BY RYAN O’CONNORLast year, the Goffstown girls soccer team took a couple steps forward. This year, the Lady Grizzlies hope to make a giant leap in that same direction. Goffstown improved on a one-win 2006 with four victories in ’07 and handed undefeated Class L No. 1 Manchester Central its only blemish of the season – a 1-1 ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORDivision III football has a different look in 2008. While perennial beast Souhegan of Amherst remains the favorite, and always-solid Milford and Portsmouth are still around as well, Plymouth, winner of seven of the last 10 D-III titles, moves down a division. “From year to year, the teams change so much it’s ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORFor years, coaches of the Manchester Jutras senior American Legion baseball team have tossed Bedford, Goffstown and Manchester players into a diamond- shaped mixing bowl and consistently concocted a winning recipe. Perhaps Tim Conway, who never played Legion ball, stole a page from the Jutras cookbook. On Thursday, Aug. 7, ...

BY RYAN O’CONNOR Garde Burgess had an early idea how Concord Post 21’s American Legion baseball season was going to play out. During one of the team’s first practices, he pulled his nine pitchers aside and asked each one how many high school innings they’d pitched. Aside from ace Mitch Philibert, the answer was ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORIn 2005, when Pete Kiro established Goffstown’s first American Legion baseball team in 20 years, he promised his squad would reach the playoffs by its fourth season. Perhaps Kiro has a crystal ball. More likely, after serving as an assistant coach at perennial power Jutras Post No. 43 of Manchester, he just knows what ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORStanding in the dugout, watching the group of 11- and 12-year-old Little Leaguers prepare for possibly the biggest game of their lives, Paul Gagne, Bob Gurskis and their fellow Goffstown coaches had but one thing to say to the eager players. “Real men …” they shouted. “Swing wood,” came a reply ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKCrispin’s House Inc., a nonprofit program for at-risk youths, hosts its annual one-pitch softball tournament on Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Goffstown Junior Baseball Villa Augustina Fields. First pitch is 9 a.m., but some teams have already delivered their pitch for supremacy through incendiary pre-game comments made to Al ...

BY RYAN O’CONNOR Last year, Auburn’s Joey Dudek rode his arm and leg to Gillette Stadium – and very nearly the Super Bowl. Dudek, who won the 10- and 11-year-old division of the local Pepsi Punt, Pass and Kick competition last August, also triumphed at the sectional competition in Bristol, R.I., and then the regional ...

BY MATT SCHOOLEYDuring last year’s state Babe Ruth tournament, Goffstown overcame an eight-run deficit to advance with a victory over Keene. This year, Goffstown made certain Keene didn’t return the favor. Goffstown pounded Keene for 10 runs in the first inning and cruised to the 14-year-old Babe Ruth state tournament title on ...

BY RYAN O’CONNOROne day after his team played its closest contest of the Matty Dobens tournament, Steve Bond watched his boys turn in their best performance on the state’s largest stage. Goffstown stole the show by winning its third title in four years with a 10-0, mercy-rule victory against Bedford on Saturday, July 26. Ryan Hall ...