Special attention to special teams paying off for Londonderry football

Jimmy Lauzon was in his second game as the head coach of a varsity football team when he learned a valuable lesson.

The Manchester West High School football team was trailing rival Manchester Memorial by a couple of scores, but dug itself out of the hole and tied the game.

But on the Crusaders returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and the Blue Knights went on to lose that game 36-26.

"My days at West, we weren’t great on special teams," said Lauzon, who coached the school from which he graduated from 2011-12. "At that point I said this is never going to happen again. Special teams is now the focal point. Everybody talks about it, but I don’t want to be that guy who just talks about it. I want to show the kids we care about it and take it seriously."

A decade later, Lauzon has stayed true to that belief. On the first day of preseason practices in August, the Lancers worked on their punt protection and punt blocking units, and throughout this season, that dedication has payed off.

"We put quite a lot of emphasis on it," Londonderry junior Dylan Wrisley said. "It’s one-third of the game, so we give it one-third of our effort. We think it’s just as important as defense and offense because special teams can often times swing games. The team that wins the special teams battle more than likely is going to win the game."

Wrisley has had a key role on Londonderry's special teams, serving as the team's place kicker. In the team's 28-21 win over Salem in the semifinals, the kicked two field goals that helped give the Lancers a 12-0 lead in the first half.

He also starts in the defensive backfield for the Lancers, which Lauzon believes helps keep him focused when it's time to line up for a kick.

"I think Wrisley has been awesome," Lauzon said. "He’s a very smart kid and it’s easy for someone to overthink kicking. If you’re in the game, you can’t overthink it."

While Wrisley's contributions could be seen on the scoreboard, another pair of players who contribute on offense and defense also made big plays for Londonderry on special teams.

The Lancers opened the second half with a nine-minute drive that got down inside the Salem 20-yard line. But Londonderry turned the ball over on downs and the Blue Devils needed just two plays to get an 85-yard touchdown pass from Noah Mustapha to Tommy Ahlers.

Now up 12-7 late in the third quarter, with the momentum swinging back toward Salem, the Blue Devils kicked the ball deep, but Londonderry senior Anthony Salcito returned the kickoff close to midfield.

"That was huge," Lauzon said. "When they hit that, I wanted to switch the momentum back, so my first instinct is let’s set something up and take a shot. But then he gets us in good field position and I think we’ll just march it down and score."

Instead, two plays later, quarterback Drew Heenan scored on a 47-yard run to put Londonderry back up by two scores.

"It really just brought us back to life," Salcito said. "Some guys, after (Salem) scored, obviously, were getting in their heads. Just to come out with a big bang, get the guys back up, and get us rolling again, was really important."

Salem came back with a long drive of its own, but it stalled once the Blue Devils reached the Londonderry 20, and on fourth down, Trevor Weinmann came up with an interception to give the Lancers the ball.

But Londonderry wasn't able to pick up a first down and Weinmann got ready to punt the ball back to Salem. He let loose a booming kick that found its way into the end zone for a touchback.

"I just do what I do every day in practice," the junior said. "I look down at the ball and I kick it and then I see it up in the air. It felt good. I was hoping someone could get down there and prevent it from going in (the end zone), but it felt good to flip the field."

The change in field position turned out to be big for the Lancers. The defense stopped Salem and forced the ball over on downs, setting up a touchdown run by Matthew Perron that made it 28-7 with under five minutes remaining in the game.

"He’s been flipping the field for us all year," Lauzon said. "We focus on Trevor Weinmann the athlete, and he’s a two-way starter, so we’re constantly thinking of him like that. But if he only punted, this kid is an unbelievable punter, but because he does other things, we don’t think of him like that. He’s been tremendous."

For Weinmann, the punt felt like a bigger play than the interception he'd made just moments before that kick.

"I’d rather have a good punt than a good block or a good catch," he said. "The punt felt better than (the interception). It’s tough to do and only a few people can do it. I played soccer growing up, so it kind of comes naturally."

With Londonderry getting ready to face Winnacunnet in Saturday's Division I championship game - kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter - the Lancers feel like special teams could play another big factor if it ends up being close.

"We spend all that time practicing it, to see it pay off on game day validates it," Wrisley said. "Good thing we did that, we need to keep up with that. It was worth it to put in all that work on special teams. It’s going to come into play, the team that can execute special teams better, especially when you have two good teams going at it, it’s a big difference maker."