Dover High School football team's keys to success in 2023 after sour end to 2022

DOVER — The Dover High School football team looked like world beaters during the month of September last year with a 4-1 record. Then things went decidedly south.

“It was a great start to the year,” said coach Eric Cumba. “Then the game we lost to (Manchester) Central (18-14) was one of those games you look back on that was the turning point in the season.”

It was the first of five consecutive losses as the Green Wave ended 4-6, including a 42-14 loss at Bishop Guertin in the first round of the expanded NHIAA Division I playoffs.

“We were kind of Jekyll and Hyde after that first month,” the coach said. “Consistency was an issue. That’s what we’re trying to focus on now.”

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Senior lineman Kyle Merrill agrees. “If we have a big loss, we have to come back better than we were the week before,” he said.

If Dover can solve the consistency piece, it has a strong enough returning senior class that could put the team in position to have a winning season and host a first-round playoff game, and maybe advance deep into the playoffs.

Here are Dover's keys to success for 2023:

Dover has experience on offense

On offense, dual-threat senior quarterback Ryder Aubin will be the catalyst. He will be supported by classmates Brady McInnes (halfback), Bryce Carberry (tight end) and Sam Grube (wide receiver). Aubin had more than 2,000 total yards and a hand in 24 touchdowns last year.

“Up front we have some guys who have some experience,” Cumba said. “They’re a year older and a year more mature. It’s a great starting point.”

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Aubin had a breakthrough season in 2022 after missing 2021 with an injury. But he knows for Dover to make that next step, he needs to make better decisions. “Decision-making is the biggest thing for a quarterback in high school football,” he said. “I just have to make the right decisions.”

Part of that will be realizing that teams are apt to key on him more this season. “That will let everybody else have a better season,” Aubin said. “We have some great tools, some great guys out there. We have to let them do their thing.”

That means the opposition will have to pay closer attention to McInnes, Carberry and Grube, something that is easier said than done. “It will be a lot for a team to adjust to,” Carberry said. “It will give teams challenges this year. Hopefully they can’t adjust and we beat them.”

Dover also has three-year senior kicker Tucker Johnson, who gives them a needed boost in that important department.

Dover defense needs to rise to challenge

The defense stumbled during the second half of last season with injuries playing a role. “I felt like every week we were rolling out a different lineup,” Cumba said. “It definitely caught up to us in that last month. The schedule didn’t help us, either. We played some good football teams that last month.”

Cumba said they are working to simplify what they do on defense. “We want to get them in a position where they are comfortable,” he said. “Comfortable players play better.”

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Dover has more depth on defense in 2023, thanks to a handful of seniors coming out who did not play last year. Plus there are eight returning starters. “They’re a year better now,” Cumba said. “I’m excited to see how they develop as we move along with some scrimmages and into Week 1.”

Dover bounced back from its first loss at Spaulding with a 7-0 win against Portsmouth/Oyster River. In that game, the Green Wave used for the only time in 2022 the defense Cumba plans to use in 2023. “We’re pretty confident in it,” Carberry said.

“Physically we’re there,” said senior linebacker Liam Gannon. “It just needs to all come together.”

Dover must avoid injuries

Injuries played a huge role in Dover’s second half of the 2022 season. As Cumba said, it was like a revolving door. Dover can't afford key players like Aubin, Carberry or McInnes to get hurt.

McInnes is a valuable two-way player who got injured in 2022 and missed two games, both losses (Exeter, Central). “It changed the entire heartbeat of what is going on,” Cumba said.

Exeter would have been a tough nut to crack even with McInnes, but Central was a game the Green Wave let slip away. A healthy McInnes in uniform could have made the difference.

“That’s a game we should have had,” Carberry said. “It’s a game that would have helped us with playoffs and seeding. It just kept going down from there. This year it’s a thing about our pride. We have to be up, not down.”

The final analysis

Dover will score points — the offense is too potent and versatile to keep under wraps. If the Green Wave can stop other teams on defense, Dover could be a late-season factor. As it stands now, Dover has the experience and depth to have a winning season and host a first-round playoff game. But it won’t be easy in the East Conference, where Cumba believes every team is on an “upward trajectory.”

The Green Wave open the season at Winnacunnet on Friday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.

“We’ve got to go 100 percent all season,” McInnes said. “We started out (last season) really hyped and really good. But it fizzled out. It feels different this year.”

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Dover High School football team: keys to success in 2023