Manchester Central football gets rolling, ready for Jamboree

NASHUA – It took a while Wednesday, but the Manchester Central High School football team showed its capable of big things when it gets into the flow of a game.

The Little Green started off slow, but its first offensive unit got rolling on its final few possessions in a scrimmage against Nashua South at Stellos Stadium, and looked the best it has all preseason.

“I didn’t think our energy was all that good,” Central coach Ryan Ray said. “I thought it was a great challenge, coming down to Stellos to play a great team in a great stadium. At first, I didn’t think our guys were really up to it, but after the first snaps, our guys started to fly around and started to execute.”

Maybe it was just a reaction to the end of a what can be a long preseason, especially when a team is practicing twice a day.

“I think we’re all glad to see double sessions come to an end,” Ray said. “Our kids have had, like any double sessions, any place, any time, you have your ups and downs. Nobody likes two-and-a-half weeks of double sessions. The players, the coaches, it starts to get monotonous, so that’s why we break it up with a couple of scrimmages.”

The Little Green get another one Friday, when they take part in the Queen City Jamboree. Central, which will take on Bishop Guertin, is scheduled to play in the fifth of six 24-minute scrimmages, starting at 3:30 p.m. at Gill Stadium.

“We’ll really learn about ourselves when there are no coaches on the field tweaking things,” Ray said.

While in the past it would have been unusual to scrimmage teams in the same division, Central won’t play the Cardinals or the Panthers, unless they meet in the Division I semifinals or final. In fact, all of the Little Green’s scrimmages have been against Division I teams it won’t play this season.

“I do like the idea of change and seeing other schools,” Ray said. “That’s an interesting thing. But I really do hate – and hate is the word – that we’re losing the rivalries on a year-in, year-out basis with South, North, Exeter.

“You relish, you love the challenge of playing those great, big schools. Nothing to take away from the schools that are now Division I, but it’s probably not the same going into one of those different schools that we don’t have a rivalry with. You go into Pinkerton and everybody hates you. You go into Stellos and people hate you and you love that.”

Central is in the North Conference in Division I, along with Memorial, West, Concord and Bedford, and will crossover with the South Conference to play Pinkerton, Londonderry, Salem, Goffstown and Merrimack.

Queen City Jamboree schedule (Friday at Gill Stadium)

• Souhegan vs. Salem, 3:30 p.m.
• Merrimack vs. Trinity, 4:30 p.m.
• Manchester West vs. Manchester Memorial, 5:30 p.m.
• Goffstown vs. Concord, 6:30 p.m.
• Bishop Guertin vs. Manchester Central, 7:30 p.m.
• Timberlane vs. Pinkerton, 8:30 p.m.