Promising middle school team offers hope for return of Franklin-Winnisquam high school football

An attempt for a cooperative football team between Franklin and Winnisquam Regional high schools stopped before the season began this year, but there's a glimmer of hope for 2027.

The Howling Hurricanes, a middle school cooperative football team coached by Jeff Davis, put up a 5-2 record so far this season. The team finishes off the regular season at Laconia, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, under the lights.

The team has 15 eighth graders — about 30 total players — and Davis said they have all shown interest in playing in high school.

Franklin Superintendent Dan LeGallo, as well as Ian Snowdeal, the athletic director for Winnisquam, both say this bodes well for the program. They have high hopes football will be back at the high school level after a lost season, causing some students to shift to other sports.

A lost season

“It was very disappointing,” LeGallo said. “We didn’t have enough kids, and it is hard to play for a whole season when you have 17 or 18 players.”

School leaders saw the writing on the wall about two years ago, and the two districts started talking about a potential collaborative effort. The districts formalized the partnership last year, named the team the Franklin-Winnisquam Golden Bears, and hired former Saint Anselm College defensive line coach John Trisciani as the Golden Bears' head coach in April.

The name combines the mascots of both teams: the Franklin Golden Tornadoes, and Winnisquam Bears.

The Golden Bears even held practices for a couple weeks this summer, looking to get ramped up to compete against Division III teams, but the decision to end the season was made shortly after.

“Nobody was happy about the decision, but we believe it is the right decision to make for the kids,” LeGallo said.

He noted a football team really needs more than 20 players. LeGallo cited a slow decline in numbers that led to Franklin High reaching out to Winnisquam.

“They saw the decline, as well,” LeGallo said, noting there is a general drop occurring in enrollment.

LeGallo also said student athletes are playing other sports in the fall. He said some parents are concerned about injuries, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, and other serious, long-lasting or permanent ailments. LeGallo said it's something seen in all districts.

“I think that might steer some kids away from football,” LeGallo said.

He said there are plenty of options for fall sports, whether it is soccer, cross country, or fall baseball. Many Golden Bears are three-sport athletes, already getting ready for winter sports. Some took the fall off entirely.

Snowdeal said there was only one senior on the team, from Winnisquam, who previously played junior varsity. He also plays hockey on the cooperative team with Laconia and Inter-Lakes, and plays baseball for the Bears.

“Not the way he wanted to go out, but he’ll get his senior recognition for soccer,” Snowdeal said. “That was the biggest heartbreak for me.”

LeGallo said nipping this in the bud before the season began was a hard, but necessary, choice. He pointed out the Franklin football team forfeit their final two games last season, due to injuries.

“That is so devastating, not just for our own kids, but the teams that are supposed to play us,” LeGallo said. “We didn’t want that to happen again.”

LeGallo said by canceling before the season started, the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association still had time to adjust the schedules. He said there are potential sanctions that come from NHIAA if a team cancels in the middle of the season, and he didn’t want to risk losing a varsity squad for two years.

“It was a hard decision to make, but in terms of the situation, it was the right and easy decision to make based on circumstances.”

Next steps

Snowdeal and Franklin Athletic Director Andrew Szendre will meet for a conversation about the future of the program, which Snowdeal says will likely take place next month. He plans to get student-athlete input, and hear what parents have to say.

“Parents have said they’ll do what they can do to help, so we’ll explore what can work,” Snowdeal said.

Snowdeal said it was a bit surprising the season didn’t work out. Last June, there were 40 student-athletes signed up to play football, but as the season neared, those numbers dwindled.

Since Snowdeal has been the athletic director, the Bears had three coaches in three years, and he said it's impossible to put out a quality, or safe, product with low numbers. He said people have questioned why players can’t just play both sides of the ball, noting they did it when they played. He said that simply isn’t safe when the numbers are low, and it's due to necessity.

“At the end of the day, the decision was a safety measure,” Snowdeal said. “We can’t go out there with 15 kids.”

Football was once a successful endeavor for both schools, but it has been nearly a decade since the Bears won back-to-back Division IV titles, in 2018 and 2019. The 2018 title was over none other than the Golden Tornadoes, beating them 19-14. Franklin’s last championship came in 2012, defeating Mascoma 42-14 to take a Division VI crown.

There's still hope for a collaborative team.

“We are hopeful to re-up next year, and keep it rolling,” LeGallo said.

Howling Hurricanes

“I do think there is a bright future ahead for our collaboration,” LeGallo said.

This is the first year with a cooperative football team at the middle school level. The Franklin-Winnisquam Howling Hurricanes are led by Davis, a former Franklin High football coach in his first year coaching middle school. He has been excited about the drive his players have, especially knowing there isn’t a sure team in place for the high school yet.

“They’re a good group of kids,” Davis said. “They’ve been together for a while now, at least playing youth sports, but this is the first time they really got together to play football.”

The teams have been switching off playing at both high school fields, starting the season Sept. 9, against Newfound, at Winnisquam. This year, they have beaten teams from Newfound, Inter-Lakes, Farmington, Indian River and Claremont.

Davis joked that being former coach of the Golden Tornadoes, joining the rival high school just miles away was strange.

“After the first couple days of doing this with these guys, we kind of knew we had something special,” he said. “The boys are working hard, and they’re working together. The cool thing for these guys is that they haven’t lost at home.”

At their final home game against Indian River, at the Franklin High field, Davis said both school communities showed up to support.

“These guys are definitely feeding off of it,” he said. “With both the schools, for the past few years they’ve been playing from behind as it is, anyway. Realistically, you have nowhere to look but up with these guys, and 15 eighth graders is a lot better than having two eighth graders.”

The players have been working hard, and Davis found talent coming from both schools. He saw many of the skilled position players — quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, tight ends — have come from Winnisquam, while a lot of the “heavy hitters” are from Franklin.

“So, it’s an awesome recipe for everything to go together,” he said. “Realistically, the way I look at it, is it’s one school right now. It’s one unit. So, whoever shows up ready to play, those are the guys.”

Davis said the players “100%” have football on the mind for the future. He said this is the push the coaches have made, telling them they are the only football team in town, and all eyes are on them.

“We’re setting these guys up for the next level, and that’s really what is about.”