Duval looking to make up for lost time with Goffstown football

[Editor's Note: This story also appears in the 2017 Football Prospectus. Get your copy today by going here.]

Andrew Duval had to go through some tough times after breaking his hand in the first game of last season.

He ended up missing five games for the Goffstown High School football team, relegated to walking through practice with his teammates and watching them from the sideline during games.

The cast on his right hand meant he had to adjust how he’d catch the ball, a pretty important factor for someone who plays receiver and safety.

But the toughest thing might have been making sure he didn’t sweat too much.

“I was still running and doing the most I could,” Duval said. “In beginning, because of my cast, I couldn’t do much exercise because the sweat would have gone in it. It could have been infected. If it got sweaty, I had to let it dry out.”

After playing a key role as a sophomore on Goffstown’s championship team in 2015, Duval figured to be even more of an impact player on both sides of the ball as a junior. Instead, he spent half the season watching from the sideline as the Grizzlies battled to get back to the playoffs.

“I was pretty devastated,” Duval said. “Honestly, I was helping out the team as best as I could.”

For Duval, that meant going to every practice as if he was able to participate, and helping his teammates prepare for the next opponent.

“He wouldn’t have shoulder pads on in practice, but he would be out there,” Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. “He’d do some stuff to help with the other kids, especially the ones at his position.

With Goffstown getting out to a 5-1 start to the season, Duval returned in time to give the Grizzlies a boost heading into the playoffs. He contributed on both sides of the ball, despite playing two games with a cast and two with a splint on his right hand.

“I was pretty confident that we’d get a heck of a football player, just because that’s who he is,” Hufft said. “He’s played a lot of football. I was pretty confident in what he’d bring. Even at not a hundred percent, he’s the type of kid who is just so instinctive and so gifted, he can make things happen even when he’s not at full speed.”

With Duval a senior, and the roster turning over, Goffstown is going to need its top playmaker at a hundred percent to keep its run of success going. The Grizzlies have made the Division I postseason in each of the last two years, had a winning record in three straight, and been in the playoffs four of the last six years overall.

This year, Duval is expecting to carry a much bigger load on his shoulders, and not just on the field. It’s something he thinks is going to some time to adjust to.

“I’m trying to be as much of a leader as I can,” he said. “It’s more of a vocal thing, trying to get the team on point and stuff like that. It all depends on a day and what’s actually happening. Normally the people above me are doing that, so this year, I’m going to have to step up.”

Hufft is expecting that from a player who has a chance to make quite a mark during his final high school season.

“They’ve been a part of some good teams,” the coach said of this year’s senior class. “What’s important this year is that it’s their team to put their mark on. There’s certainly a lot of talent there, and Andrew is someone who leads by example with hard work, and he does things the right way. The behavior, the attitude is top notch. I’m hoping he sets the bar. We’re expecting him to be a leader for us.”