New Hampshire Football Report

Kingswood turns to Woodsome

Cory Woodsome sold his restaurant business in 2021, but he knows Kingswood High School football fans are starved for a winner.

Woodsome, 47, is entering his first season as Kingswood’s head coach. He replaced Tom McCullough, who did not return after serving as head coach for two seasons.

Because of struggles on the field, Kingswood was allowed to move from Division II to Division III for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but returned to Division II this year.

“The expectations, as far as I’m concerned, they’re going to be much higher than they’ve been previously,” Woodsome said. “I can tell just by working with these kids the last seven or eight weeks their football IQ needs to be increased. 

“This needs a complete overhaul at this school, from top to bottom. This is not going to change overnight. Our success is not going to be based on wins and losses by any means.”

Woodsome spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Bonny Eagle High School, which has one of the top football programs in Maine. Before that he coached at Massabesic High School – his alma mater – in Waterboro, Maine. Woodsome also lives in Waterboro, which is about 35 miles from Kingswood.

“I’ve been actively pursuing a head job for the last three or four years,” Woodsome said. “I’ve always put the time in. I’ve always made it work, but now I’m at a point (financially) where I can give the kids my undivided attention.

“There’s never an ideal situation. Like the school where I was just at (Bonny Eagle). Kevin Cooper is one of the best head coaches the state of Maine has ever had. I think he’s won seven titles in 27 years. If you walk into a situation at a school that’s had a lot of success you’re going to hear, ‘Those are big shoes to fill.’ That might even be a harder job. The goal is to get the most out of people.”

Woodsome, who umpires baseball at the high school and college levels, said close to 20 players have been showing up regularly for offseason workouts.

Kingswood will open the season against Hollis/Brookline, but will face Trinity, Bow and Plymouth in the following three weeks.

“I hope we can get through our first four games healthy, because our ceiling for growth is way higher than everybody else that we play – way higher,,” Woodsome said. “When we face adversity hopefully we can overcome it and continue to get better, and we’ll see what happens come November.

“I’m excited for this community to see what we are Week 1. Regardless of the outcome of that game they will say, ‘That is a completely different team right there from what they saw last year.’”

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