WHS football starts strong at preseason practice

By Matt Pascarella

The preseason for athletics officially began earlier this week and Windham High School’s varsity football team had its first practice of the fall on Monday, Aug. 17. Windham showed they are working hard and ready to win as a team.

Windham junior Dominic Lopez reaches to catch a pass
during the first practice of the varsity football preseason
at Windham High School on Monday, Aug. 17.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“We had a plan all summer as to what stuff we’d install and where we’d be to hit the ground running, so I feel pretty good about where we’re at and where guys are at,” said Windham varsity football coach Matt Perkins. “We’re just following what we went through summer to now. The biggest thing (goal-wise for the players) is energy and being coachable, asking questions and being open to learning. Guys will be working on learning the playbook; the big thing for us is the ability to understand your job and the guy’s job next to you.”

The team has a scrimmage scheduled at Kennebunk High on Saturday, Aug. 22. This will be the first time the Eagles will take the field this season.

According to Windham senior Landon Wyman, scrimmages and exhibition games show the team who’s really getting after it and wants to win. His goals for the season are to let everyone have fun and do as much as possible to try and benefit the team.

Over the course of the summer, players have been putting in the work. The team played summer football in preparation for the fall season. They’ve been putting the talent together to create team chemistry.

“We’ve been a lot more intense from last year,” said Windham junior Dominic Lopez. “We’ve been stepping up in practice and preparing more so we can improve on what we did last year. My goals are to make sure the team ... goes to states and at least makes playoffs.”

Lopez said that his personal goal is to make All-Conference this year. He also said he wants to make sure everyone on the team improves.

“If you see someone mess up, don’t get down on them,” said Lopez. “Try to help them improve what they’re doing and fix them in practice. And ... talk to new players outside of practice to make sure they’re included in everything.”

This team knows what it takes to succeed and has been working hard to make sure that happens. There was a lot of strong effort put forth by many individual players during that first practice of the preseason and the team has been putting in the work all week. Windham is ready to show what they are made of.

After Windham scrimmages at Kennebunk, they’ll play an exhibition game against Noble at home on Thursday, Aug. 27. Kickoff for that matchup is at 6 p.m.

“It’s about building each practice,” said Perkins. “We’re not caught up on who we’re playing and what they’re doing, it’s about us getting better and us seeing ourselves develop so the guys can understand how the process works.”

On Friday, Sept. 4, Windham will take on the Oxford Hills Vikings at home in the first official game of the regular season with a 6 p.m. kickoff. <