Preseason Ireland trip inspires Windham football team

Oh, those Irish eyes are most definitely smiling on the Jaguars of Windham High School right now.

The Jaguars opened their NHIAA Division I schedule in commanding fashion Saturday afternoon, beating up on Timberlane 53-7 in Windham. It’s a strong start to the 2024 season that no doubt was cultivated across the pond in Ireland during the second to last week of August.

Ask any of coach Jack Byrne’s Jaguars and they’ll all point to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean - directly at the Emerald Isle - for their early-season forlámhas. Yes, that’s Irish for domination. That’s exactly what Windham football did Saturday back home in the Granite State.

Trailing 7-0 in the second quarter, Windham would use senior Jack Koutrobis’ three-touchdown performance and a stellar varsity debut by junior quarterback Kevin Murphy to rattle off 53 unanswered points on its way to a 46-point victory.

Not to be overlooked was the Jaguars’ defense. Led by senior Reid Lambert, who recorded a pick-six before halftime, Windham’s defense forced multiple turnovers to deny Timberlane’s offense any opportunity to add points.

The quad-captain stressed just how important his team’s trip to Ireland was in building up to Saturday’s kickoff. It was a bonding experience like no other for a team determined to rebound from a first-round playoff exit last fall.

“This was amazing,” Lambert said of Windham’s participation in Global Football LTD’s Global Ireland Football Tournament. “We were together all the time. We were doing everything together as a unit - eating meals sleeping, hanging out in the rooms or on tours. It was a great bonding experience and it truly made us connect even more. It was a perfect way for us to grow even more as one unit.

“I mean a lot of us have been going to school and playing extracurriculars since we were toddlers. So we were already close, but there was just something special about this trip that really made us even tighter as a group and has helped us really focus on striving to accomplish our goals for this season.”

He’s not alone in this assessment. Lambert’s fellow captains - seniors Matt Kabouris, Jake Michalik and Luke Sweeney - all credit this excursion for being prepared for this season’s opener and hopefully a return to the playoffs with a better finish.

“This was definitely a huge boost to our team chemistry,” Kabouris said. “I personally got closer with a lot of kids that I didn’t really talk to that much before. Just being in a different country with them is crazy and makes your connection as a group stronger.

“I think the connecting we did from one guy to the next, and as a whole, on this trip will play a big role in our success. This is my senior year, and out of all the years I’ve been here I think this is honestly probably our best shot at going far in the playoffs. I think we have a really talented team, and I think playing in Ireland just got the chemistry better and we’re just playing better overall as a team than I think in previous years. I think that trip helped towards that.”

Sweeney thinks last falls 4-6 record and first round playoff exit courtesy of Londonderry is well in the past. It also doesn’t hurt that the 2024 Jaguars are a senior rich team - 25 seniors with 19 of those starting.

“I think we could go very far this year,” Sweeney said. “We’re probably more bonded than we’ve ever been. We’ve got some really talented, strong and fast athletes. And Ireland just helped bring us all together as one team.”

With the positivity and confidence created on this Global Football journey, one wouldn’t even know that the Jaguars actually lost their game 35-23 to the Maclay School of Tallahassee, Fla., at Energia Park (formerly Donnybrook Stadium) in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 23.

This Windham team is focused on the New Hampshire schedule and what it will take to hoist a title plaque.

“I’m feeling 100 percent confident,” Michalik said of a return to the postseason and a deeper run when there. “I feel like we just have a bunch of hard-working kids that don’t really care about the stats. They just want to put their nose down and get to work. We’re all about winning as a team not seeking individual numbers.”

There was just so much that went into this trip that included the players, six coaches, athletic director, athletic trainer and roughly 40 family members for it not to be a positive experience overall. It also doesn’t hurt that, unlike for Maclay School’s record in its Florida league standings, this loss has no impact on Windham’s NHIAA record.

That, of course, doesn’t mean that the Jaguars weren’t trying to make a statement as the first team from New England to be selected for Global’s fifth Ireland-based event.

