Depending upon the outcome of some last-minute conversations about eligibility, the Greyhounds could have 13 seniors in the fold. That’s deep.

Even including those experienced athletes, however, coach Dick Mynahan believes he could have as few as 17 varsity players, not including freshmen. That’s thin.

“We have the same problem we’ve had the past few years with eligibility, but we can’t do anything about that,” Mynahan said. “The eligibility policy has changed, so a lot of the kids that aren’t eligible didn’t bother coming out, because there would be a lot of weeks where they couldn’t play.”

Mynahan, of course, has been maximizing his resources for parts of four decades. Three state championships attest to that. So people both within and outside the Lisbon camp are touting the Greyhounds as one of the favorites in Class D West.

The graduation of four-year backfield mates Quincy Thompson and Jordon Torres appeared to leave a cavernous hole.

But with quarterback Kyle Bourget, fullback Joe Philbrick, speedy receiver Tyler Halls and veteran linemen Adam Desjardins, Robert Wood, Darren Ward, Andrew Golino and Tanton Mattson all back in the mix, Lisbon’s offense shouldn’t skip a beat.

“Coach has more running plays in for me. I’m still lead blocker on a lot of them. I think it’s going to be mostly the same as last year,” Philbrick said. “With a lot of seniors leaving, we have a lot of guys to replace, and I think we have the guys to replace them. I feel like we’re going to be at the top, right where we’ve been the past couple years.”

Bourget is a three-year starter whose right arm got plenty of workout from playing American Legion baseball this summer.

When he arrived for football workouts and saw 19 freshmen, though, Bourget recognized that his mental and emotional impact might even be more important to the Greyhounds than his physical talents.

“I started sophomore year. I was young back then,” Bourget said. “Working with the seniors last year, they really got me to believe in myself. Now I’m trying to get everybody to believe in themselves and work as hard as they can.”

Desjardins is one of many Greyhounds working out the kinks at a new position out of necessity. The senior moves to center this season.

“We’re working on getting people ready for backups, just to keep more depth in the team,” Desjardins said. “We have a lot of heart this year. We’re striving for greatness.”

Halls, who emerged as a deep threat as a freshman, may also be the heir apparent at quarterback.

Having dealt with injuries at the position in the past, Mynahan made sure in preseason that his emergency plan included the gifted understudy.

“Tyler, he’s smart. He’s learned three positions. He won’t play wideout until we have a game, because I want him to be backup quarterback for us,” Mynahan said. “We’re lucky we have some smart kids who are willing to do that, to not play where they want to play just for the good of the team.”

Lisbon is having to use a sort of rolling admissions policy with its roster.

In addition to those who opted not to play, others told the coach they tooks summer courses at Kaplan University to make up for failed credits. Mynahan was waiting to have transcripts in hand before working those players into the game plan.

“It may take us a while to get rolling, but if it works out, you know? It’s one of those years where my starting guard is my backup fullback,” Mynahan said.

Lisbon also will be using de facto home turf at Brunswick High School while Thompson Field is being renovated with a new track and field facility.

Hectic times, yes, but the Greyhounds can look to the past for inspiration in the present. Fun with numbers, again.

“We haven’t had this many seniors in forever. We have 12, 13 seniors,” Desjardins said. “Coach has never had more than 11 seniors and not made it to states. We’re just working hard to keep that going. We want that (gold) ball more than ever.”

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