Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com

Although both teams have declared their offensive sets for this year's Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, New Hampshire coach Craig Kozens said he's not sure what his team's defense will see on game day. Here's why:

Brennan Carney, Vermont's offensive coordinator, likes to put the football in the air. By comparison, Vermont head coach Mike Law has a more conservative approach when it comes to calling offensive plays.

"The thing that concerns us is that when I was talking to (Carney) he said if he had his way he'd run the ball once," Kozens said. "I know (Law) likes to keep the ball on the ground. It should be interesting when those two get together."

Kozens said Vermont will run some plays out of a traditional Wing-T formation, and others out of a five-wide set. He's just not sure how much of each he'll see.

"We have a ton of athletes," Kozens said. "Our defensive secondary should match up with what they want to do."

New Hampshire won't be single-minded in its offensive approach either. Kozens said he plans to use an I-formation as well as a shotgun-spread formation.

"There were over 130 kids nominated and there were a lot of tough choices," Kozens said. "The skill kids are always the toughest."

Although Nashua South quarterback Bill Ferriter (pictured) is expected to take most of the snaps from center, Kozens said Peter Mazzola (Pinkerton), Ryan Cronan (Winnacunnet) and Bobby Williams (Kearsarge) are others who could see time at quarterback.

"We'll play everybody (on the roster)," Kozens said. "It's hard to say who will play where until we get them on the field. After our scrimmage we'll create roles for everybody."

This year's game will be played Aug. 2 at Dartmouth's Memorial Field. Each team will begin practicing July 23 at Kimball Union Academy.

New Hampshire has won the last seven games, and has a 39-13-2 edge in the all-time series.

"You want to win the game, but you want it to be a positive experience too," Kozens said.