The foundation was laid during offseason workouts. It grew stronger during a week of camp in Maine. And now, after weeks of practice and three scrimmages, the camaraderie on the Concord High football team has reached a peak, just in time for Saturday’s season opener at Goffstown.
“I think we can be pretty strong because our chemistry is very good, much better than last year,” said Sean McCready, one of the Crimson Tide’s four senior captains. “Everybody loves everybody and that’s what it’s all about.”
Eric Brown, now in his eighth season as Concord’s head coach, sees the same chemistry.
“This year’s team has really jelled. They’re together. It sounds a little corny because every team says it, but this team really seems together,” Brown said. “We have good leadership and good offseason commitment by most of the kids, so it’s been fun to coach them. They’re receptive to the coaching, first of all, but also because it feels like it really is truly all about the team for them.”
The Tide hopes that team-first attitude leads to an improvement on last year’s 2-7 record. Playing in Division I North won’t make that easy, considering three of the last four state champs have come from that conference, and all three were undefeated – Bedford (2016), Goffstown (2015) and Concord (2013). Plus, the Tide’s cross-conference schedule this year is against a stacked East with teams like Exeter, Winnacunnet, Dover and Portsmouth.
Still, Concord is shooting for a return to the postseason after missing out the last two years.
“We want to be a playoff team, that’s our goal,” Brown said. “Whether that happens or not, we’ll see.”
Obviously Concord will need to play better than it did last season to reach that postseason goal, but the Tide has been headed in that positive direction this summer.
“I think the team has definitely improved with each scrimmage,” senior captain Tim Schneible said. “You watch the film and you can see noticeable improvement. We’re just learning to play with each other and I think the team is really coming together.”
The most noticeable improvement in the last scrimmage, a 16-13 loss to Souhegan on Friday, was on the offensive line. The unit is anchored by the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Schneible, a three-year starter, but after that it’s four new starters – tackles T.J. Celestin (6-3, 210) and Duncan Smith (5-10, 205), center Cam Thompson (5-10, 260) and guard Nate Halleck (5-7, 205).
“Our offensive line really got off the ball (against Souhegan) and took some double teams down field, which is what we didn’t do (in the previous scrimmage) against Nashua North,” Brown said. “And the backs were hitting holes and running hard.”
The Tide has a pair of speedy backs in junior Isaac Gladey and senior captain Gavin Moody, and a bruiser in junior Seth Malachi (5-10, 205), and that group that looks to be one of the team’s strengths. Quarterback Zach Miles, an athletic 5-8 junior who took over as the starter midway through last season, is also a dangerous runner.
“He’s a very mobile quarterback. He’s not a pocket guy. We roll him out and bootleg him and he’s really good with that,” Brown said. “He’s composed and he throws well on the run.”
Miles has a new passing target this year in Jacob Knowles. Even though this is his first year of football, Knowles is such a good athlete that he earned the starting receiver role and will be the team’s punter and kicker. When the Tide gets out of its spread offense and uses a tight end, it will likely be junior Adrian Kennedy (6-2, 185) in that tight end spot. Kennedy can also split out wide along with Spencer Burgess, Liddon Ling and Knowles.
The defense has a pair of senior captains as its backbone – McCready (5-9, 190) at nose tackle and Alex Buteau (6-0, 235) at middle linebacker. Buteau, a returning starter and a talented wrestler, will be joined at middle linebacker by junior Dustin Kay (5-11, 210). McCready will be flanked by tackles Celestin (one of the few two-way players for Concord) and Noah Giffard (5-10, 220), another first-year player with enough natural athleticism to step into a starting role.
Kennedy will also be playing both ways and has one outside linebacker spot locked down. The other outside backer spot is still up in the air with sophomores Max Van Fleet and Ronan McGonigle and senior Sal Rinaldi all in the mix. The defensive backfield will feature Ling, a returning starter, and Manny Feliz as safeties and Moody and Jerome Hall at the corners.
“We still need to work on our aggressiveness, but our chemistry on defense is good,” Buteau said. “We’re learning to play with each other and learning to fly around.”
All these chemistry lessons will be put to the test at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Goffstown, which went 7-2 last season before losing in the first round of the playoffs. It will be a challenge, just like the rest of the schedule, but the Tide is looking forward to it.
“We’re definitely ready,” Moody said. “We’re looking good, looking strong and looking fast.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341, tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)