By Marc Thaler
Staff Writer

In an age when the spotlight shines brightest on individual accomplishment, especially at the professional level, the New England Patriots have proven time and again that teamwork and selflessness translate into success and, sometimes, titles.

Pembroke senior Jim Lacasse screams for a teammate during a regular-season victory for the Spartans. (File Photo)

The manner in which New England has earned three Super Bowl titles in four years is nothing short of remarkable, not to mention fascinating. Players, coaches and front office personnel who meet the organization’s criteria for employment aren’t brash, flamboyant, troublesome, egotistical or undisciplined. Instead, they are humble, hardworking and unselfish, confident but not cocky.

The Patriots are fully aware the best effort of every team member is needed to become a champion. And the foundation of their winning ways is based on a core concept.

The team is the star.

Proving their theory works has made the Patriots authors of the textbook on how to build a title contender in the 21st-century National Football League.

It would be foolish to compare professional football to the high school version for a host of reasons, including the differences in speed, strength and complexity.

That said, several high school football coaches throughout New Hampshire offered interesting insight into the effect, if any, the Patriots have had on young athletes striving for, or working to sustain, a standard of excellence.

Rob Cathcart, head coach at Goffstown High School, is in the process of building the Grizzlies into a Division III title contender. He’s also one of many coaches trying to capitalize on the Patriots’ message.

“I appreciate the Patriots’ way of winning more because the guys are just normal,” Cathcart said. “The football players decided as a team that they were gonna do it and win things.” Cathcart won something, too, back in his playing days: A national title at UMass-Lowell in 1979.

Twenty-six years ago, Cathcart’s club was king of the National Association of Independent Colleges, a conference for football teams not funded by their respective universities. The team won its league, entered a national playoff system and defeated Fairfield University for the crown.

“At UMass-Lowell, we were just lucky that everyone bought into the idea that we were gonna be champions. That’s the tough part, getting all the players to buy into (your philosophy) to win. “Getting a group of guys going in the right direction, that’s the hard part,” the GHS coach added. “Some kids get something from (listening to the Patriots message). To others, hearing the Patriots talk about playing as a team is just a cliche; they’re too young to get it.”

Many teams, while stringing wins together, can sound similar to the Patriots, Cathcart said. Often times, players talk about being a tight-knit team in very obscure terms.

“The big key is communication, helping them see (what makes the Patriots successful),” Cathcart said. “As a coach, you try to pick your moments to do that.”

The GHS coach labels those instances “learning and coaching moments,” when the players’ collective potential for comprehension is at its peak.

“They’ll tune you out if you beat it to death day in and day out,” he said.

Before the Bow Falcons won the 2004 Division V state championship, head coach Paul Cohen was in a similar situation to Cathcart – and Pats’ head coach Bill Belichick prior to the championship run.

Without that title at the top of his coaching resume, Cohen found it challenging to show his players he knew how to breed success.

“One of the things I thought about in the summer of 2001 when I was hired was that things had to be done my way; I had to be in charge,” Cohen said. “Players had to train the way I saw fit, and I expected them to rise to a certain level.

“That first season there wasn’t a lot of success (in the win-loss record),” he added. “But (everything we did in ’01) set the stage for the three seasons that followed.”

Just like a Patriots practice, the time Cohen’s players spent on the field had a purpose. Everything was done for a reason, not for punishment.

“All that wrapped around the team concept, which was, ‘Be proud that you’re out here doing this,’” Cohen said.

Manchester Central is one local high school where pride in its football program is at an alltime high.

Head coach Jim Schubert has guided the Little Green to four straight Division I titles and five in the last six years. Schubert can also attest to the challenge he once had in getting his group on the same page.

Central hadn’t won consistently since the early 1970s, Schubert said. And that trend continued in his first few years at the helm.

But back then, just like now, Schubert never used the Patriots or any other pro team as an example.

