Castleton, Vt.
He’s also hoping last year’s lopsided score was only a fluke.
Vermont defeated New Hampshire at Castleton University last summer, 50-2, the Green Mountain State’s first win since 2000. It was also the most lopsided score in Shrine Game history, the most points scored by a winning team since New Hampshire put up 62 points in 2012 and a rare show of Vermont dominance in a showcase that, historically, has been won by Granite State squads.
“Certainly, there’s always those concerns. We’re sensitive to that,” Morris said on Tuesday during the Shrine Game’s media luncheon outside Castleton’s Spartan Stadium. “We don’t look at our game and say, ‘This is how we’ve always done it.’ We’re always looking for change.
“If you go back three, four, five years, Vermont was on the low end of some lopsided scores. The attendance at Dartmouth was declining. I’m not saying that’s why we moved here, but we’ve been here four years now (and) our attendance has been phenomenal.”
This year’s Shrine Game, set for Saturday at 5:30 p.m., will be the fourth consecutive at Castleton. Dartmouth College’s Memorial Field held the event for much of its history before the Castleton move, and Morris admitted he’s heard the concerns from southern New Hampshire residents that the current location is too far away.
On top of the Shrine Game’s move, the CHaD East-West Game has cut into New Hampshire’s talent pool, since athletes playing in one are forbidden from playing in the other. Granite State athletes are being asked to populate three All-Star rosters, two East-West teams and a New Hampshire Shrine team. Vermont, on the other hand, only has to fill one team, giving its coaches free reign to choose the state’s best players.
Morris said he and his colleagues are still studying whether having the Shrine Game so far away from southern New Hampshire has any kind of effect. The competition level of Saturday’s game, he said, would be studied closely.
“How do you tinker with a one-game average? … We’re still analyzing last year,” Morris said. “Both coaches came in thinking they had great teams. Talking with past coaches and present officials and other Shriners, asking, ‘What happened last year? No. 1, did this really just happen, and do we need to look at this now?’ In talking to some of the coaches and officials coming into this year, they said let’s do it the same so that we’re looking at a two-game average.”
For the players, first and foremost is charity work that comes from participation. The Shrine Game has raised $4.5 million for various Shriners’ hospitals in its first 62 years. Net proceeds from this year’s game benefit the Springfield Shriners’ Hospital in Springfield, Mass., the Montreal Shriners’ Hospital and the Burns Institute in Boston.
“Obviously, everyone’s here to win, but we’re here for the kids and all the kids at the Shriners’ hospital,” said Hartford High lineman Khant Thu, who headed to the University of Vermont to study biology. “That’s where my mindset is.”
Added Stevens’ Richard Bell, who’s playing football at Plymouth State in the fall: “Really, it’s about the kids. It’s a great cause and a great thing to play football for.”
For some, the thought that Saturday’s game might be their last time playing competitive football makes this week’s preparation extra special. For others, it’s a stepping stone before hitting the road to college football teams across the country.
Still, it takes a little while to get back into the swing of things.
“It’s not the conditioning part; that comes back to you after the first couple of days,” said Stevens High grad Zach O’Brien, who is headed to Keene State in the fall. “But it’s trying to run the same routes that you used to at full-speed, having a different quarterback than you’re used to.”
Nate Perkins, the Lebanon High grad headed to Stevenson (Md.) College, was a late addition to the New Hampshire roster. Like Bell, Perkins has used this week to get a sense of what college football will be like.
“When I found out I wasn’t playing, I used that as motivation, getting ready for college, getting my lifting in,” Perkins said. “I’ve wanted to play Shrine since watching it my freshman year.”
Bell said this week has gotten him in better shape for college training camp later this month.
“It gets us, I wouldn’t say in shape, but it definitely conditions us for the environment, how much sleep we’re going to be getting,” he said. “It’s like a little training camp before the actual training camp.”
For Hollis Brookline grad Jack Byrne, Saturday’s game is likely his last hurrah playing football. It’s a bittersweet feeling after going through his fall season thinking this was his last season. For Byrne, Saturday’s game is a gift, one more chance to take the field in pads.
“I’ll probably be barfing (on Saturday),” he said. “I’m already anxious about it. Football has always done that to me.”
New Hampshire’s squad also features Mascoma’s Sheldon Farnsworth, Newport’s Jacob Merritt and Hanover’s Will Chambers. Hartford’s Brian Moran, Bailey Nott and Brett MacLaren, Windsor’s Hunter Patenaude and Woodstock’s Dan Robinson will play for Vermont.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.