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# Bickford leading Goffstown boys lacrosse with an eye on the future
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bickford-leading-goffstown-boys-lacrosse-eye-future/
- Published: 2017-04-28T14:16:21.000Z
- Updated: 2017-04-28T14:16:21.000Z
- Description: Peyton Bickford knows there are things that he needs to focus on this lacrosse season to improve his game. The Goffstown High School senior is expecting to play a bigger role this year, not just on faceoffs, which he did a year ago, but also on the offensive end of the field. But while he's trying t
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, boys lacrosse, Goffstown, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Peyton Bickford knows there are things that he needs to focus on this lacrosse season to improve his game.

The Goffstown High School senior is expecting to play a bigger role this year, not just on faceoffs, which he did a year ago, but also on the offensive end of the field.

But while he's trying to focus on the present to get himself better, Bickford is also trying to be the best example he can be for the future of the Grizzlies' program.

Two years ago, Bickford played on the varsity when Goffstown won its first championship in its third straight title-game appearance. Now, after the Grizzlies graduated 15 seniors from last year's team, he finds himself in a class of four, of which only he and fellow senior Nick Nault are returning starters.

"Putting my best forward, improve myself for the next level, but really just helping out the team," Bickford said of his focus for this season. "Getting the young kids better, because we have a young core, and it's definitely going to be about the next few years. One of my mains goals is improving those younger kids and getting them good, and also trying to win."

It's a task that Goffstown coach Josh Lewis is both anxious and excited about, knowing that he'll likely realize how successful the Grizzlies seniors have been at preparing the next group before the end of the year.

"I really expect a lot out of them, to lead by example and set the tone at practice every day," Lewis said of the seniors. "One of the things that Peyton said at the beginning of the year is 'how do you want me to help this team?' "

"I want him to prepare these kids, the next set of faceoff guys, so they can prepare the ones after them, and they can prepare the ones after them. To keep that tradition going on that we’ve had at Goffstown. He's done camps, he's worked hard in the offense. Every day, he just wants to get better, and we've been so fortunate to have that on the team."

Bickford, who will play next year at University of Mount Olive in North Carolina, had big shoes to fill on faceoffs a year ago, replacing Christian Marquis, whom he spent two years learning the trick of the trade.

After playing on two championship teams in 2015 - Bickford was also a starter on defense when Goffstown won the Division I football title - he felt that he was prepared to take on that role.

"Football definitely helped me with that, and also just performing on my own and making the others around me better," he said. "The leadership, I've been dancing with it the last few years, but now it's on me."

Bickford started playing football first and didn't pick up lacrosse until middle school, but it wasn't long after that that he started to view it as his preferred sport for reasons that went beyond playing the game.

"Lacrosse (history) itself, I've done projects on it in school," he said. "Learning the history behind it and I love what it represents. I want to be a part of that culture."

Having Bickford returning has helped Lewis and the coaching staff because they know the players will respond to what he has to say.

"He has the game experience, he has the poise, he has the leadership ability," Lewis said. "He has the wherewithal to make the right choice at the right time, whether that's to attack the cage or to pull it out and reset. That's something we try to instill in all of our players, but when you have that leadership from a senior, that has more of an impact on the younger athletes than a coach can have.

"They see it being modeled for them day in and day out. This is how we want it to be done. Watch what he is doing, and they keep watching, and they see it and they replicate that. We can talk it to death, but the game situation is when you really learn, and the reflection after that is when you learn."