Tom King

There’s a new system in Division I, it’s not bad, not great, but basically serviceable for the next couple of years.

Why does it exist? You might want to wave at the school that’s on Route 102 once you cross the bridge out of Nashua and drive by it.

The Alvirne Broncos suddenly have become, when it comes to football, a hot topic. If you know Alvirne, you know that athletically, the Broncos can compete with. the large schools in most boys sports, but they normally won’t be, well, trend-setters. It’s just different.

Here’s the thing. Alvirne has not won a state team championship in a boys sport since soccer won a title in in 1973.

Yes, 1973. Richard Nixon was President. Carlton Fisk was a young Red Sox catcher. The New York Knicks were NBA champions.

“That probably tells you,” one other area coach said, “all you need to know.”

Everything was going great for Alvirne football back in 2018-19. The Broncos went down to Division II for two seasons, with a good team led by quarterback Kyle Gora that probably would have gone .500 in Division I but were title contenders in Division II. The Alvirne program had a buzz, it had enthusiasm, it had support. The Broncos developed local rivalries with Milford, Souhegan, and Hollis Brookline.

How dare they. People around the state, if you talk to them, don’t get it. They think the Big Bad Broncos pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes and dropped down with a great team.

Did Alvirne win a title in its two years? Nope. They lost to Plymouth in the 2018 Division II title game at UNH and then lost to the Bobcats the next year in the semis. Their games in Division II were tough, competitive, many went down to the wire.

And, most importantly, every time they took the field in Division II, the Broncos knew they had at least a chance to win.

Meanwhile, they haven’t won a game since returning to Division I in 2020.

Are we missing something here?

“You can’t fix issues in two years,” Rothe said. “Even after the last year we did well in Division II, the year after we would’ve been lucky to be .500 in Division II.”

It all adds up to say that the Broncos don’t belong in Division I. Plain and simple. But in a startling admission, Rothe said he discussed the situation last year with school officials to see if the program would drop down again with Timberlane set to move back up. In other words, a reverse of two years ago that would leave Division I in tact as is.

Didn’t happen. Of course now there’s “the Alvirne Rule” in which if you go down in any sport (except hockey), you can’t make the playoffs your first year. So a senior class would have to agree to be sacrificial lambs.

“It was a real good conversation,” Rothe said. “But really wanted I wanted to com e out of it in the end the most, was to force some change at the Division I level.

“Uitimately, I want to prove myself against the best. I think we belong in Division II, but I want to be able to say I can compete at any level with anyone.”

Does Rothe see an eventual move down?

He wants to see how his current freshman crop will develop.

“It’s silly,” one local coach said of the NHIAA’s rule. “If we’re trying to keep the system in tact, somebody’s got to go, so to me that’s different.

“And if you’re on the field, and you don’t belong there you’re likely to get injured.”

Rothe is determined the fight the fight with the big boys right now.

“I’ll do whatever I can do to get this team on the right track, and coach this team as long as they’ll have me,” Rothe said.

But he knows that you can’t get numbers if kids see that if they come out they’ll be part of a team that loses 35-0 every week.

“That’s been the challenge,” Rothe said. “But even last year, these kids never quit.”

Yet they deserve to be placed in a situation in which they can win. Instead, a whole new system was developed.

That’s what Rothe wanted. Maybe his team can be one of the 13 that makes the playoffs. It would be fun.

But, this idea of The Big Bad Broncos?

Give us a break.