Everything coming together for East all-stars as CHaD East-West Football Game approaches

Reminding Team East coach Craig Kozens that his squad has won two of the last three CHaD East-West All-Star Games does nothing to change his mind.

Due to a smaller pool of schools from which to select players, Kozens has no problem labeling Team East as the perennial underdog in the summer exhibition.

That said, Kozens is confident his skill players are every bit as talented as their Team West counterparts. They’ll be out to prove him right at 1 p.m. Saturday on the Wildcat Stadium turf on the University of New Hampshire campus in Durham.

“We tend to be the underdogs. In the East we have less teams to choose from,” said Kozens, who is coaching in his sixth of the seven all-star games (four as East head coach). “This year they have two of the recent Gatorade Player of the Year selections. Obviously, they’ve got some talent. But I’m very happy with the group that we have.

“I think our skilled guys are very deep and very skilled. I’m very pleased with our skill guys.”

Leading the East under center is Portsmouth’s Cody Graham, while Laconia quarterback Riley Roy may get a few snaps throughout the game.

The East’s top offensive weapons come out of the backfield along with Graham in the form of 1,000-yard rushers Josh Sibanda of Salem and Pinkerton Academy’s Ty Hicks.

“Sibanda and Hicks are very good runners,” Kozens said. “They get downhill fast. They hit the hole quick. Game-breaker type kids.”

The East’s receiving corps – led by St. Thomas’ Tim Bouchard, Dover’s John Cantwell, Winnacunnet’s Evan Welch, Spaulding’s Mitchell Stokes, Londonderry’s Connor Dubois and Laconia’s Drew Muzzey – isn’t too shabby either.

Kozen’s sees good hands and breakaway speed in this unit.

“Our slots and outside receivers all run great routes,” Kozens said. “They can get behind people and can catch the ball in traffic.”

Defensively, the East will run a 4-3. Kozens is putting a lot of responsibility on his secondary to prevent Team West from breaking off the big play.

It’s a deep group of defensive backs that can hold its own.

“They look solid and they’re very athletic,” Kozens said. “We’re running a pretty good scheme to move guys around and give different looks.

“It all comes down to if we can execute. In practice they’ve looked great. That’s our biggest scare – we don’t want to give up an easy score. In this kind of game, it’s hard to recover from a couple of easy scores. We’ve got to make them earn everything they get.”

Sitting out the game with injuries for East are Winnacunnet’s Billy Powers (torn labrum) and Kennett’s Trevor Mills (patella tendinitis), but as of Thursday the rest of the roster was healthy and ready to go.

It’s a roster that has been gelling smoothly since the first practice on June 22.

“I think we’ve progressed further than most years in this short period of time,” Kozens said. “It’s a smart group of kids – good football IQ. They learned their roles quickly this year. By Sunday we’ll be what we’re going to be.”