The second day of high school football practice brought with it sweltering heat, forcing area teams to alter their plans and cool down.
With temperatures reaching the 90s Thursday, squads either retreated indoors or took things a little slower and easier to avoid overworking so early in the season.
ConVal Regional spent the first half-hour of its practice in the weight room, while Keene High used its evening session as an opportunity to shed the pads and help teach youth football players proper technique.
Fall Mountain Regional outright canceled its practice, citing the heat index. Monadnock Regional did its best to make sure its players were as comfortable as can be.
“We made sure to work out in the shade,” Huskies Coach Linwood Patnode said.
When the teams did take the field, the action was pretty light.
“Conditioning and a lot of fundamentals,” ConVal Coach Paul Landau said. “It’s been real hot, so that stuff is something we have to keep an eye on.”
The heat doesn’t appear to be letting up today, either. Various weather services have today’s high to be in the low to mid-90s, and there is a heat advisory until 7 p.m.
It helps that players are yet to put on full pads and start hitting. Until next week, teams are limited to helmets and shoulder pads.
“We’re just doing the basic building blocks,” Landau said. “Nothing too exciting.”
Perhaps the only thing filling the air more than the heat wave is optimism for a new season.
“Every year around this time, even guys in the NFL, everybody is always upbeat,” Keene Coach John Luopa said.
Every team across the state is 0-0, and there is yet to be a big fumble or key missed block to rile up any players or coaches. That might be why the heat didn’t bother anyone — yet.
“(Thursday) morning, it was hot,” Luopa said. “But not one person complained. … They just got after it.”
One reason for the optimism is the experience each team brings back, specifically under center. The headliner of area quarterbacks is ConVal junior Dan Spezzaferri, who threw for a school-record 2,268 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.
He’ll be paired with senior receiver Liam Baldwin, who has 100 career receptions, which Landau believes is the most in state history. New Hampshire doesn’t keep specific records in that area, but Landau said he’s found nobody with more than 100.
Record or not, Landau hopes his explosive offense keeps it up this year.
“We want to play fast, play with good pace,” Landau said. “We want to throw the ball around a lot.”
Keene and Monadnock each return experienced quarterbacks in Sean Corrigan and J.T. Cloutier, respectively.
Luopa is excited to see what Corrigan can do in his junior year, especially when teamed with receivers Alex Abreu and Logan Galanes.
“We’re more upbeat than usual, because our guys know that we have a really good core of guys,” Luopa said. “We’re not looking to just be competitive. We’re looking to win football games.”
Added Corrigan, “I think this year, I’m feeling more confident and comfortable.”
Cloutier provides stability for Monadnock, but Patnode may be more focused on looking to fill a big hole in the rushing game. Work-horse Baliee Johns is gone, but Patnode thinks they have just the fix.
“I think Levi Bassingthwaite is going to be a very good running back this year,” Patnode said. “We’ve got a whole group of running backs. We feel really good.”
If there is one common theme among the coaches, it’s optimism about each team’s offense. But Luopa noted that since teams are unable to hit, it is tough to evaluate the defensive side at this point.
The hitting won’t start until next week, so until then area squads will just look to keep cool.