Goffstown football hoping to survive in D1

MANCHESTER - Justin Hufft believes he has a great group of kids on his Goffstown High School football team this season.

If the Grizzlies were still in a division with the teams they played a year ago, Hufft might like his chances, but that's not the case. Instead, Goffstown is the smallest school in the NHIAA's new 20-team Division I, in a conference with the biggest, Pinkerton.

"We have a great group, there’s just not a lot of them," Hufft said after last Friday's Queen City Jamboree "They’re not real big, they’re not real strong, they’re not real fast and that’s what you saw (against Concord). I was proud of the way we competed with them, but it’s clear that we don’t belong at that level."

The Grizzlies had always been in Division III, except for a two-year cycle from 2006-07, when Portsmouth moved down and Goffstown went up to D2. The Grizzlies were 1-9 in 2006 and 6-4 in 2007.

Goffstown had 55 kids come out for the team, which was about the same as a year ago, but there were losses to graduation - including quarterback Connor Benjamin - and a few others decided not to play this year.

"At the end of the day, only 11 guys can take the field," Hufft said. "What we’re running into is that we don’t have the number of bodies, the depth, and the guys we have are just not real big."

While Pinkerton is the cream of the crop in the South Conference, the other three teams Goffstown will be competing against have had a few down years. Londonderry, Salem and Merrimack were a combined 3-29 last season.

"We’ll compete, but I think some of those other teams are much better than in years past," Hufft said. "Salem looked good (at the jamboree). Merrimack gave Trinity all it could handle. That was a lot better than what we did against Trinity last week. We scrimmaged two Division II teams and lost to both of them. Londonderry is supposed to be very good. It’s out of our control."

Goffstown opens the season Friday at  7 p.m. at Merrimack.