Benton field hockey legacy on display Friday in Goffstown

Jess Brown and Kelli Braley share a love for the sport of field hockey and mentoring student athletes that dates back to their time as high schoolers.

The former Goffstown High School classmates may have starred at different positions on the field back in the late 1990s, but Friday night in Goffstown they’ll be patrolling the sidelines in the same role, as head coaches of their own teams.

When asked what brought them to this point in their careers, they both have the same answer: Martha Benton.

“Martha, Coach B, is a huge part of the direction I took heading into college and finding my way to becoming an educator and coach on the sidelines today,” Braley said. “I don’t know if I have the words to fully justify who she is as a human or what she means and has meant to every single girl she’s coached on the field or as a councilor throughout her amazing career in Goffstown.”

While Braley ended up in Amherst post-college, Brown’s path led her back to her alma mater as an assistant coach and eventually the head coach of the program that she and Braley had graduated from back in 1999.

“Martha is one of those rare people in this world that you respect instantly for all she’s done in the education of students in and out of the classroom,” Brown said. “She has the ability to keep pushing you to be the best athlete you can be, but at the same time giving you life lessons that make you become the best person you can be.”

At 7 p.m. Friday night, Braley’s Souhegan Sabers visit Goffstown to face Brown’s Grizzlies on the school’s new turf field. Prior to the start of the game, the school both coaches and their assistants graduated from will take some time to honor their mentor for her years of dedication to molding the minds of students, teaching the sport she loves and putting her stamp on women’s athletics across the state.

Goffstown Athletics Director Justin Hufft was just as excited to see this game on the schedule as the two coaches.

When Brown approached Hufft about doing a tribute to Benton before the Souhegan game due to the coaching connection between the two schools, the Goffstown AD new it was the perfect situation to give field hockey their opportunity for Friday Night Lights.

“We give all of our fall sports at least one Friday night game so it’s not all about football,” Hufft said. “This was just right for the occasion. Jess approached me with the idea and it was a no-brainer to make this a Friday night game as we honor a true Goffstown legend and really a New Hampshire legend.”

Benton was one of the pioneers for girls sports in New Hampshire, helping to build the Goffstown field hockey program into one of the top programs in the state. She coached field hockey for 23 seasons, winning a pair of state championships in 1980 and 1989, and being named Class I Coach of the Year twice in 1980 and 1988.

A 2005 inductee into the Goffstown High School Hall of Fame, Benton also coached junior varsity basketball, varsity tennis and junior high school softball. She also was honored as recipient of the NHIAA’s Carol Dozibrin Advancement of Girls Sports Award in 2000.

“It’s her legacy,” Hufft said. “She’s been instrumental in the success of her players on and off the field, with many going on to play collegiately. She has an extensive coaching tree made up of several former players around the state, including the two head coaches in Friday's game and their assistants.”

Along with Brown, Goffstown varsity assistant Laura McKelligan and JV head coach Colleen Dubois were also mentored by Benton as high schoolers, as was one of Braley’s varsity assistant’s at Souhegan, Kylie Audley.

“The number of lives she’s impacted is huge,” said Braley, who also is athletics director at Souhegan. “The longevity of her career as a teacher, guidance councilor and coach - it has to be a staggering number.”

Benton started her mentoring career as a physical education teacher in 1976. She became a guidance counselor in 1999 until retirement in 2011.

In 2004, when Brown took the reins as varsity field hockey coach at Goffstown, Benton took a step back and stood by her former player’s side as an assistant coach.

“That’s just who she is as a person,” Brown said. “She wanted to be there for me and those girls still. She is so humble and kind. She let me take control and find my footing as a head coach, but was there for me and still had my back.

“She’s had my back every step I’ve ever taken in my life.”

That seems to be the consensus when talking to anyone Benton has crossed paths with in her career. That’s a legacy anyone should be proud of.