After players have been selected for the CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game, they take a trip to the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock to meet some of the kids the game is designed to benefit.
But nobody needs to explain the importance of the game to Carter Doherty, a 2016 captain and tight end for the Laconia High Sachems. Doherty understands from his own experience.
“My cousin was born three months premature last year. He went to CHaD and they saved his life,” Doherty said before Team East held a practice at Manchester Memorial High School on Monday. “Having this opportunity to do something I love, playing football, and raising money for kids in need – it’s just a great thing.”
The sixth annual CHaD game will kickoff Friday at 7 p.m. at Saint Anselm College. Doherty is one of three Laconia players featured in the annual all-star game, a showcase of the top graduating high school football players in New Hampshire. Doherty will play alongside fellow Sachems James McDonald and Jacob Filgate. The state is split down the middle with players from across all three divisions representing their schools and region.
Laconia Coach Craig Kozens, who led the East team to its first two wins in 2015 and 2016, is back to coach the team for a third year. West won the first three games beginning in 2012.
“The locker room is full of captains and leaders and it’s just natural,” Kozens said. “That’s what happens when you pick a team like this. It’s just a great opportunity to coach these kinds of kids because they’re special, they have special character, special ability. They’re great all-around kids, so it’s pretty easy.”
Filgate, Doherty and McDonald were captains for the Sachems in 2016, combining athletic skill with the mentality of a leader that Kozens looks for when building the all-star roster.
“To have them all make this squad and get to coach them one more time is always a neat thing,” Kozens said. “I’m really proud. They’ve had a great week, they’ve represented the school and our program well, so I have high expectations for them to continue into the game and have a successful opportunity in the game.”
The game offers a final chance for the three to play together before their lives go in different directions. Filgate, a running back and linebacker, is the only one with plans to play football in college when he attends Concordia University in Montreal this fall. Doherty is heading to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and McDonald will begin his college career at NHTI in Concord. Both plan to study accounting.
“It’s awesome to get one more crack at it with some of my best friends,” Filgate said.
Playing one last game under Kozens is special, too.
“Every kid thinks their coach is the coach,” said McDonald, an offensive and defensive lineman. “You want to listen to him (because) he’s the best one there. To see that he truly is the guy that I’ve always pictured him to be, that he’s the best coach you can get … he’s always preached ‘good people first, good player second’ and he lives that day-to-day. He’s a good guy and (the players) all respond and listen to him very well, which is a cool thing to see.”
The summer game has grown rapidly as it enters its sixth year raising money for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The event has so far generated more than $200,000 this year and more than $1 million for the organization in total.
Seven players from the capital area were selected to participate. Kody Hardy and Reid Ljungholm of Concord and Hopkinton’s Henry Yianakopolos will play for the West team. Bow’s Nate Alford was also chosen but is sitting out of the game with an injury.
The trio from Laconia said they feel lucky to have the CHaD game be the final one of their high school careers.
“It’s cool to have one last hit with the guys,” McDonald said. “We grew together as kids. We were all terrified freshmen. It’s cool to go from young kids who were terrified to confident men and being able to play one last game with your best friends … I’m very blessed and happy that I’m able to do this.”
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)