Keith ready to take game to a new level with Goffstown football

When Justin Hufft decided to go with Charlie Keith as the Goffstown High School football team's starting quarterback last season, he wasn't quite sure how well the junior was going to acclimate to the position.

But after watching how Keith went about things on and off the field as a sophomore, the Grizzlies coach did feel confident in how he was going to handle it.

During the 2016 season, Keith helped secure a win over Pinkerton with a late interception and then caught the game-winning touchdown pass to beat Salem in the final seconds of a late-season win, so he had the experience of coming up in big games.

[This story also appears in the 2018 Football Prospectus. Pre-order your copy by clicking here.]

And Hufft knew that no one, not even an opposing pass rush, was going to put more pressure on the new quarterback than he would place on himself.

"Charlie is just a really good athlete and he was the kid who had the most varsity experience, just playing in games," Hufft said. "He had that going for him, but we didn’t know. It was him and a couple of other guys. He’s got good size and he’s such a good athlete, there were other roles for him, so we weren’t sure.

"He puts a lot of pressure on himself, so he was going out there expecting to perform well from Day 1. He had higher expectations than probably any of us did and he reached a lot of them."

Keith started all 11 games for the Grizzlies last season, helping them to a 9-2 record, with the two losses coming against eventual-champion Winnacunnet in the regular season and the semifinals.

It was Goffstown's third straight berth in the postseason, and Keith has his sights set on one more before he finishes out his high school career. After getting a year of experience as the starting quarterback, he believes he's ready to take the next step on the field.

"Last year, I was hitting the books and trying to learn as much as I could, and now I can excel and play the way I want to," Keith said. "Last year, I was a little all over the place. There were new plays, and we were organizing the offense a little bit last year. This year, it’s more of getting footwork and doing the small things. It’s about staying calm and keeping that mentality throughout the game."

With the Grizzlies graduating most of last year's starting defense, not only will Goffstown look to Keith and the offense to carry more of the load, he may even get to see time on that side of the ball.

"Our offense is definitely like our defense last year in that we have a lot of guys back," Hufft said. "It looks like (the offense) should be ahead of the defense, so we’re going to lean on them early in the season.

"But in my mind, football always comes down to fundamentals. You have to be good there. I don’t think you can be, at least that I’ve seen, where you can be an offensive juggernaut and kind of get by on defense. It doesn’t seem to work."

Keith realizes that those changes will put more pressure on the offense early in the season.

"I think we’re going to have a pretty good defense, but I think it will be about who can score the most," he said. "Last year, we could fall back on defense, but this year, we’ve really got to go at it."

A three-sport athlete, Keith has been a starting long-pole defenseman for Goffstown's lacrosse team, and also took up wrestling as a sophomore. Last winter, he finished fourth in Division II at 182-pounds.

"He’s what you’re hoping for when you get a three-sport kid and doing well at three sports," Hufft said. "Just the will he has and the stamina and the competitiveness (in other sports). That’s a reflection of what I’m seeing on the football field."

With the start of the preseason creeping closer, Hufft feels good about where Keith is and how he's been working toward the 2018 season.

"He’s right where I would hope he’d be," Hufft said. "He’s the senior version of Charlie Keith, which is a great thing. It’s been a natural progression to his senior year. A lot of guys are looking up to him, and that’s kind of the way things naturally occur. He’s just a really great kid and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do."