By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Each and every year the Bartlett High School football team under the guidance of Dean Laboissonniere begins the season with two goals in mind: make the Division 8 tournament and beat Southbridge in the Thanksgiving Day game. 

While the Indians were able to edge their rivals 10-8 last Thanksgiving, the annual Turkey Day game has been a back-and-forth event for the two schools. Over the 103 year rivalry, the Pioneers hold a 55-46-2 record over the Indians and despite Bartlett winning the game last fall, Southbridge had won the previous four years.

With the Bartlett coach feeling really good about the upcoming season, he is hoping that his team can be one of the 16 teams that will vie for the Division 8 Championship.

 “I believe that we have a legitimate shot at being one of those teams that make it into the Division 8 playoff bracket,” Laboissonniere said. “Winning the South Worcester County League doesn’t really matter anymore with the new playoff format. Our goal is to be one of the teams to make a push for the playoffs.”

Having completed the regular season at 5-6 last year, Laboissonniere will be returning a lot of sophomores and juniors form last year’s squad and although they are a year older, the overall team is still relatively young. Bartlett graduated four seniors from last year’s near .500 team including the leading and number three rushers.

Although the Indians will not have half of their running back corps from a year ago, Laboissonniere will be relying on sophomore Josh Ramirez to take the reins and run with a purpose as he tucks the football under his arm. Ramirez will be stepping into the team’s lead back this season.

 “He’ll be our go-to guy. As our tailback this year, we’re hoping for a big season from him; he’s a shifty runner with good speed and sees the field well,” the Bartlett coach said. “Last year he was our fullback and although a little undersized for the position, he played it tough and give us an explosiveness that was not there typically.”

Another big offensive returner will be junior quarterback Lawrence Smith. Last fall the then sophomore found himself as the Indians starting quarterback and will once again give Bartlett a dual threat behind center.

 “He is a dual threat, but we’re primarily a run first team,” the coach said. “He has improved his arm strength and accuracy over the off season. He has one of the strongest arms that have come through this program in the last 15 years.”

Slot receiver junior Kenny Arpin, who will also see action as a defensive back for Bartlett, is also back and looking to once again lead the team in receiving yards.

“Being a run first team, he didn’t have a lot of eye-popping stats for us last year,” Laboissonniere said. “But he was able to make some big catcher in big spots, usually in traffic. Having a basketball background, you can see it translate onto the football field, he should be a good leader for us this season.”

Defensively Laboissonniere will have sophomores Cam Forsytag and Xavier Butler returning to shore up the line this fall. Butler saw some time last year as a freshman as a linebacker and will return to that position once again while Forsytag was a defensive end as a freshman and will be moved to the linebacking position this year, where the coach has said he’s worked extremely hard in the off-season to get ready for the new position.

Junior Izayah Perry, a two-year starter at defensive end will once again line up in the position for the Indians this fall. Laboissonniere has seen a huge improvement from last year and will be expecting big things from the junior this season.

Although these athletes are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Bartlett football, the Coach noted there is a lot of excellent talent that graces this year’s roster. The squad may be young on the lines, but are deeper at the skill position on both sides of the ball, which should help the Indians accomplish their pre-season goals.