“It was an honor to be selected for this program,” said Byrne, who researched the opportunity to partake in the Global Ireland Football Tournament after connecting with distant relatives that live there. “It’s a select group that we are now part of and it’s definitely an experience we would love to be a part of again every few years. It’s an amazing opportunity that everyone should get to experience. For these kids to experience this is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Now Byrne believes the lessons learned on and off the field in Ireland will translate into a special season overall for his Jaguars.

“We went into this knowing how many good kids we have, but I think they got closer,” said Byrne. “No matter what, when you have so many kids who work real hard and they’re passionate - a lot of our kids have different passions, they don’t have just football passions, so sometimes they don’t get a chance to really be one unit together. I think that was really cool to be able to settle in and let all these well-rounded, nice, awesome, tough kids really focus on football for five days and get closer as a football brotherhood.”

American football wasn’t the only sport on display during this trip. Sightseeing was blended with Gaelic Games activities as major pieces of that team-building puzzle.

Windham flew from Boston to Dublin on a Tuesday night, played its game on a Friday and returned to the United States on Sunday.

Over the course of four full days in Ireland, Byrne’s squad became immersed in the Irish culture, including an introduction to hurling and Gaelic football. They enjoyed traditional Irish cuisine and shopped in downtown Dublin, while also time traveling with visits to Dublin’s museums and Malahide Castle - parts of which date to the 12th century.

“It was just surreal,” Lambert said. “I never imagined I’d be in Ireland this young, even at all in my life, so just to be going there with all my friends on the football team it was just so fun. It was an amazing experience and it was beautiful there. Just looking at all the old buildings - the shops, the churches, the castles - it was crazy. Something you can’t really experience here.”

Following the tour of Malahide Castle, the team participated in a Thursday night pep rally at Merrion Square.

The day after the tripleheader - which began with the Windham-Maclay matchup, and concluded with games between IMG Academy Elite Ascenders (Bradenton, Fla.) vs. Episcopal School of Dallas (Texas), and the Junior Irish Wolfhounds (Dublin, Ireland) vs. Great Britain U19 (Coventry, England) - team members and their families attended an awards ceremony at the historic RDS Center Theater.

One player from each team earned the Brian Mullins Award. Windham’s recipient of the award, named in honor of one of Ireland’s greatest Gaelic football player, was Lambert. That evening, the teams witnessed Georgia Tech beat Florida State 24-21 in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Dublin's Aviva Stadium.

“I’m still just taking it all in,” Kabouris said. “We aren’t even in Ireland anymore, but I still think of all the activities, the local snacks we tried, seeing the castle, just spending quality time with my teammates, my friends. What a start to the season it’s been.”

On The Field In Ireland

With the game not having any impact on the regular season record, Windham was able to limit playing time for its starters to avoid injuries prior to its opener with Timberlane.

With that in mind, sophomore quarterback Adrian Bergman saw quality playing time, and he impressed. Bergman recorded two touchdowns - a 29-yard pass to Griffin Driscoll and 21-yard run - in the loss.

Already trailing 10-0 at halftime, Windham watched Maclay pull away with 18 more points in the third quarter - highlighted by a successful third-and-20 conversion that Maclay turned into a 65-yard touchdown pass after the Marauders’ quarterback avoided multiple opportunities for a Windham sack.

All of Windham’s scoring came in the fourth quarter. Romeo Akin added the other Jaguars score on a 25-yard run.

What Is Global Football Ltd.?

Global Football has been the world’s largest exporter of American football since 1996, organizing and producing games and events in 28 different countries on six continents.

The events and tours have involved more than 350 teams and 15,000 travelers. The company promotes its program for prospective squads as “a positive life-changing experience, while enjoying the ultimate team-building opportunity.”

Global Football is providing student athletes, coaches and families the opportunity to travel and learn about unique cultures and lands while also competing and bringing American football to places where the game is growing in popularity.