Newport
“Let’s put it this way,” said Borcuk on Monday. “I spent seven hours mowing this field on Sunday.”
That field is the plot of land adjacent to Maryn Field where the Tigers will have their home games.
“Yes, you can say I’m kind of excited,” said Borcuk, a home-grown Newporter who spent the past 12 years in various junior varsity and assistant coaching jobs with the football program.
Newport, like all football teams in New Hampshire, began practicing for the coming season on Monday. The Tigers, with about 40 players out, started the initial practice session by running a mile. “We’re going to do this every day,” said Bocurk. “We’re going to be in shape.”
And by the looks of Newport’s schedule, not only will the Tigers have to be in shape, but they’ll have to be talented as well. With the change from three to four divisions in NHIAA play, three teams — Laconia, Lebanon and Trinity — all dropped down from Division II to D-III, where the Tigers have lived since the NHIAA’s last reconfiguration. While Newport does not play Trinity, the Tigers will play the Sachems and Raiders on the road.
“I think it’s the toughest schedule since the days were playing the likes of Plymouth and Hanover,” said line coach Bill Thurlow, who’s been with the Tigers for more than 50 years. “Especially the first part of the schedule.”
That first part of the schedule includes an Aug. 31 opener at Lebanon to be followed by games at home against the past two D-III champions, Stevens and Campbell. And it doesn’t get a whole lot easier as other games include matching up D-III finalist Monadnock and the always tough Somersworth Hilltoppers.
Neighboring Kearsarge-Mount Royal is also on the slate.
Asked if he had any doubts about coming back once more, Thurlow said: “I guess it’s in my DNA to come here this time each season.” Thurlow also said that the selection of Borcuk was also a factor in his decision to come back.
Among those running that first mile was junior wide receiver Cody O’Brian, who didn’t seem to be breathing hard after running five times around the practice field. O’Brian said he realized that the schedule is tough and that all the other teams are working hard to achieve the same goals.
“We’ll just have to work harder,” he said.
Newport’s reputation as a football town is well-deserved. The Tigers won their first championship in 1952 when it was known as Towel High School. Ten more state championships have followed, the last in 2015. Legendary coaches has roamed the sidelines, including Jim Ledger, Bob Underhill, Larry Carle and Larry McElreavy, all of whom coached state champions. Richard Boone did not coach a title team the past two seasons, but both his clubs made the postseason before he stepped down from the job earlier this year.
Borcuk said the team will practicing four consecutive hours a day up until next weekend, when the Tigers will be in a seven-team jamboree at Hanover High.
In addition to Thurlow as an assistant another veteran in Kevin Tallman is also back. Tallman has been the head coach at Fall Mountain and Springfield and held assistant jobs in Stevens, Hanover and John Stark. John Proper rounds out the varsity staff, with Jeremy Willey coaching the junior varsity.