In the wake of coach Jon Rich’s controversial removal from his Londonderry High varsity football post earlier this year, few people knew what to expect from new LHS coach Jimmy Lauzon and his charges as the 2014 Division I campaign got rolling.
But now, with the football campaign a nice memory for the Londonderry High gridiron faithful, more good news has rolled in.
Eleven Lancer players received all-conference honors from the Division I coaches, with five of them garnering full all-conference recognition and another six claiming honorable mention honors.
Senior quarterback Eric Fairweather and senior linemen Casey Brackett (a guard) and Matt Freda (a center) were named all-conference offensive selections, and all-conference defensive recognition went to senior defensive back Mike Ryan and junior defensive back Dave Wiedenfeld.
Honorable mention recognition went to Dennis Bishop (senior running back), Paul Lind (senior lineman), Nehemyah Dion (junior lineman), T.J. Bajek (senior lineman), Gary Richard (junior linebacker), and Kyle Bird (senior linebacker).
“I’m very proud of them all, both first and second team,” said Lauzon. “We were in a tough conference, so it wasn’t easy to get on there.”
The Lancers were in easily the toughest conference in Division I – the South – which boasted a Pinkerton Academy crew that went on to an undefeated state championship season, and a Salem High crew – with assistant coach Jon Rich, that went 7-2 overall and missed out on a playoff berth.
Lauzon’s Londonderry bunch drove its way to an 8-1 regular season record – with the lone loss coming to the arch-rivals from Pinkerton in a 41-21 decision at LHS on Sept. 26 – before facing off against veteran coach Brian O’Reilly’s Astros once again in the conference title game in Derry in early November.
The academy team won that meeting as well as it rolled its way to the undefeated championship season, but Lauzon and his charges got the satisfaction of knowing that they had put a scare into Pinkerton, with the game’s outcome still in question in quarter number four.
Lauzon and his gridders can also look back over the final scores of their 2014 contests and puff their chests out recounting a 49-13 hammering of Nashua North, a 41-7 crushing of Keene, a 51-27 mauling of Merrimack’s Tomahawks, and a 41-15 busting of the Alvirne Broncos of Hudson on that opponent’s home field.
The Londonderry High School varsity football contingent is scheduled to have a huge crew of 26 senior players collect their diplomas in the spring, so Lauzon and his assistants will have their hands full plugging holes for the 2015 campaign. But if that season shapes up to be anything like the 2014 one was, Lancer football fans have plenty to look forward to.