Summer Notes: Windham High School Football
Losing the core group of players who helped lead a team to back-to-back championship games might worry a lot of coaches.
Instead, Windham High School football coach Bill Raycraft is excited.
After graduating a pair of senior classes that helped the Jaguars win the program’s first championship in 2014, and make a somewhat surprising run to last year’s title game, Raycraft has a number of players who will finally get their first chance to shine.
“This is a hungry group,” Raycraft said. “It’s funny because we’ve had groups before that, I think back a couple of years, even last year, where guys have been starters for a number of years.
“This group had the talent to be on the field, but we’ve had guys who are pretty good in front of them. We’ve got some young guys, and it’s probably the strongest group of sophomores and juniors that we’ve ever had, and they’re all fighting for that shot, to be able to play.”
The number of players has exploded for Windham in recent years. Not too long ago, the coaching staff looked at 65 kids participating in football as a great number. That’s not the case anymore.
“We gave out 107 sets of equipment,” Raycraft said. “The excitement in town, certainly with the youth program, has been a big plus. Out of those numbers, we have 30 freshmen out.
“It creates competition between each other, which is even better. You’re not guaranteed a spot, you have to work for it.”
Many of the Jaguars did in the offseason, as the number of players in the weight room skyrocketed. The team also had enough players participating in 7-on-7 drills that Windham was able to run four groups during sessions in Nashua.
Despite the turnover on the roster, expectations are still high for the Jaguars.
“The biggest thing for us is how we rise to that expectation,” Raycraft said. “It used to be we talked about where we wanted to finish. We know where we want to finish. It’s about how we get there. It’s making sure everybody buys in to get to that level. It’s making sure they know what they need to do to get there.”
