West looking to end skid in CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game
There was one important thing Justin Grassini and Nik Moquin had to do before the West all-star team could get its practices going.
The pair of quarterbacks had to prove they could take a snap from under center.
After a rocky start, both Grassini and Moquin got the hang of it, and the West team got the ball rolling as it prepared for the CHaD East-West All-Star Football Game, which will take place Friday at 7 p.m. at Saint Anselm College.
"Do you know how to take the ball from under center?" West coach Jim Schubert said of what he asked the quarterbacks before the first practice. "They've been doing it. We take snaps every day. It wasn't good the first day, but it was after."
Both Grassini, at Merrimack, and Moquin, at Goffstown, played in spread offenses and were exclusively in the shotgun during their high school days. But on Friday, they'll take the field running Schubert's offense, which uses the I-formation.
While it might have been unfamiliar at first, the game plan should still give both quarterbacks an opportunity to throw the ball.
"I had quarterbacks in the past, five of them at (Manchester) Central, who threw for over 2,500 yards each," Schubert said. "It all depends on what the defense gives you. I was looking for offensive linemen that can block people. I don't run a lot out of the (shotgun), but we do throw the ball."
The West will be throwing it to a group of receivers that includes Franklin Castillo-Diaz from Goffstown, Sarveen Shafiyan-Rad from Bishop Guertin, Alex Abreu from Keene and Parker Smith from Stevens. In the backfield will be Lebanon's Ryan Milliken and Bedford's Nick Leahy, along with Concord's Reid Ljungholm, who made the switch from receiver.
"He's an H-back," Schubert said of Ljungholm. "I said can you run with the football? He said 'I can do anything coach, just put me where you want to put me.' That's the type of attitude we have on this team.
"Maybe they know my reputation. I'm going to decide who plays and who doesn't play based on how hard they work, and these kids are working their butts off. I'm getting tired before they are, but I'm also 70 years old."
For the East, injuries and non-football factors have left coach Craig Kozens with 34 players for Friday's game. The West roster has 40 players on it.
Kozens is coaching the East for the third year in a row, and his teams have won the last two all-star games. The West won the first three, including Schubert's previous appearance as head coach in 2013.
West captains are Leahy, Grassini, Timmy Daigneault (Nashua South) and Henry Yianakopolos (Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton). Captains for the East will be Christian Peete (Portsmouth), Zac Garside (Londonderry), Vinny Panetta (Dover) and Josh Thibeault (Timberlane).
