Lancer Football History
In 1977 the Londonderry School Board approved the athletic program for the new Londonderry Hight School for the 1978-79 school year. The board approved the school names "Rangers" and "Rangerettes" for the boys and girls teams respectively. The school colors were also decided to be red, white and blue. Principal Thibodeau had chosen Rangers after Londonderry's own Major Robert Rogers who led "Rogers' Rangers" during the French and Indian War.
In March 1980 Londonderry voters approved funding a football 🏈 program at the school district by a tight vote of 315 to 305. The program was planned to start as a junior varsity team for three years before becoming a varsity team.
By the time the football program started the team name "Rangers" had been replaced and the teams became known as
the Londonderry Lancers.
Sources: Nashua-Telegraph, October 13, 1977, p. 16Nashua-Telegraph, March 31, 1980, p. 9
Former Head Coaches
Tom Sawyer
First Head Football Coach
NH Hall of Fame Coach
(1980 - 2007)
In 2023 Coach Sawyer was inducted into the NHIAA Hall of Fame.
Record: 182-90
State Championships: 1985, '86, '88, '94, '96, '98
Jon Rich
Head Football Coach
(2008 - 2013)
Jon is a former Lancer Football athlete (class of 1999), and Plymouth State Football alumni (class of 2003). He is currently coaching at Pinkerton Academy.
Some Past Lancer Football Coaches
Art Psaledas
Assistant Head Coach
Coach Psaledas played football at Manchester Memorial High School - 1962 and 1965 State Championship before receiving a scholarship to play at UNH – Yankee Conference Championship 1968.
He coached on Londonderry championship teams in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1996, 1998, 2019, and 2021.
Psaledas served as the Head Football Coach at Manchester Memorial from 1989 – 1994. He left coaching when he became an Assistant Principal at LHS and returned when he retired from education in 2014 and joined Lauzon as the assistant head coach. He coached alongside Coach Lauzon until he retired at the end of the 2022 season. Coach Psaledas coached the defensive line for the Lancers and was also the assistant offensive line coach, as well as the kickers & punters coach. Coach Psaledas has over 40 years of experience in education and coaching and has found success at every place he’s been.
Shawn Lauzon
Freshman Coach
LMS Football Coach
Coach Lauzon (or Coach "Senior" to the players) joined the Lancer coaching staff in 2015 as an assistant Freshmen coach. Shawn was the Head Freshmen coach in 2017.
In the 2020 season Shawn coached the 8th Grade Wildcats (class of 2025) to a state championship. In 2022 he coached the Londonderry Middle School Lancer JV Football team in their first season.
Sam Carey
Assistant Coach
Carey was part of the Lancer’s staff for seven years. He was a three-sport athlete at Manchester West and went on to play football at Plymouth State University. After graduation, Carey followed his playing career by coaching the three sports that he once played. He was an assistant Varsity football and was also the Head Basketball Coach at Manchester West from 2007-2010.
After becoming a teacher at Londonderry High School he coached football, basketball, and baseball for the Lancers. Carey helped create an aggressive special teams culture that outscored their opponents by 80 points over his last five seasons.
NHIAA State Championships
Londonderry State Championship Game Appearances
expand to see Londonderry's many championship appearances starting in 1985
Division II
1985 Londonderry (20) vs Laconia (8)
1986 Londonderry (21) vs Laconia (20)
1987 Merrimack (27) vs Londonderry (13)
1988 Londonderry (14) vs Merrimack (7)
Class L
1989 Concord (28) vs Londonderry (21)
Division I
1993 Pinkerton (21) vs Londonderry (0)
Division II
1994 Londonderry (21) vs Keene (0)
1995 Salem (13) vs Londonderry (7)
Division I
1996 Londonderry (21) vs Nashua (18)
1997 Nashua (15) vs Londonderry (0)
1998 Londonderry (33) vs Concord (7)
2001 Manchester Central (28) vs Londonderry (7)
2019 Londonderry (21) vs Exeter (10)
2021 Londonderry (24) vs Winnacunnet (14)
2022 Bedford (15) vs Londonderry (14)
2023 Bedford (28) vs Londonderry (8)
Winning championships are shown in blue
source: https://www.nhiaa.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Football.pdf