Goffstown football cranked up the physical play in second half of win over Concord

Eric Brown knew it was coming.

Although his Concord High School football team had a one-point lead at halftime of Saturday's game at Goffstown, the Tide coach thought his team might be in trouble if the Grizzlies tried to get physical up front.

And that's just what Goffstown did in the second half. After a balanced attack in the first half that saw the Grizzlies' offense stall on its final six possessions before the break, they went almost exclusively to the ground.

Goffstown ran the ball on its first six plays of the second half, including a 17-yard touchdown run by Charlie Keith, and 10 of its first 11. On the 12th play, Keith connected with Josh Juneau for a 9-yard touchdown, giving Goffstown a comfortable lead in what turned into a 34-17 win.

"We got beat by a more physical, bigger, stronger team," Brown said. "Big teams like that are going to give us problems. They ran the ball all over us. We tried. Our kids have no quit in them and I’m proud of that. We got outmatched physically. We don’t have that kind of size to match up with teams."

Of its 32 plays in the second half, Goffstown (1-3) ran the ball on all but four of them, gaining 238 yards on the ground, and for the day, the Grizzlies finished 376 rushing yards, averaging eight yards per carry.

"To start, they were really sitting their defensive end," Keith said. "We had to keep pounding a certain play until the end knew what was going on, and then we’d throw a curve ball and go the opposite way."

Keith was the one leading the way, gaining 160 of those yards, while Juneau and Jack Stinnett also carried a big part of the load.

"He’s a heck of a player," Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. "I’m proud of who he is and how he plays. He’s playing both sides of the ball for us now. He’s really turned into a great leader.

"I thought the offensive line had a good week of preparation and came ready to play. We felt good about how we were moving in the first half, even though it wasn’t always pretty."

It wasn't just the offensive line getting physical, but Goffstown's defensive front flexed its muscle in the second half as well. The Grizzlies finished with five sacks of Concord quarterback Zach Miles, three in the second half.

In the first half, the Tide found success getting Miles out of the pocket and letting him throw the ball or run with it. But Goffstown made adjustments and was ready for it more in the second half.

"Part of it is that you can’t simulate a kid like (Miles)," Hufft said. "He’s so quick. We prepared and were kind of ready, but you can’t simulate it. It took us a while to catch up to his speed. Once we settled in, I thought we did better.

"We got used to it a little bit and we started playing better up front, I think, on both sides of the ball. Our d-line started making plays and were able to contain the quarterback a little bit so we didn’t have to use our second-level guys as much."

After being outscored 133-35 in their first three games, it was a good confidence boost getting that first win of the year.

"It’s always nice to win, but the focus has been on getting better each week," Hufft said. "I think we’ve done that. We lost those games, but we played better each week. That’s the goal and hopefully we’ll keep moving in that direction."