Nashua North football coach Jason Robie talks to his players during a break in Wednesday's morning practice.
NASHUA – Jason Robie stood with over a hundred sweaty high school kids around him.
The Nashua High School North football coach talked to his prospective players while they caught their breath and chugged some water, telling them that every football team in the state was doing the same thing they were Wednesday morning.
That probably didn’t matter to most of them as they battled the heat that always seems to come on the first day of football practice.
But there probably wasn’t any place else they’d all rather be.
“It feels good,” Robie said. “The kids worked hard in the offseason. I think they’re pretty excited to run around a little bit and get the pads on and start hitting. It’s been a while, but the kids have been champing at the bit since Thanksgiving to get this started again.”
About 112 kids attended the first practice of Wednesday’s double session, including a new group of seniors who will be looking to build on the team’s first Division I championship appearance.
Before the Titans start talking about Saturday games in November, they have a long way to go.
“We’re very pleased with the turnout, but we have a lot of work to do,” Robie said. “We have to move forward and build on last year. It’s a different season.
“The goal of this camp is to find some second and third, even fourth, tier guys who can help us on Friday nights. I think we’ll have the ability to do that. But still, we lost some talented kids from last year. We have to plug some holes in and hopefully we can do that.”
North has its first scrimmage on Aug. 18 against Souhegan – the two-time defending Division III champion – at Stellos Stadium, just one of many tough opponents the Titans will see in the preseason and regular season.
“We have the hardest schedule ever created,” Robie said. “The only team that isn’t on there is the New England Patriots. It’s going to be a tough road. Our scrimmages are tough, our regular-season schedule is tough.”
The Titans open the season on Sept. 3 at Stellos against Winnacunnet, a team that’s expected to challenge for the Division II crown.