Excitement for the season carried into Winnacunnet football's win over Exeter

Enthusiasm was high among the Winnacunnet High School football team throughout the offseason and before the start of this year.

Despite winning just one game in 2019, and not knowing all spring and summer what this fall might look like, there were positive vibes among the Warriors. That feeling carried over into the preseason, and coach Ryan Francoeur could feel it leading into last Friday's opener against Exeter.

But that excitement was joined by another feeling once the game going going and Winnacunnet jumped out to an early lead.

"After that first quarter, we realized we could play with them," Francoeur said. "We went in thinking if we could get them to punt two or three times, since both teams like to grind it out, hopefully it would propel us a little bit.

"That happened early. We survived a fumble, we refocused and were able to get them to punt the entire first half. We executed what we needed to execute."

And Winnacunnet was able to hang on for a 16-13 win, the Warriors third win in the last four meetings with Exeter.

After the Warriors led 13-0 led going into the fourth quarter, the game came down to the final play, when senior David Araujo sacked Exeter quarterback Jonathan Bunnell on fourth-and-6 from the Winnacunnet 31 with 17.8 seconds left.

"The whole front four made that play happen," Francoeur said. "David was in the middle. He had a pocket, but it was tight. Coverage was good, so with a few more seconds, he pushed the pocket."

Getting that play from Araujo was a little bit of icing on the cake for the coaching staff.

"David didn't play until he was a sophomore in high school," Francoeur said. "He came in as a big kid who was really green, but wanted to learn. You could see it clicking last year. He had the greatest offseason of anyone on the team and it's nice to see it translate on the field."

Francoeur felt the whole defense got off to a great start, matching Exeter's physical style of play, including Araujo and defensive tackle Jack Wilbur.

"We grade out our offensive and defensive linemen on every single snap," Francoeur said. "They get a score and (Wilbur) had one of the highest I've ever seen. He's a tackle on offense and defensive tackle, so he doesn't leave the field much."

On offense, the Warriors got a boost from junior quarterback Kyle Tilley, who was making his second varsity start, and scored both Winnacunnet touchdowns while rushing for 51 yards.

After having a couple of different starters at quarterback last season, Francoeur had Tilley start the final game against Merrimack a year ago after he'd played well for the junior varsity team.

"He played on Friday with a lot of confidence," Francoeur said. "We demand a lot of our quarterback in our option offense. His path to the position is an interesting one."

Tilley was a quarterback coming up through youth football, but as a freshman, was moved to receiver because of his size and his athletic ability.

"He was a little smaller, but we put him at receiver because he's a good athlete," the coach said. "He got a little taller and he grew into it. He played phenomenal for the junior varsity last season. It was a year of finding out who our quarterback was going to be this season."

Winnacunnet travels on Friday to Portsmouth-Oyster River, which was idle last week after finding out late that it could participate in the football this season.

Getting to start playing games a week earlier could serve as a big advantage for the Warriors in what will be a road game without any of their fans.

"At some point, the kids get sick of hitting themselves," Francoeur said. "There's always an advantage of hitting against another team and having to execute under pressure. A lot of stuff will be the same (with Portsmouth-Oyster River), but it will be difficult figuring out their personnel. Friday night we'll see how it plays out."