ConVal senior lineman Gareth Armstrong made it official last week, signing his national letter of intent to play football at Franklin Pierce University in the fall.
Armstrong, listed at 6’4”, 310 lbs. during football season, was ConVal’s only First Team All-State selection this fall as an offensive lineman and was also picked to play in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock CHaD game on June 25 at Saint Anselm College. He is the first Cougar to sign with a college football program since Danny Parker (University of New England) and Liam Baldwin (Saint Anselm) in 2017.
Armstrong credited his support system for helping him stand out and become a rare ConVal football signee.
“I think it came from [assistant coach Abe] Ewing, both my parents supporting me and bringing me to camps in the offseason, and my teammates Zach Allard, Louis LaFleur and my quarterbacks,” Armstrong said. “They helped push me to be better, especially at the camps, all these coaches sitting there to evaluate you, you just wanna be the best you can and it pushes you to the next level.”
The ConVal football program has been unsteady during Armstrong’s time, with multiple head coaches and an entire season lost due to the school’s COVID-19 precautions. It was a difficult road, but it helped shape Armstrong.
“It was definitely an obstacle,” Armstrong said, “having more head coaches than we had wins. Sometimes it was hard to keep going, but I always did it because of this vision, because I knew I wanted to play at the next level and it just helped me. I said to myself, if I can get through this season, I could get to that next level, and I just kept doing that.”
FPU may have gone winless in Division II last fall, but one thing they’ve had in recent years is continuity and consistency after bringing in head coach Russell Gaskamp. That connection is an exciting one for the offensive lineman Armstrong, as Gaskamp is a lineman himself who started at center for the University of Texas during Heisman-winning running back Ricky Williams’s tenure. The Ravens will bring back an award-winning RB of their own next fall in NE-10 Offensive Player of the Year EJ Burgess, and Armstrong said he hopes to have the chance to block for him.
The aforementioned Allard was Armstrong’s right-hand man in the weight room and on the offensive line, where he played center, and he was proud to help push his teammate to achieve his goal.
“He was in the weight room a lot with me over the past four years since freshman year,” Allard said. “He’s been one of my best buddies. I’m really excited, really stoked to see him be able to take his plan to the next level.”
The Dublin native wasn’t the only local product to sign with a college on Wednesday; Michael Gutwein of Peterborough, a senior quarterback at St. Paul’s School in Concord, signed his letter of intent to play at St. Lawrence University, a Division III school.