.”

The game started in ideal fashion for the Trojans, who came up with some opportunistic plays. Stevo Jones had an interception and Dominic Hussey recovered a fumble to end promising Bedford drives, and a 13-yard screen pass from Wyatt Benoit to Jackson Paradis and 88-yard run from Mauricio Sunderland (13 carries, 162 yards) propelled Thornton to a 14-0 lead.

After a 16-yard run from Helton cut the lead in half, Thornton was forced to punt with 26 seconds remaining. Bedford had no timeouts but put together a perfect drive, as Maye connected with Noah Cassamassino for 18 yards and Bennett Matthews (seven catches, 76 yards) for seven before hitting Peter Suozzo (four catches, 106 yards), who got behind the defense, for a 28-yard touchdown as time expired.

“Huge. Momentum in these games is everything,” Bedford Coach Zach Matthews said. “The fact that they could have gone in, they should have gone in to halftime up 14-7, and now it’s a tie game, I think is absolutely deflating for them. … It got our kids thinking ‘All right, this is our game now to win.’ ”

It wasn’t Thornton’s last time with the lead. After Maye scored on a 15-yard keeper to open the second half, Bedford missed the extra point. Jones then returned the ensuing kick 81 yards for a touchdown and a 21-20 lead.

But the Bulldogs had found their rhythm. Maye completed 11 passes in a row, and his 56-yard pass to Suozzo put Bedford back in front, 28-21.

Helton (18 carries, 180 yards) used his bruising style to batter the Trojans on the ground. His 6-yard score made it 35-21 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

“Our mentality is, no matter the score, we can win the game,” Helton said. “We’re a third-quarter team. … We came out at half and were like ‘We’ve got to punch these kids in the mouth right from here.’”

Connor Ayoob ran 15 times for 56 yards for Thornton, which was facing perhaps its toughest test on the schedule.

“We kind of broke down right before the half,” Kezal said. “But I liked the way our kids responded. We went out, they scored again, and we returned a kick. Our kids battled. It’s a great game for us. Bedford is the best in New Hampshire, so it’s a great opportunity for our kids to test themselves against a really good, quality opponent.”

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Fall is almost here in New England, which means New Hampshire is about to erupt in fall colors.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, leaves can change their color from as early as mid-September all the way through early November. However, the exact timing of fall colors, as well as how vivid they are, depends on the location and weather of the year.

Many weather factors can affect the fall color show, including drought, precipitation and warmer temperatures. The Climate Prediction Center predicts a warmer-than-average fall for nearly the entire U.S., which can lower the intensity of autumn colors, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac still predicts a great year for fall foliage in New England, recommending people take a trip to the White Mountains for the show.

And they’re not the only ones. Here’s a look at two of the other key forecasts.

Where and when leaves are predicted to change

Here’s a breakdown of how the 2024 foliage is predicted to change across the U.S., according to maps from the Smoky Mountains website:

As seen in these maps, the vibrant fall hues which New Hampshire is so well-known for are expected to peak in the first half of October. The region’s colorful foliage displays bring in about ten million leafpeepers each year.

Here is a map from AccuWeather showing the best month for autumn colors across the country:

Like the Smoky Mountains, AccuWeather predicts that New England’s best month for foliage will be October, with most of the region peaking in the early or middle parts of the month. According to this map, northern corners of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine could see an earlier peak in late September, while Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts will peak later in October.

More: Visit these six Eastern Mass. parks and trails to view great foliage this fall

How leaves change color in the fall

As plants receive less and less sunlight in the shortened days of fall, the production of chlorophyll, a substance which makes the leaves appear green by saturating them through turning sunlight into glucose, slows down. Without chlorophyll, the “true” color of leaves comes through, according to the Smoky Mountains website.

Changed leaves then begin to fall off their branches as the trees close off their veins in preparation for protection in winter, meaning the leaves no longer receive nutrients and therefore weaken at the stem.

SOURCE: The National Forest Service, SmokyMountains.com, ExploreFall.com

Doyle Rice and Janet Loehrke of USA Today contributed to this report.