Patriots Football Team Opens Practice

It was a fitting four and a half hour morning practice for the Concord-Carlisle High School varsity football players, as the clouds gloomed and the rain continually poured, it seemed as if fall had already arrived.

Around 60 Patriot players were on the turf of Doug White Memorial Field for the first day of practice on Monday, playing in three different groups working through passing, running and throwing drills.

Coach Mike Robichaud said that he's looking forward to developing his team from last season's 8-4 overall record.

 "We got a lot to improve on," Robichaud, now in his second year, said. "It starts with me, in terms of organization, making sure that we've identified the things that we want to really prioritize and do well.

"Last year coming into it, again from a top down perspective, we were trying to do way too many things and we didn't do very many well at all."

The team's four losses last season were impressive for being losses.

The Patriots lost their first game against Methuen High School 20-19, their second against Lexington High School 20-15, their fourth against Acton-Boxborough 13-14 and their final regular season game against Masconomet Regional High School 18-8.

They had notable wins as well.

They beat Lincoln-Sudbury High School 28-10, Arlington High School 40-0, Tyngsborough High School 45-26 and Bedford High School 25-7.

"[We're now focusing on] doing fewer things and doing them well," Robichaud said. "It's more of a quality thing for us. We were trying to do a lot of quantity, we were trying to do too many things last year, too many different sets and it took us a long time to find our identity particularly on offense. So I think we have a better understanding with our personnel and our system that it's going to be more quality focused."

Robichaud said he believes his team is ready, especially behind quarterback Peter George.

"Quarterback for us should be a strength," the coach said. "We've got Peter George coming back [who] really did a tremendous job last year leading us to a pretty strong season. He really is what makes it go, so we feel very good."

As far as competition in the Dual County League goes, it's all pretty stiff, Robichaud said.

"It's a tough league that we compete in. I think every game [last season] was hard fought. Across the board, every team that we play [is difficult]," he said. "Wayland's spread offense they run so well. They're a threat. Same thing with Weston; they run their offense with great precision. Bedford's a tremendously hard-nosed team. Tyngsborough every year has great athletes. Arlington's got a really great history in their program as well.

"Everybody throws something different at you, so we think it's going to be a tough go with everybody."

C-C's season opener is at Beverly High School on Sept. 11 at 1 p.m.