WINDHAM, N.H. – For the past two years, the urge grew stronger and stronger for Jack Koutrobis.
After playing football during his freshman season, Koutrobis stepped away from the gridiron to focus on basketball, where he led the Jaguars in scoring.
However, watching from the student section became too “boring” for the senior.
Koutrobis desperately wanted to get back onto the field.
“I would come to every game and say to myself, I need to be out there, back on the field,” said Koutrobis. “It’s something I thought about a lot during the past two years.”
As much as Koutrobis missed playing football, Windham coach Jack Byrne missed him being in his program, too.
“Jack has been one of the best leaders this school has ever seen, in any sport,” said Byrne. “To have him return to football was huge for us.”
“I knew that he was thinking about football, and we had discussions about possibly returning. He ended up coming out and wanting to play, and it’s working out very well for us.”
On Saturday afternoon, Koutrobis led the Jaguars to a 53-7 drubbing over Timberlane.
The senior made his impact known early, scoring three touchdowns on the day, and totaling for 145 all-purpose yards.
“In football, if you don’t play with confidence, you’re going to get rocked,” said Koutrobis. “Going in today, I felt like we all had each other’s backs, and that helped my confidence throughout the game.”
The connection between Koutrobis and junior quarterback Kevin Murphy was top-notch.
“He (Murphy) obviously wasn’t my quarterback freshman year, so we’ve built this relationship both on and off the field over the past two weeks,” said Koutrobis. “Kevin is a great worker, he makes everyone around him so much better, and to have that as a quarterback is everything I could ask for.”
For Koutrobis, having one final season repping the Jaguar uniform on the gridiron was too much to pass on.
“We have a great coaching staff, all of my friends are on the team, and we have a brotherhood like no one else,” said Koutrobis. “I couldn’t say no to coming back to football.”
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Windham 53, Timberlane 7
Second Quarter:
T – Jeremy Mlocek 2 run (Liam Kelley kick), 11:54
W – Kevin Murphy 2 run (kick failed), 8:57
W – Jack Koutrobis 20 pass from Murphy (conversion failed), 5:54
W – Reid Lambert 12 pick six (conversion failed), 4:12
Third Quarter:
W – Chris Brearley 5 run (Brady Clementi kick), 3:05
W – Koutrobis 5 run (Clementi kick), 2:37
Fourth Quarter:
W – Koutrobis 51 pass from Murphy (Clementi kick), 0:36
Fourth Quarter:
W – Brady Clementi 1 run (Clementi kick), 11:19
W – Liam McGrail 40 kick return (Chris Guarnaccia kick), 4:05
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING: Windham — Chris Brearley 5-51, Hayden Tedesco 6-46, Jack Koutrobis 4-35, Kevin Murphy 6-19, Brady Clementi 2-7, Mike Brearley 2-5; Timberlane — Jeremy Mlocek 11-22, Liam Kelley 4-22, Giovanni Recesso 2-8, Ryan Roeger 2-6, Spencer Brien 3-2, Frankie Carrasquillo 1-5, Scott Patti 3-1, Conrad Groves 1-2, Kellen McCarthy 1- -5,
PASSING: Windham — Kevin Murphy 10-13, 187 yards, 2 TD, Adrian Bergman 1-1, 5 yards; Timberlane — Jeremy Mlocek 5-14, 36 yards, Conrad Groves 2-5, 25 yards
RECEIVING: Windham — Jack Koutrobis 5-110, Cam Williams 2-41, Hayden Tedesco 1-12, Chris Brearley 2-24; Timberlane — Charles Marshall 1-37, Michael Santosuosso 1-5, Spencer Brien 1-0, Liam Kelley 2- -6, Chris Rabuska 1-13, Scott Patti 1-13,