Memorial High football coach greets a turnout of 85 players
Aug. 14—ROB STURGIS could not sleep Thursday night. By 4 a.m. Friday, he gave up on sleep and got ready.
About five hours later, the Manchester Memorial football coach was teaching his offensive linemen blocking techniques and implementing pre-snap code words with his defense.
"You get the jitters," Sturgis said after Memorial's first practice at Chabot-McDonough Field on Friday, the first day of high school football practice across the state. "It's always great to be back on the football field."
When Sturgis began checking in players around 7 a.m., he was greeted by the largest turnout he has had in his five seasons leading the Crusaders.
Sturgis said he will have about 85 players in the program this year, which is 20 more than last year and far more than the 53 he had during his first season in 2018. While he said numbers have increased every year, Sturgis was pleasantly surprised by this year's number.
"I don't know if it was just what was in the water (this) year for the kids and everything or if it's just kids are finally coming back from COVID and want to do stuff," Sturgis said. "This has just been a really good-sized class so far. That is very nice to see."
Sturgis said Memorial will have a varsity and a junior varsity team and could have fielded a freshman team if he had enough freshman linemen. The significant uptick in numbers, Sturgis said, will let him give more repetitions to younger players and enjoy a level of depth the team did not have last year when it went 1-7.
Wide receiver Daniel Betancur, linebacker Wenchell Jean Claude and lineman Adam Jacques are among 10 seniors who will lead Memorial.
Betancur said he wants to help toughen up the freshmen to help them get used to the high school level of play. Jacques said he plans to make the freshmen feel included.
"When I was a freshman, I liked them (the seniors) not treating me as a freshman — just being a teammate and not a freshman," Jacques said.
Sturgis said his seniors have been on both winning and losing teams. He said he hopes those experiences will help them recognize what this year's group needs to do to be successful and snuff out bad habits before they develop.
During games, Sturgis said he will need his seniors to be composed and keep the sideline engaged.
Memorial opens its season at Timberlane of Plaistow on Friday, Sept. 2.
"They've been a part of crazy comebacks, they've been on the other side of comebacks, they've been part of blowouts both ways," Sturgis said, "so they know what it takes and how they can respond from those scenarios."
Sturgis said this year's team is the fastest he has had. With that speed, he plans to add some scheme wrinkles like having a more down-the-field passing attack and play man-to-man defense.
Memorial also returns most of its starting linemen from last season, many of whom are three- or four-year starters.
Sturgis said he just wants to see his players improve throughout the fall and he already accomplished one of his top season goals with the big turnout.
One more incoming group with similar numbers to this year would put Memorial's numbers close to traditionally successful programs like Exeter and Londonderry, he said.
"If you can be around those numbers, you can truly develop depth, you can truly have kids playing at the levels they're supposed to be playing at," Sturgis said.
