Craig Newcomb is proud to follow in his father’s footsteps as he prepares to represent New Hampshire in this summer’s Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl. The only difference he hopes for is to come away with a win, something his father, Rick, did not get to experience in the summer of 1979.
Saturday’s game will be a challenge for Newcomb and the rest of the pack from New Hampshire. Vermont blasted the Granite State, 50-2, last August. The defeat not only snapped a 15-year stretch of victories for New Hampshire – marking the end of a dominant era – but also stands as the widest scoring margin in the games 63-year history.
This year, New Hampshire arrives in Castleton, Vt., as the underdog.
“There’s some athletes on this team, so I think we’re going to make something work,” said Newcomb, who was named a starting offensive tackle for New Hampshire.
Quarterback Joe Bernard, a graduate of Bishop Brady, would rather leave last year’s game in the past.
“Last year obviously hurt,” Bernard said. “We’ve been hearing about how hard that loss was. The fact of the matter is we have new kids now, we’re going to go out there and we’ve got some skill. We can throw, we can run, we’ve got good routes, we’ve got big linemen, we’re fast – that’s what we’re going to do. All we can do is go out there and play as hard as we can.”
New Hampshire still owns the all-time record in the game at 47-14-2. The teams will meet on the field at Castleton University in Vermont on Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
New Hampshire’s dominance of the annual border game was curbed after a new rule was introduced in 2015 allowing New Hampshire players to participate in just one all-star game each year. Now, players are forced to choose between the Shrine game and the annual CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game held earlier in the summer.
Bernard, who quarterbacked Brady to the Division III semifinals where they fell to Inter-Lakes/Moultonborough last fall, was named the starting quarterback on Friday. He’ll share signal-calling duties with Merrimack Valley’s Evan Martin and Jeff Baldassari of Nashua North. Martin is slated to start at wide receiver on Saturday. Tight end Liam Flanagan of Hopkinton and receiver Isaiah Singleton of Winnisquam were also selected to the team.
Flanagan was named a team captain along with Noah Fioravante (Sanborn Regional), Brennan French (Windham) and Richard Bell (Stevens). New Hampshire is coached by Rob Catchcart of Trinity High School. The linebackers coach is Jim Coll of Merrimack Valley.
All-star games can be especially memorable for the players, with many playing in an organized football game for the final time before heading to college. They are thrown together with other players they are meeting for the first time. A new playbook lands on their desk with only a handful of weeks to learn and practice.
Since arriving in Castleton on Sunday, the New Hampshire players have worked through multiples practices and team meetings each day. Bernard said there were a few mistakes at first, but as gameday quickly approached the team has found its rhythm on both sides of the ball.
“Maybe we’re a little bit confused at first but once we really sit down and talk about it we start to get it,” Bernard said. “We really just jumped into everything and have been repping it out as much as possible. Trying to get the timing down with the receivers, trying to get the cadence down and getting the offensive line used to my voice. It’s all new guys so it should be fun.”
Fans can buy tickets at the gate for $15. All proceeds benefit Shriners Hospital for Children. The game has generated $4.5 million since its inception in 1954.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3338, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)