Jamboree Roundup: Defense stands out for Epping-Newmarket football

WOLFEBORO – Chuck Fitzmaurice believed the defense might be ahead of the offense as the Epping-Newmarket football team gets ready for the season, and the Blue Devils proved him right Wednesday.

Epping-Newmarket’s defense came up with a handful of big plays, forcing three turnovers and blocking a punt, in its two quarters of play against Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton and Merrimack Valley.

The Blue Devils kept both teams out of the end zone, and held both offenses in check until the Pride put together a drive at the end of Epping-Newmarket’s second quarter. Merrimack Valley got to the Blue Devils’ 6-yard line on a nine-play, 59-yard drive, but Epping-Newmarket’s defense held and forced the ball over on downs with 12.3 seconds left.

“Defense is something we’ve always hung our hat on,” Fitzmaurice said. “With me, I’m a head coach, but I’m a defensive guy. Defense is what wins championships. That’s where we need to attack from. We have a solid unit. We lost three starters from last year. We saw the next generation, some sophomores and freshmen who barely got time last year, stepped up.”

While the defense played well, the offense has some ground to make up. Epping-Newmarket had the ball inside midfield five times, but its only touchdown of the day came off a blocked punt.

Richard Croteau got his hands on a H-D/Hopkinton punt Shane Moore recovered at the Redhawks’ 4-yard line and fought his way into the end zone.

“We’re pretty much where we thought we were,” Fitzmaurice said. “We have some things to iron out. Our biggest thing coming up here was that we had some questions of who was going to step in and fill some shoes. I think we answered those questions.”

Epping-Newmarket beat H-D/Hopkinton 6-0 and played to a scoreless tie with Merrimack Valley.

After gaining 23 yards on 16 plays against Epping-Newmarket, H-D/Hopkinton found success in its second scrimmage against Newfound. The Redhawks opened the quarter with a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ended on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Caleb Yianakopolos.

But that score was answered by Newfound’s Cam Anderson, who went 77 yards for a touchdown, and the teams ended tied 6-6.

Anderson did it again for the Bears against Merrimack Valley. The Pride took an 8-0 lead with 1:39 left in the quarter, but on Newfound’s next play from scrimmage, Anderson raced 80 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and Merrimack Valley finished up 8-6.

Windham opened its first scrimmage against Wells (Maine) with a six-play, 49-yard drive that ended in a 15-yard touchdown pass. Wells took advantage of a Jaguars’ fumble to tie it at 7, but a 60-yard touchdown run with 2:13 let in the quarter put Windham up for good, 14-7.

The defense stepped up for Wells in its second scrimmage against Campbell, as the Red Storm held the Cougars to 35 yards rushing on 13 carries. Wells scored with 38.9 seconds left in the quarter to beat Campbell 7-0.

Windham also started strong in its second scrimmage, going on an 11-play, 75-yard drive to open up against Kingswood. The Knights blocked the extra point to keep it at 6-0, but a fumble on Kingswood’s third offensive play was returned for a touchdown by the Jaguars to make it 13-0.

Cameron Mann got Kingswood on the board with a minute left in the quarter, as he scored on a 52-yard touchdown run to make it a 13-6 final.

Campbell’s Keegan Mills scored on touchdown runs of 31 and 7 yards, respectively, in the final scrimmage to give the Cougars a 14-0 win over Kingswood.