Eight Simsbury High football players will be playing again next fall. From left, Gavin Butler, Nick Kline, Aiden Boeshans, Brendan Gaffney, Simsbury High head coach Dave Masters, Sean Carr, Ryan Guilfoyle, Jeffrey Coleman and Sam Scott. (Photo courtesy Michelle Wingfield)
SIMSBURY – Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Simsbury High football team didn’t play a game last fall. But it didn’t stop seven Trojan football players from signing with collegiate football programs.
The creativity of the Simsbury High coaching staff, the players and parents became apparent as well as the ability of these seven players to continue to work and train to develop their football skills – without the joy of a game on Friday night.
“You just had to put the effort in,” Simsbury High coach Dave Masters said. “The kids had to do it. The parents had to do it. The coaches had to do it. It was all about effort.”
Quarterback Aiden Boeshans and offensive lineman Gavin Butler will be attending Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., next fall while defensive back Brendan Gaffney will attend Trinity College in Hartford, defensive lineman Ryan Guilfoyle will be at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., wide receiver Nick Kline will be at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Penn., offensive lineman Sam Scott will be at the University of New Haven and wide receiver Sean Carr will be at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Wide receiver Jeffrey Coleman will continue his studies with a post-graduate year at Bridgton (Maine) Academy.
All eight players played as juniors on Simsbury’s 2019 squad that went 10-2, finished second in CCC Division I West behind Southington and won the first CIAC playoff game in school history with a 17-14 win over Cheshire.
Some played more than others. Boeshans completed 117 passes for 1,675 yards and 17 touchdown passes while Gaffney caught 16 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown.
Coleman caught a team-leading 34 passes for 513 yards and four TDs with Gilbert pulling in 34 receptions for 563 yards and 10 TD receptions. Butler helped on an offensive line that that allowed Dan Sohn to rush for nearly 1,000 yards (906) and 10 TDs Boeshans to scramble for 686 yards and eight touchdowns.
Even though the season was cancelled in early September by the CIAC, the socially-distanced, non-contact practices went on.
“We practiced every day until the second week in November,” Masters said. “We participated in the (CIAC’s) six-game passing league schedule. We continued with our weightlifting program. Our team meetings were held over Zoom, our leadership meetings continued over Zoom as well.”
There was plenty of work to do off the field, too, for the players and football staff.
“We did a lot of phone calls. It was an extraordinary year with zoom meetings and calls,” Masters said. “We did a lot of videos. We did films by position, films of drills and footwork. We made videos of kids performing certain skills.”
The players called college coaches and asked them what they wanted to see. While college coaching staffs have limitations on how many calls they can make to a potential recruit, there is no such limit on the players making contact.
“The kids can always reach out to the schools,” Masters said.
“This is a sport for everyone. It is about finding the right fit (if one wants to play football at the collegiate level),” Masters said. “There is great football at the Division III and Division II level. But you have to put the work in. Look up the schools and do your research. You need to have decent grades to have the most options.
“The kids did a lot of good work. I am proud of them,” he said.
Masters has been the head coach at Simsbury High since 2015 but has been part of the program since 1993. He said it is the most kids that the program has sent onto collegiate programs in a single year since he has been on the staff.
