Another Season of Lancer Football Starts On Friday Night

By Chris Paul

As the Londonderry High School Football team prepares for the upcoming season, scheduled to begin on Friday night, Sept. 1, fans have plenty to get excited about.
The Lancers, under the leadership of coach Jimmy Lauzon, have brought home two state titles and have competed in three of the past four Division I State Championships.
During the championship game last year, LHS lost in a one-point, 15-14 heartbreaker, to the Bedford Bulldogs, but hope to rectify that result in the upcoming season.
There will be a number of new starters this year, as the Lancer squad lost many to graduation last year.
According to Lauzon, some of his key players are: Seth Doyon (CB/WR), Jake Schena (RB/CB), Ty Parsons (LB/TE), Ty Miles (OL/DL), Michael Thistle (OL/DL), Conor Williams (QB,S), Cam Brutus (QB,S), Sam Ogden (QB,S), Alex Villa (QB/LB), Devin Boles (LB/TE), Jake Perron (RB/LB), Matt Carroll (RB/CB), these guys will take on the largest role this year most likely. Lauzon added that, “We also have a lot of juniors that will contribute and some seniors that are excited for their opportunity to get on the field.”
As far as expectations this season, the coach said, “I am hopeful, we will get better each week and play our best football later in the season. We graduated 17 starting spots, so naturally we have a lot of brand-new players to the varsity level. Some of them have been waiting for this chance, others have won the position this pre-season and will realize how big the jump is at the varsity level. With a program of 130 kids, you’d think it would be easy to plug new players in and go, but we cannot simulate game experience and the group we put on the field will need to gain that experience through trial and error. We will be a team that needs to continue to gain experience and grow as the season progresses. The inexperienced excuse runs out after they get a few games under their belt. The expectation will not change though, we expect to compete, we expect them to practice hard every day, we expect them to execute on Fridays. It’s been fun to see this much competition at each position though and through competition it tends to bring out the best in players.”
The team’s first game of the season is scheduled to be at home, against the Concord High School Crimson Tide, starting at 7 p.m. on Friday. Lancers will be hosting a Veteran’s Appreciation Night that evening and Gridiron Club members will be collecting canned goods and full-sized toiletries to benefit the Liberty House in Manchester. Donations can be made placed in the boxes near the concessions.
The following week, LHS will travel to Chelmsford High School in Massachusetts for an out-of-conference game against the Lions.
Week three features a home game against Central High School on Friday, Sept. 15, and the team will be hosting their annual White-Out Night and encourage all fans to wear white for the game. The Gridiron Club will be selling T-shirts with all proceeds from sales going to The Jake Naar Scholarship Fund.
On week three, the very popular Mack Plaque contest against Pinkerton Academy will take place in Derry, starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22.
Londonderry has won every Mack Plaque game since 2019, breaking a 22-game losing streak.
In week five, LHS will travel south to Windham High School and take on the Jaguars on Friday night, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. This will be Windham’s annual Project Black-Out event, which is intended to bring awareness to Pediatric Cancer. The Gridiron Club encourages all our fans to wear black to the game.
Game six will be away against Nashua North starting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Stellos Stadium.
The Lancers will return home for game seven with a contest against the Exeter Blue Hawks starting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13. This will be the team’s annual “Future Lancer Night” focusing on Londonderry’s youth football and cheerleading programs.
Game eight will be another road game, this time against the Alvirne Broncos in Hudson on Friday night, Oct. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
The fianal game of the regular season will take place at Lancer Park with LHS taking on the Salem Blue Devils starting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27.
The final home game will also be the team’s Senior Night where they celebrate the Cheerleaders, Marching Band, and Football seniors and their families.