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It’s all on the line

Although Friday night’s New Hampshire East/West All-Star Game will feature some of the best skill-position players NHIAA football had to offer last season, West coach Keith Jones said he expects the outcome to be determined by the players on the offensive line.

“The offensive line decides these games,” Jones said. “That’s where the bad mistakes happen. That’s where the turnovers happen. When there’s just a complete blown assignment and somebody gets lit up in the backfield or dropped for a 6-yard loss on a third and 2 … that kind of stuff is a killer in this game. And the quarterback-center exchange is just so important.”

East coach Eric Cumba will likely take his chances with things being decided up front, since his linemen include Londonderry’s Ty Miles, a scholarship player headed to the University of New Hampshire; and Memphis Patterson, who helped Pelham win four championships and 41 straight games during his high school career.

Cumba, who played offensive line at UNH, is Dover’s head coach. He was an assistant with the East for last year’s game when the West pulled out a 13-10 victory in overtime.

“That’s how we approached it when we picked this year’s team, we wanted to have the best lineman in the state and as many of them as possible,” Cumba said. “Throughout the course of the week things can happen, things can come up. And then as the game goes on, with 15-minute quarters, there’s going to be a lot of minutes when some of them are not playing at all. You want to get kids in there who can continue to compete at a high level.” 

This year’s game will be played at Saint Anselm College and Friday’s opening kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Each team features players who graduated from NHIAA schools this year. The West leads the series 8-3 and will be seeking its fourth consecutive victory.

Jones, who resigned as Milford’s head coach after the 2023 season, is serving as the West’s head coach for the third time. He guided the West to a 44-12 victory in the inaugural game in 2012, and was the West’s head coach in 2015, when the East prevailed 29-15.

“Very happy with our progress,” Jones said. “Got a tremendous group of kids who are already bonding. We have kids sleeping at each other’s houses so they don’t have to travel, and they’re going to places after practice … doing stuff together.

“I think skill-player wise we’re as good as we’ve ever been. We only have nine offensive linemen, which is a little lower than usual, but I’m happy with the quality.” 

Bedford’s Spencer Henrichon, Manchester Memorial’s Patrick Vachon, Merrimack’s Zach Rezaoui, Nashua North’s Melvin Fernandez and Concord’s Aiden Diachenko are among the West players who figure to see significant time on the offensive line. 

“Defensively, in terms of our front seven or eight players, we’re big and strong,” Cumba said. “Those guys are as good a players in the state that we could find. Up front is our strength on both sides of the ball.”

Proceeds from Friday’s game benefit Dartmouth Health Children’s and Children’s Hospital and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD).

“I try to determine who the five best offensive linemen are, and then who the next two best are so we have backups, and then I try to only have them play offensive line,” Jones said. “You only have nine days to teach these kids X amount of plays. You want it to be creative and you want it  to be fun. You also want it to work toward the skill players talents. You don’t want to try to make them do something they aren’t used to doing, but as far as the offensive line goes, if you can get that group together and give them the most reps and limit they’re mistakes, then we’ll always be going forward.” 

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