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JAY — After spending some time with the team, first-year Spruce Mountain football coach Devin Roberts was surprised the Phoenix were winless in 2023.

“Once we started, we played in the 7-on-7 up at the Mountain Valley tournament, and once we got through preseason, we looked at each other like, ‘Man, how were these guys 0-8 last year?'” Roberts said. “And then you look back, it’s like, OK, well, they were freshmen, so they’re new to high school football.

“But knowing and seeing what we had for talent and how well and quickly they caught on, it was like, we could really put something together here if we put people in the right places and just put them where they’re good at. And so far, we’re doing OK.”

Spruce Mountain is 6-1 and is in second place in the 8-man Small South Division. The Phoenix travel to face third-place Sacopee Valley (4-3) on Friday to end the regular season.

Spruce’s only loss was to Lake Region, which is also 6-1 and one of the top teams in the 8-man Large School Division.

The Phoenix are still a young group, with three freshmen and seven sophomores to go along with seven juniors and four seniors.

“I feel like, coming back from last year, we’re like, let’s just get a win,” junior Austin Armandi said. “And then we got into preseason, we’re getting going. We’re just like, we have a really good team this year. So I feel like this year we had high expectations, and I think we’re doing pretty well to meet them.”

Sophomore Owen Kelvey said the team is young but tight-knit.

“It’s different, but, you know, I think we’re a good group,” Kelvey said. “Like, we appreciate all the seniors and juniors we have, but, I don’t know, I just feel like we just stay together coming up all through youth, and, like, we just worked hard all the way up through high school.”

The team’s confidence grew when it opened the season with a 32-22 win over Waterville, which defeated the Phoenix 34-0 last year.

“We knew that after the first week, I’d say,” senior Eli Moffett said. “Waterville, they’re a great team, and we competed a lot better than we thought we would. And since then, we’ve just taken it away, and that’s when we knew, yeah, we might be young, but we still got it.”

Roberts said the win against the Purple Panthers was when the team bought into the system he’s trying to implement. That buy-in is complemented by the group’s high football IQ.

“We got a lot of young guys, a lot of young, good athletes,” Roberts said. “These kids are smart and very in tune to the game of football.”

Roberts said he wasn’t afraid to put young guys at the skill positions. After spending time at quarterback last season, sophomore Dylan Jewett is the full-time starter this year. He has thrown for 458 yards and seven touchdowns while running for 399 yards and scoring another six TDs.

Jewett credits the coaching staff for preparing him to be the signal caller.

“It helped a little bit,” Jewell said of playing at QB as a freshman. “But I feel like the coaches we have now taught me a lot more about being a quarterback than last year.”

Roberts noticed how aggressive Armandi and Kelvey were when he watched them play summer basketball, and he figured they’d be good options at running back.

“I talked to a few parents and people from the town, and they said, ‘Hey, you know, Austin could run the ball, and Owen’s really quick,'” Roberts said. “So we started going through things in practice, and we noticed Austin has so much fuel in the tank that it just doesn’t run out. We’re like, ‘Hey, let’s put him there, he’s got the body for it, he’s got he’s got the energy for it.’

“Owen’s just a go-getter. Whatever you tell him to do, he’s gonna go do it, and that just right there was like, all right, we got two guys that can carry the rock, and they can do it well.”

Armandi leads the team in rushing with 564 yards on 55 carries and 10 touchdowns. Kelvey has 73 carries for 393 yards and has scored six times.

Kelvey is also the leading receiver, catching 14 balls for 231 yards and four touchdowns.

Putting Armandi and Kelvey in the backfield caused Moffatt to move to the offensive line, where he plays alongside another senior, Cole Richards.

“We just want to make a difference from last year,” Moffett said. “I thought this year we needed to step it up a lot. I thought that now that a lot of our younger guys that are (at) the running back position, the quarterback, now that they’re grown up, they’re better athletes, and they can dance on the field. So we just need to give them time and room to do that.”

Roberts credits Moffett for making sacrifices for the betterment of the team.

“Eli has stepped up probably most … out of anybody on this team this year,” Roberts said. “He used to be a running back, from what I understand. … We said, ‘Hey, we’re going to need you on the line this year.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Whatever it’s going to take to win, Coach.’ And for him to step up like that and do that for his teammates, it just showed, you know, he’s going to do whatever it takes for them.”

With the regular season is winding down, the Phoenix are looking to lock up the No. 2 seed and then get ready to compete in the playoffs.

“We’re feeling pretty good,” Armandi said. “I think we’re two right now, and I think our lineup’s pretty set right now. We’re healing up, but ready to attack.”