“We don’t equate high school football with professional football at all,” Schubert said. “High school football is something special and we like to keep it that way. We don’t even speak about winning; we just go game to game.

“In professional football, you’re talking about people who get paid and are trained to do specific things,” he added.

However, Schubert – like many other football minds – marvels at the tremendous significance the Patriots place on teamwork.

“The way they’ve developed the attitude on that team – to win as a team versus getting paid as individuals – is a philosophy that should transcend all teams,” he said.

Schubert said Central wanted to model itself after Pinkerton Academy of Derry, winners of four consecutive crowns from 1991 to 1994. The initial objective, he added, was getting athletes to come out for a team that historically struggled.

“Kids want to play for winners, whether it’s hockey, basketball, baseball or football, because they get so much from their peers at school,” the Central coach said. “We had to change that mindset. We ended up winning three games, then six games. And in ‘94, we got into the playoffs. Success has a lot to do with the kids you get into the program.”

The beauty about the Patriots, Schubert continued, is they’re the consummate champs. They do things right. That attitude, if nothing else, is something Schubert’s players try to mirror.

“When our kids get in the end zone, we say, ‘Act like you’ve been there before. And remember it took 10 other guys to get you there.’ The team worked too hard to get there to have anyone act like a jerk,” he said.

Schubert said he believes kids are more influenced by the Patriots – and how they conduct themselves on and off the field – than any of the pampered, spoiled professional athletes who often steal front-page headlines.

Wide receiver Randy Moss, the Minnesota Vikings’ tremendous talent, is a prime example. Moss owns a reputation as a selfish player, more interested in excessive touchdown celebrations than helping his team win.

“Kids might think the things he does are cool at first,” Schubert said. “But after a while, they realize he looks like a jerk. Randy Moss is a great player, but he presents too many distractions. He wouldn’t play for me. He takes away from the word ‘teamwork.’”

Under second-year coaches, Manchester West and Pembroke Academy are taking the necessary steps to climb the ladders in their respective divisions.

West’s Travis Cote and PA’s Rick Doell said their squads face the same challenges as most of the competition. The Blue Knights of D-I and Spartans of D-III have some quality athletes, but no football phenoms who can carry a team.

The admission wasn’t a knock on their clubs; it’s reality at the high school level.

Like the Pats, Cote and Doell must find and develop players who complement each other. It’s essential to establishing and maintaining a winning culture.

“Just having a couple of allstars doesn’t mean you’re going to win,” Cote said. “Besides, most (athletes) who graduate around here, they may do all right, but few and far between play Division I college football or at the pro level, if you look at the statistics.”

“The team concept, especially in high school, it’s so important because everybody needs to contribute (to be successful),” Doell said. “With Matty Allen (graduating), he was our all-star. We’re gonna have to use that team concept (to win next season).”

When a group of players gives each other their best efforts, confidence builds, the coaches said.

“When you show you care about the team, and the program in general, other guys get excited about what they have to do,” Cote said.

Enthusiasm is also brewing at John Stark of Weare, where the boys won their first D-III game on Thanksgiving Day.

According to JS head coach Bill Raycraft, the triumph did more than get his guys into the win column. It taught them the importance of focusing on the task at hand.

“They don’t go (into a game) looking at the Super Bowl,” Raycraft said of the Pats. “And we know the (high school) season is too long to start planning what we want to do in late October versus what we want to do on Sept. 4.”

That mindset – made popular by Belichick – also applies to games already played.

Win or lose, Raycraft said it’s most important for his team to learn from past mistakes to improve for future contests.

Raycraft also stressed having his players compete with respect for a foe, just like New England does. Disrespecting the competition, or taking any team lightly, doesn’t sit well with the JS coaching staff.

“We like the fact the Patriots don’t get a lot of respect from week to week, even though they’re the top team in the NFL,” said Raycraft, whose team’s theme for ’05 is to continue building respect for the Stark program. “We’re fortunate to have a team like the Patriots in our region to emulate.”