For most football teams, preseason action consists of honing in on cadences, getting reps at game speed, and determining spots on the depth chart.
This year, the final regular season tune up will be the most important game on the Windham, N.H., high school football team’s schedule.
The Jaguars will be the first football team from New England to play internationally when they compete in the Global Ireland Football Tournament in Dublin on Friday.
“Usually the first game is a 10-on-10 scrimmage,” said sixth-year Windham coach Jack Byrne, a Tewksbury native. “Now all of a sudden, it’s the biggest game that we’ve ever played in.”
When he coached in Colorado, Byrne ran football camps in Brazil with a former player, Talon Roggasch. A trip to Ireland to visit distant relatives after his father died in 2021 inspired him to find a way to have his New Hampshire team play overseas.
It took a year of planning and fundraising, but the Jaguars made the dream into a reality. The Jaguars line up opposite the Maclay School of Tallahassee, Florida, in Dublin in the first game of a tripleheader. National powerhouses IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) and Episcopal School of Dallas (Dallas, Texas) square off in the second game, and the Ireland U-19 and Great Britain U-19 teams compete in the final game of the tripleheader.
Byrne has been in contact with coaches from other programs and will exchange insight and notes postgame for the upcoming regular season. The Jaguars look forward to meeting fellow players from around the country and the world, he said, forging a bond that goes beyond the gridiron.
“When you share a big experience with people…that’s what life’s all about,” said Byrne. “That’s what really lights you up and that’s the stories that you share 35, 40 years down the line.”
While in Dublin, the Jaguars will also attend the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, where Florida State and Georgia Tech square off on Aug. 24. Like Byrne, Florida State defensive coordinator Adam Fuller is also from Tewksbury. Fuller served as linebackers coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as his first coaching role in 1998, and his lone head coaching gig was at Assumption College in 2008, where he finished 1-9.
The Windham players know they’re not at the same level of the nationally ranked IMG Academy. The Jaguars finished 4-6 last season and were bounced in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs to New Hampshire state finalist Londonderry. The Jaguars defeated Malden Catholic, 20-19, in the season opener to claim a victory over their lone opponent from Massachusetts.
“We don’t pretend to be some juggernaut that’s won 20 state titles in a row,” said Byrne. “We represent a lot of hard work.”
Cam Kerry can be reached at [email protected].
