What we learned about 3 Seacoast Maine high school football teams on Day 1 of practice

Football in New Hampshire returned last Friday, and fans around the Seacoast knew that Maine was just around the corner. That day arrived on Monday, as the first official day of the fall season began as student-athletes began, and continued, the grind.

With just a couple of weeks until the regular season starts, here is what we found out on the first day of football practice at Marshwood, York and Traip Academy.

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An underrated, but key position will be a group to keep an eye on for Marshwood

One may ask just how Marshwood High School, the defending Class B state champions can improve?

While all questions are valid, what goes unnoticed is one of the driving forces of last year's success, and one that will certainly be a tough, and more experienced group this season for the Hawks - the offensive line.

Or as junior Riley Parnham calls "the group that brings the grit."

"The offensive line does the dirty work that the fans might not see," he said. "We're the ones doing all the work so the guys in the back can get all the glory."

Parnham has a goal of being an all-state center this season.

"Last year, (Parnham) was probably our best lineman," Marshwood head coach Alex Rotsko. "With a year under his belt, to have a guy at center who knows his assignments and is a solid player, that's huge for us."

Last season, Marshwood was fairly young on the offensive line as everyone was a first-time starte, a lot of that due to COVID and a shortened season in 2020..

"This year, they have a year under their belt," Rotsko said. "One of the advantages of making it to the state championship is we had four weeks more practice than other teams; there's only one other team that practiced as long as we did, and that helps too."

Rotsko said the group's physicality has been a noticeable difference early on.

"It took us until the end of the season to get comfortable and get really good," senior lineman Riley St. Pierre said. "This year, we have more of an opportunity to build on that."

Last year, Parnham, St. Pierre and Will Anderson were big pieces last year and will lead the way this year for the Hawks.

Additionally, Dan Mercier and Shane Waterman started several games as freshmen, and will be key pieces on the line.

Senior Cam Sutton, sophomore Treyton Lauber, junior Noah Dures (6-foot-4, 345 pounds), junior Jackson Buckley (6-foot-6, 325 pounds) and sophomore Jesse Jacques (6-feet, 275 pounds) are all competing for spots on the offensive line, according to Rotsko.

Jacques started at defensive tackle as a freshman.

St. Pierre's main goal for the offensive line is to be as mistake-free as possible.

"I just hope we don't make as many mistakes as we did last year," he said. "We work good as a team, we're more comfortable and more experienced."

York opens up practice with a good competition battle

There's nothing wrong with a little competitive battle to open up practice, especially at arguably the most important position on the field - quarterback.

"We're excited to see what they can do," York head coach Matt Nelson said of junior Gavin Davis and sophomores Alex Taylor and Pete Martin who are all battling for the starting job. "We're kind of young at that position this year; they're going to have to learn a lot and we're confident they can do it."

All three will see time in Saturday's scrimmage against Pembroke Academy.

"We're hopeful that the kids will push each other and that it'll be a good two weeks of practice before we head out to Leavitt (for the opener on September 2)," Nelson said.

Davis is looking forward to the friendly battle.

"I love competing with these guys, it's always fun," he said. "It's just good competition, it makes me better."

Davis focused on studying the playbook in the off-season, and emphasized going through his reads on the field.

Taylor said he learned a lot from watching Luke Doughty last year.

"Luke and I have a great relationship and he just taught me how to be a better teammate, and how to get the ball out quicker," Taylor said. "He would do that really well."

Taylor said some of his strengths include short to immediate passes, and added that he needs to continue to work on his deep ball.

This season is Martin's first year playing football and is up for the task.

"I picked up the game playing with my friends, and I spoke to some of the members on the team, and they said it was a great mentality out here," Martin said. "I thought it would be rewarding to become part of the team."

Martin has focused on learning the concept of the team and being more familiar with the plays, along with skill work.

"I just worked on getting stronger so I can prepare myself to throw the ball faster, harder, and longer; still a lot to work on though," Martin said. "I'm really just excited to learn from my teammates this year. Alex, Gavin, it'll be great to be behind them and see what they do and see what I can do better."

Traip Academy's Zac Foye and Sam Matthews look to emerge as second-year starters

It was a rough season last year for the Rangers with an 0-8 record in the 8-Man Small division, but despite the struggles, Traip Academy did show promise.

Now, quarterback Zac Foye and lineman Sam Matthews, both second-year senior starters for the Rangers, are poised to be the two leaders others can look to this year.

Foye threw for more than 1,000 yards last year, but did run into a few rough patches. He and head coach Eric Lane know that one key to any success this year will begin at the quarterback position.

"He struggled (at the beginning) last year, but he grasped the offense and really started taking a leadership role towards the end of the season when people were really looking at him as the guy to go to," Lane said.

Lane mentioned that Foye has shown great intensity so far this preseason.

"He's really bringing it," Lane said. "He's really taking charge in the huddle and it's exciting to see."

So far, Lane said the commitment overall has really stood out on the first day by Foye.

Foye, in the off-season, emphasized pass accuracy, speed and endurance to his game.

"(All that) allows me to be more comfortable in the pocket," Foye said. "And when I don't have time to throw, I can always run."

Foye said he wants to incorporate his running ability more.

"(Foye) is the type of kid who'll make that happen," Lane added.

Simply put, Matthews can wreak havoc, Lane said. Matthews was dominant in his role on the defensive line.

"He really came on strong," Lane said. "When I saw teams double-teaming him because he was wreaking havoc, it was his youth and his endurance that really slowed him down."

"I'm just pushing it harder during conditioning," Matthews said of how he's been improving his endurance. "Giving it 100 percent and keep going."

Matthews said, in reference to facing double teams, that he's been in the weight room putting on extra muscle in preparation for the season.

"I'm hoping that will pay off," Matthews said.

Lane said Matthews has really put in the effort this off-season to address areas to make him even more of a disruptor.

"I'm looking for him to be a force for us on the defensive line," Lane explained. "If he wreaks havoc, good things happen for us."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seacoast Maine high school football teams open practice for 2022 season