Belmont High senior brings lacrosse back to campus

BELMONT — Seven years later, the high school's junior varsity lacrosse team has been revived, after dissolving in 2018. Senior Brenden Schofield, 17, led the initiative to bring the team back. He played youth lacrosse in middle school in Laconia, then during the COVID-19 pandemic was not able to play in high school. It wasn’t until this year that Schofield felt motivated to do something, hoping to have some fun during his last year of high school.

“I was literally working with two of my buddies, and I was like, 'I kind of want to play lacrosse again,'” Schofield said. “And they're like, ‘If you start a team, we'll be on it.’”

With some support behind him, Schofield began recruiting for the team. He went with a list of names to Athletic Director Cayman Belyea. Anytime a student comes to him with excitement about a new program, Belyea evaluates the logistics and possibilities of making it happen. It helped that the coaching position remained in the budget since the last time the school had a team. But he said Schofield made it easy for him to decide.

“To Brenden’s credit, he put a lot of effort in to try to make this happen. So, for him, personally, I was very happy for him to make that happen,” Belyea said. “But also, to see the amount of kids that weren't participating in something that picked this sport up and are now playing.”

Schofield believed his interest in the sport and his prominence as senior class president, would help make lacrosse happen.

“I know how to work with people. I've got those connections,” he said. “I can get something done here, so I might as well try.”

There are currently 18 students on the team. Schofield and one other have lacrosse experience. The rest are a mix of athletes from other sports, or students trying a sport for the first time. Head Coach Darren Premo said it doesn’t matter the students’ background; he can whip them into shape.

“We'll take the basketball kids, we'll take the soccer kids, we'll take the skiing kids, we'll take the mountain bike kids,” Premo said.

Schofield recognized the lack of experience in the team, but remains hopeful.

“I don't know how we're going to do in our games, because we're JV and only two of us have ever played lacrosse before,” he said. “But the boys seem motivated to do good, and I'm proud of everyone for showing up as much as they have and putting their all for it.”

According to Premo, New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association rules dictate the team must exist at the junior varsity level before the school can create a varsity team.

The lacrosse team's return comes a year after the dissolution of the Belmont football team. Belyea believes the departure of football wasn’t the reason for bringing lacrosse back, as the sports are in different seasons. But a couple football players are now on the lacrosse team.

“With it being more of a contact sport, some of those kids look for that type of an outlet,” Belyea said.

The team has two coaches. Premo is the experienced one, having coached lacrosse for 30 years, beginning his career establishing the lacrosse program in Concord. After 17 years there, he moved on to Central High School in Manchester for a year, then came up to Belmont for about five years, before the team dissolved in 2018. Then he went to Bow.

Assistant Coach Eric Kratzer doesn’t have experience in lacrosse. He played football for Laconia in the '90s, and his son is on the new lacrosse team. Kratzer has spent time understanding the fundamentals of the sport like cradling, shooting and scooping.

“The fundamentals are basic. They're simple, and they're easy to coach at this level,” Kratzer said.

Kratzer believes despite little experience in lacrosse, he can help the team with athleticism. And all players with experience in other sports have a slight head start.

“From an athletic point of view, just the athleticism, it's transcended across all sports,” he said. “That's what we're kind of excited about, because we got some good athletes on the team.”

With only three weeks of practice, the team is starting from ground zero. The Red Raiders have their first game against Kingswood Regional High School 4 p.m. on Monday. That school has a youth program, and many of the Kingswood Knights' players have three or four years of experience.

Premo understands the imbalance between his team and others. To close the gap, students are not permitted to miss a practice. He will not accept excuses, and there are consequences for skipping.

“If you miss practice, you’re missing game time,” Premo said at Thursday’s practice.

Premo wants the students to take the sport seriously. But there is one thing potentially more important.

“The other thing is for the kids to have fun and for the buzz to go through the school,” he said. “And hopefully then we get more kids to come out next year.”