Amherst Patriots About More Than Football

Winning football championships is becoming a tradition in Amherst. No, I’m not talking about the historically successful Sabers program at Souhegan High School. Over the last half decade, the Amherst Patriots Pee Wee football team has been perennial champions in New Hampshire Pop Warner football. This month, they won another title in beating their archrival, the Bedford Junior Bulldogs in a tight contest, 19-18. It marks the fourth state Pee Wee title in the past five years.

Equally impressive, the Patriots continued their winning tradition this past weekend in defeating the Rhode Island-Southern Mass Champion, the Dighton-Rehoboth Falcons, 35-8 in the Pop Warner Regional Quarterfinal. Now, the Patriots play next Saturday, November 22nd at Bedford High School in the New England Region Semifinal against the Central Massachusetts champion. Kick-off is at 2pm. With a victory on Saturday, the Patriots will be one step closer to a trip to Florida to play in the Pop Warner Super Bowl at the ESPN Sports Zone in December. It would be a first for the program, and mark only the third time a New Hampshire team has played in Florida.

Win or lose on Saturday, this kind of success is a huge accomplishment not only for the coaches, players and families associated with the program, but also for the communities of Amherst, Mont Vernon and the rest of the Souhegan Valley. And it begs the question, what makes a youth football program in a relatively small community so successful? Kathy Zampella and her son Nick (#21) have been involved in the Amherst Patriots for six years. When asked what the Patriots have meant to Nick and her family, she said “The first word that comes to my mind is family. The closeness and support you get from people in the program and the friends my family and my son Nick have made has been heartwarming. We’ve been in it for six years, and it has been the very best experience we’ve had since we’ve been in town.” This type of sentiment is familiar among parents and children that play for the Amherst Patriots. Diane Manning has three boys who play, including her middle son Luke (#12) who plays quarterback for this years’ championship Pee Wee squad. “Many parents are concerned about the perceived dangers associated with football, but in my experience the benefits for my boys have outweighed the risks. They’ve developed confidence and learned resilience from football in ways they haven’t in other sports. The friendships they’ve made, the friendships my family has made, has enriched all of our lives.”

At the core of the Amherst Patriots accomplishments are the kids. More than other youth programs, Pop Warner places a significant emphasis on developing the “student-athlete” and annually recognizes kids who earn a cumulative grade point average of 96% or above with the Little Scholar Award. In October, nineteen members of the Amherst Patriots were honored at the Pop Warner Little Scholars Banquet, sending six members of the cheer squad and thirteen members of the football program to receive the honor, demonstrating the Patriots are about much more than football. In addition to the kids, the Patriots are supported by a strong core of Souhegan Valley families and volunteers. Jason Patch, President of New Hampshire Pop Warner, describes the program as “one of our most successful organizations both on the field and in the community. You don’t win nine state football championships (Junior Pee Wee and Pee Wee) since 2008 by accident. It takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work by a lot of dedicated people to make that happen. They have always done things the right way and that is what I am most proud of. They are the type of program that you want to represent our league and the State of New Hampshire.”

On Sunday’s opening drive, the Patriots scored their first touchdown on a short pass play after a sustained 70 yard drive. It was a play the entire team rehearsed all year long, as passing at the youth level can be very difficult to coach. Like it has on most Sunday’s this season, it all just looked so easy and effortless, but the coaches, parents and kids know the truth. Playing football is hard. There is a lot of sacrifice involved in making all the pieces come together in unison. There were very strong performances by boys who have been with the program for years, by others who are relatively new, and others who have worked incredibly hard all season, but don’t get the kind of recognition a quarterback or a running back gets. But that’s what makes football special, it’s not about the “me”, it’s about the “we”. Commenting on the state championship victory, John Dodge, head coach of the team noted “it meant a lot to the boys to win it after being so close for a few years (at the younger levels) and for them to win it all together as a team was great to see and also fun to coach. This group of kids has been playing football together since Tiny Mites and I was excited I could be part of it as their coach this year.” Once again, it was a total team effort, by a group of very dedicated, very talented and most importantly, very good group of boys.

This year, the Amherst Patriots Football and Cheer program is celebrating its’ 40th anniversary. Any organization that has lasted 40 years says something about its’ traditions, values and people. A tradition of winning championships is admirable. But having a tradition of developing great kids that just so happen to win championships is truly special, and an accomplishment for which the Souhegan Valley communities represented by the Patriots can be proud.