RallyNorth.net

Windham's debut a success

Friday, September, 03 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

WINDHAM, N.H. — Like many of his Windham High School teammates, junior James Beaulieu dreamed of the Jaguars winning their first-ever varsity football game.

But Beaulieu went a step farther. He wanted to score Windham’s first touchdown.

“I’ve been thinking about it all summer,” said Beaulieu last night. “It was my goal.”

Beaulieu’s dream came true on a misty evening as his 21-yard burst through the line in the second quarter fueled the Jaguars to an impressive 43-23 Division 5 victory in their debut as a varsity team. After scoring, he gave a quick victory jump and exulted in the first of his two touchdowns

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“I wanted to do a victory dance but I didn’t want us to get a penalty,” said Beaulieu. “I was pretty happy about it.”

Trailing 7-0 at the time, the touchdown was the first of five straight for Windham, which led 14-7 at halftime and then pulled away with three straight scores in the third quarter.

Sanborn took the opening kickoff and methodically marched down the field, taking 16 plays and a whopping 11:31 off the clock. Glenn Smith stood out for the Owls, rushing for 42 yards on eight carries, catching a 12-yard scoring strike from Ryan Morris for the score and then kicking the extra point.

“But we always start slow, even in our scrimmages,” said Beaulieu. “We were still confident.”

That confidence was certainly well founded.

From that point on, Windham dominated the line of scrimmage and got hard running from Beaulueu (7 carries, 48 yards, two touchdowns), Scott Priestly (12-73, one touchdown), Kevin Cooney (9-47, one touchdown) and Colby Larsen (6-115, two touchdowns). Overall, the Jaguars rushed for 295 yards on the night.

“For us to get off the ball like that and run the ball so effectively — that was a really good sign,” said Windham coach Bill Raycraft. “Our backs go full speed and give 100 percent every play. That’s all you can ask for.”

While Windham pretty much dominated the final three quarters, there was one play that turned the game around.

Trailing 7-6 in the second quarter and deep in its own territory on a third down, Priestly sent a quick kick downfield. Despite pleas from his coaching staff to leave the ball alone, the Sanborn deep man tried to pounce on the ball. Instead, he fumbled it and Windham recovered.

That led to a 25-yard scoring strike from Joe Lorenz to Larsen, providing a halftime advantage and the momentum for the decisive third quarter.

“There aren’t too many new programs that can win their first game, so we’re happy about that,” said Raycraft. “Coming in, we just wanted to get a game under our belt to know what we need to work on. We did that.”

For Sanborn, Davis finished with 65 yards rushing on 12 carries and Morris completed 11 of 15 passes for 165 yards. Dylan Spence led in receptions with four for 86 yards, the final one being a 50-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter.