Coaches ready to go for Saturday's CHaD NH East-West All-Star Football Game

Eric Brown had a bunch of football players on the turf at Manchester Memorial High School for the first day of practice Friday for the CHaD NH East-West All-Star Football Game.

But instead of running drills and popping pads, the West all-start team was in a semi-circle around Brown and the rest of the team's coaching staff, getting to know one another.

Everyone there may know the names and the programs they all played for, but this was a time for putting faces to those names.

"The plan is, anyway, you meet everybody for the first time, then it’s shaking things out and getting after it," Brown said. "We’re not going to bang them up too much. The most important thing is to get our Xs and Os in line for the game so we know what we’re doing and not overcomplicating things. It’s new for everybody. That’s a challenge in itself. We’re keeping it simple."

The West spent the early portion of that first practice learning the way Brown, the head coach at Concord High School, and the rest of the staff go about their business as they get ready to play the East in Saturday's seventh all-star football game. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the University of New Hampshire.

It's Brown's first time as a head coach in the game after serving as an assistant coach in the second game in 2013. His counterpart, Craig Kozens, head coach at Laconia, is leading the East all-stars for the fourth straight year.

With that much experience in coaching in the all-star game, Kozens could see right away what kind of players he had picked for his roster.

"They’re a great group," he said. "They’re opening up and coming together, which is a good sign. I’ve been doing the game for a few years now, and it’s always a good sign when they get a long because then they work harder together. There’s no egos, which is a good thing.

"When the kids come in, you may have the Exeter kids on one side of the locker room and the Winnacunnet kids on the other side. They’re together and they’re telling stories, and you mend those fences. That’s what football does, it brings them together."

With just eight days of practice to prepare for the game, it's as much about figuring out what the players won't be able to do as it is what everyone's strengths are.

"You have great ideas on the board in the offseason when you pick your staff," Kozens said. "You have expectations and ideas. Instead of expanding the playbook, you start to throw things out. You look at your personal and ask what do they do well. You get what you do well and now it’s time to rep it out."

"It’s challenging," Brown said. "Selecting the team was so challenging because there are so many good athletes. I got see some of them personally, but it was hard to pick the team. There are a lot of talented kids."

Each team picked its captains for Saturday's game on Tuesday. The East will be represented by Nate Hunt (Spaulding), John Cantwell (Dover), Tim Bouchard (St. Thomas), Ryan Hanson (Winnacunnet) and Billy Powers (Winnacunnet). The West captains are Sean Holland (Nashua South), Michael Boucher (Milford), Connor Robert (Bedford), Andrew Duval (Goffstown) and Moises Celaya (Hanover).