Coming off their first playoff appearance since Alvirne spent a pair of seasons playing down in Division II, and a 5-4 regular season (4-4 conf.) record, the Broncos are looking to build on last season and potentially make a slightly deeper playoff run and perhaps host a playoff game.
While the Broncos graduated a lot of talent, especially at skill positions on offense, a healthy Charlie Crawford returning to the helm of the offense, along with returning tight end Ryan Rocheleau, who will be a prime target for Crawford and the Broncos, at this point, the running back position is somewhat up for grabs with Mikey Landmesser having the upper hand at the moment. We may see the likes of players like Shawn “Do-It-All” Boudreau and Cam Steed at running back throughout the season, as no clear RB1 has emerged yet. At wideout, Alvirne is a younger group with Jeremiah Yi being a returning varsity receiver whose name was called many times throughout the 2023 season and will have a chance to be the team’s WR1 this year. Gabe Conrow and Quintin Tetreault will likely round out the starters at receiver.
Defensively, Alvirne is far more experienced with Gabe Conrow joining Brody Orr as starting safeties while Jeremiah Yi and Mikey Landmesser are set to be the corners in Alvirne’s base formations. Alvirne appears to intend to run a 3-4-4 defense with Quintin Tetreault and Ryan Rocheleau inside linebacker and Caiden Cox and Shayne Mackey outside. The defensive line appears to be similar to how it was composed a year ago with Andrew Deely at nose tackle with Shawn Beaudreau and Cam Steed on the edges.
Taking a look at the Broncos’ schedule, they will play nine divisional games this season, five at home and four on the road, with no interdivisional games on the 2024 docket, with their first game being slated for Friday, Sept. 6 at Gill Stadium against the Manchester Central Little Green and their last taking place on Friday, Nov. 1 at home against the Pinkerton Astros.
Week one, Alvirne will return to Gill Stadium for their season opener for the second season in a row with the last matchup between the two teams ending in a 44-7 Alvirne win back on Sept. 2 of last year. Alvirne comes in as the favorites in this matchup once again for many as the Broncos look to contend again in 2024.
Following their trip to Manchester, Alvirne will return home for back-to-back home games beginning with their home opener on Sept. 13 when they will host the Salem Blue Devils, who will return to Alvirne for the second year in a row. This matchup should be a close battle to the finish as Alvirne fell 21-10 to Salem on a muddy night a year ago. If Alvirne can keep the Blue Devil offense at bay, they may be able to come away with the win.
The latter half of the back-to-back will be against a team that Alvirne doesn’t see very often in football, the Timberlane Owls. The two teams haven’t faced off since Oct. 27, 2017 when the Owls beat the Broncos 21-7 in their final game of the 2017 regular season. Alvirne has since gone down to Division II for two years, then returned to Division I, and been back for four full seasons since their last meeting. Alvirne should be the favorite going into that game, as Timberlane was just 4-4 in divisional play a year ago, with significantly worse outcomes against common opponents.
Looking ahead to week 4, Alvirne will begin a three-game road trip on the road against Windham, a team that also graduated a significant amount of talent and should be a competitive game for the Broncos and Jaguars. Windham may be a slight favorite, but this is far from a game that an Alvirne upset is out of the question, especially if they stay healthy.
Week five is going to be a tall task for Alvirne as the Londonderry Lancers are next up. Alvirne has traditionally struggled with the powerhouse Lancers, as do many other teams in the state not named Bedford and on occasion, Pinkerton. The Lancers are a heavy favorite at this point in this game, but even with this game being put in the hypothetical loss column, it is entirely possible that the Broncos may sit at 3-2 or 4-1 after this game as a best-case scenario.
Alvirne will play their final road game of the season in week six as they travel to Spaulding High School to take on the Red Raiders. Spaulding was 5-4 in the regular season overall a year ago, but only two of their five wins were against New Hampshire Division I teams, with their wins coming 49-28 over Manchester Memorial and 41-14 over Nashua South. Spaulding’s other three wins came against a pair of teams from Maine and a Wallenpaupack Buckhorns team from Harley, PA. Alvirne could very well win this matchup as well, which could, in a best-case scenario, put the Broncos at 5-1, a realistic worst-case through six weeks would be 3-3.
In week seven, Alvirne returns home to take on the Concord Crimson Tide, who the Broncos upset 19-12 in the State Capitol last season. Some would be surprised if the Broncos can do it again, but it wouldn’t be a total shock for this game to come down to the wire, and if that is the case, an Alvirne win is not out of the question.
Their penultimate game will be at home as well, as Alvirne will play host to the Keene Blackbirds, another team Alvirne has not seen since 2021 and 2017 before that. Alvirne lost the 2021 matchup 26-7 at home in their first year back in Division I and won in Keene in 2017 14-7. The Blackbirds were a 4-4 regular season team last season, finishing 12th in Division I, two spots behind the Broncos, who were without their starting QB for much of the season. Alvirne could very well come away with the win in week eight, pushing their projected record to somewhere between 4-4 and 7-1.
In their final regular season game, Alvirne will be up against a wall as they take on the Pinkerton Astros on Nov. 1 to wrap up the regular season. This Pinkerton game is one of two that can almost definitely be put into the hypothetical loss column, along with the game at Londonderry, as the Astros, like the Lancers, are perennial title contenders, with Pinkerton coming off a third-place finish in Division I last year after Londonderry got revenge on the Astros for a regular season loss, beating Pinkerton 42-7 in the semifinals. That loss could send Alvirne anywhere between 4-5 and 7-2 in the hypothetical predictions.
This season could certainly be a step in the right direction for Alvirne, as the Broncos look to get back to the playoffs for the second straight year. Alvirne is likely to break the regular season .500 barrier in NH play for the first time since returning to Division I, with a good chance at a 5-4 record as one of the worst-case scenarios. With a winning record would likely come a home playoff game for the first time since Alvirne hosted Milford in 2018 in the first round of the Division II playoffs
