West Canaan
Les Lawrence tendered his resignation last month after four seasons in charge of the Royals. Mascoma went 11-22 under Lawrence’s stewardship, making the NHIAA Division III playoffs in 2014 and missing them the last three autumns.
Reached on Monday, Lawrence said his imminent retirement from teaching after some 40 years played into his decision to step down. He also noted the Royals have been hampered by the NHIAA’s three-division structure, something he hopes won’t be an issue when the state expands to a fourth division this fall.
“We had some battles along the way,” Lawrence said in a phone interview from Florida, where he’s on vacation. “In some years, we were the smallest school playing football in the state of New Hampshire, and when the state went from six divisions to three divisions (in 2013), it put ourselves and some other schools in a real bind. That’s the reason why the state is finally, this year, taking a step in the right direction by adding a fourth division.”
The new D-IV will consist of Mascoma, Fall Mountain, Winnisquam, Farmington-Nute, Raymond, Newfound, Bishop Brady and Franklin. Teams will play a seven-game league schedule with room to add games beyond that if they wish, an NHIAA spokesman said on Tuesday.
Stevens, Newport, Kearsarge, Monadnock and InterLakes-Moultonborough will drop off Mascoma’s schedule. The Royals lost games to those five by a cumulative 232-13 last year, part of the reason why Lawrence feels good about the Royals’ future.
“It wasn’t just in our division, it was all over; there were blowouts across the board,” Lawrence said. “There were silly scores that didn’t need to be, and it’s hard for a school on the wrong end of that to attract players.”
Mascoma struggled with injuries and a thin roster in 2017, beating only Raymond and Fall Mountain in a 2-6 campaign. Lawrence said 15 eighth-graders from last fall’s middle school program will move up to the high school this year, giving the Royals more depth to make fielding varsity and junior varsity rosters more likely.
Mascoma athletic director John Kelly said he’s received two applications for the job, but expects to keep the position open for a while longer in search of more potential coaches.
“We’re trying to find someone who can bring Les’ level of enthusiasm to the program,” Kelly said on Monday. “We’re in the unique position of finally being able to play on a level playing field with the realignment of the division.”
Lawrence, 62, has also coached football at Hanover, Lebanon and Stevens and assisted at Kimball Union Academy and Dartmouth. He doesn’t expect to look for another football position, although he’s leaving open the possibility of continuing with Lebanon’s cross country skiing program when he retires from that school in June.
“As I stand here right now,” Lawrence said, “I have no plans (to coach football) at this point.”
Oxbow AD Leaves: Brianne Barnes started her week in a new office, having left her job as Oxbow High athletic director to become the new manager of athletics for the Hanover Parks and Recreation Department.
In a Monday phone interview, Barnes said she started looking for a new job when Oxbow decided it would reduce the hours associated with her AD position as part of budget cuts. The reduction would make it harder for her to use the summer for things such as inventory and scheduling, she said.
Joining Hanover gives Barnes the chance to get back into something she’s always loved: summer camps. A past camp counselor, Barnes said she’s hoping to expand Hanover’s sports camp offerings as part of her new position under Parks and Rec director John Sherman. She described the new work as being the athletic director for the department’s K-8 youth sports programs.
Knowing parts of the Oxbow job were being cut, “I was keeping my options open,” said Barnes, 32. “Once I found that out, this happened to come up. I used to be a camp counselor at summer camp; that’s how I started out. I used to teach before, and that gave me something great to do in the summer. This position opened, and I applied.”
Robin Wozny, who retired as Oxbow’s softball coach but continues to teach at the Bradford, Vt., school, and Hayle Eastman will handle AD duties the rest of the year until Barnes’ successor is determined.
Golf Fundraiser: Stevens High golf coach Ryan Seaver is reaching out for support for the Cardinals’ annual golf tournament fundraiser, one that aims to assist beyond Claremont.
The tournament is set for June 23 at Newport Golf Club, with a 1 p.m. start. Sunapee, Newport and Lebanon are also lending support for the event, with proceeds set to aid all four high school squads and their associated middle school programs with the costs of operating.
The tournament fee is $85 per person and $340 for a team of four. A raffle is also planned, and Seaver has sponsorship opportunities for businesses and individuals as well.
Contact Seaver at 603-313-7985 or rseaver@sau6.org for more information.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.