MANCHESTER — Nick Vailas, the father of the New Hampshire East-West All-Star Game, will get his first look at what he helped create when the inaugural football game is played today at the University of New Hampshire's Cowell Stadium.

Vailas, a Bedford resident, said people laugh at him when he tells them he's expecting 10,000 fans at the game, but quickly added that he set goals for this event that are anything but modest.

“My expectations were unreasonable right from the start,” Vailas said at Friday night's all-star tailgate banquet held at the Manchester Radisson. “You do this as a coach. You try to get everyone to reach beyond their grasp, and that's what we try to do here. And I hope and pray at the end of this weekend CHaD has $300,000 more in its endowments to support families fighting for children's health. That was my goal this year, and I think we're close.”

The opening kickoff for today's game, which is co-sponsored by The New Hampshire Union Leader, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Milford's Keith Jones is the West head coach. Windham's Bill Raycraft is coaching the East.

Proceeds from the game will benefit Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (ChaD) and the Kristen's Gift fund, a restricted fund for pediatric oncology at ChaD.

“Having a sick child is every parent's worst nightmare, and there are many expenses associated with fighting a long-term illness that a child might have that insurance doesn't cover — and many parents are in need,” Vailas said. “So what a great cause. Kids playing for kids.”

University of New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell is among those who spoke at Friday night's banquet, which featured a live auction as well as a silent auction. Among the items auctioned off was a Mississippi State helmet donated by Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, who played quarterback at Manchester's Trinity High School.

Each team began practicing June 13 and concluded workouts Friday afternoon. The East practiced at Exeter High School, and the West practiced at Manchester Memorial.

“The next thing is to put on a good show,” Raycraft said. “It's up to the players and the coaches to make sure that happens. There's some excitement. I know our players are fired up and ready to go.”

“I think everything has been very smooth, and the horses are in the barn now,” Jones added. “The goal is to win the game, get everybody to play and raise a lot of money.”

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The players in this year's game raised more than $50,000. Because he raised the most money ($5,865), Manchester Central's Stephen Grzywacz received the Dan Duval Community Service Award. Duval, a standout athlete at Trinity High School in Manchester, died in May at age 54.

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The top five fundraisers included Spaulding of Rochester's Dillon Couture, Exeter's Tim Stackhouse, Londonderry's Tyler Veilleux and Salem's Jerickson Fedrick.

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“Even though the East side and the West side are two different teams, we're technically one team because we're playing for ChaD — we're helping ChaD,” Couture said. “I think it will be the highlight of my high school career. Playing in front of thousands of people on an all-star team — you can't beat it.”

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General admission tickets for today's game are $10 and will be available at the gate.

rbrown@unionleader.com