Grizzlies adjusting to life in Division II

While his players may not be familiar with the rest of Division II, Goffstown High School baseball coach Ed Coulumbe certainly is.

A former player for the Grizzlies, Coulumbe graduated in 2001, when Goffstown was still a Class I member. Since then, the Grizzlies had been a successful Class L team, winning a title in 2008 before moving down this season when the NHIAA restructured some sports that weren't already into divisions.

The Grizzlies have been mentioned as one of the favorites this year in Division II, if for no other reason than that they are a team that was successful playing with the bigger schools. That has put a bit of a target on their backs.

"We’ve seen everybody’s ace, I believe," Coulumbe said after his team's loss to Souhegan on Monday. "If not, then I wouldn’t want to see that team’s ace. Everybody is going to want to throw their best pitcher and beat the team that came down from Division I."

So far, the results have been mixed, as Goffstown's 3-3 would indicate. The Grizzlies have walloped teams like Con-Val, Milford and Plymouth, but lost big to fellow favorite Bedford and dropped close games to Souhegan and St. Thomas.

Other teams are getting up to play Goffstown.

"This was a statement game," Souhegan's Terry Dugdale said after he struck out 13 Grizzlies in the Sabers' 5-2 win. "I proved some against Milford, but I wanted to prove myself against an old D1 team."

That target, fair or not, brings with it a bit of pressure. Coulumbe is waiting to see if Goffstown feels it, and how the players will react.

"For me as a coach, and when I was a player, I enjoyed the pressure," he said. "I relished it. The spotlight is on you and everyone wants to throw their best at you and that’s when the best athletes take advantage of that situation. They make the most of the limelight and they prepare and step up. We haven’t been doing that.

"I can guarantee until the end of the regular season, everybody is going to want to beat Goffstown and if I was every other team, I would too."

The Grizzlies were schedule to play at Windham on Friday and at Kingswood on Wednesday before hosting Bedford on May 6.