For all the talk about defending Division I champion Exeter wearing high school football's bull's-eye — a target that grew larger when the Blue Hawks opened at No. 1 in the statewide preseason top 10 — head coach Bill Ball has consistently provided the same response.

As he said during double sessions, “Our focus is taking care of our house.”

Based on its Week 1 showing, Exeter certainly seems to have another solid foundation.

The Blue Hawks began their title defense with an emphatic 42-7 win Friday night against Division II Dover. Tyler Grant, a title-tested workhorse, teamed with Chris Kelly for five touchdowns.

Exeter's 35-point margin of victory is best explained like this: Ball said he played “a lot of fresh bodies.”

The head count included 10 offensive linemen and six along the D-line. The trenches are where the top team in the Union Leader/WGIR/WMUR Power Poll took the biggest graduation-related hit.

Defensive tackles Ross Dannar and Zach Bosen have the potential to lead Exeter's blue-collar effort up front. Dannar, also an offensive guard, and Bosen, who doubles as a tight end, received high marks from their head coach. Zach Adler showed tremendous promise at inside linebacker.

“Those are guys that were in the fray for the first time,” Ball said.

Roster depth is a great weapon in the fight against player fatigue. Dover — with 31 athletes at its disposal — doesn't have it.

“We can't do it at all,” Dover head coach Ken Osbon said of establishing a player substitution pattern. “The reason we're not playing JV games right now is we don't have linemen ready to go.

“Right now,” he added, “there is no rotation.”

That's why it's incumbent upon Dover to start games fast — and capitalize on the competition's mistakes.

Exeter (1-0) was sluggish at the start. Dover (0-1) didn't make the Blue Hawks pay.

Ball knows the start-slow-finish-strong formula is dangerous, regardless of roster size.

“To me, at Exeter, the switch is not something you just turn on and off. It's something you have to have on all the time,” he said. “If you don't, it'll cost you at the most inopportune times.”

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DIVISION II Manchester West beat Division III Merrimack Valley, 43-19, on Friday. Second-year West head coach Jim Lauzon, while chuckling, relayed this message from his Blue Knights:

“The team made me promise that I wouldn't talk to you because of what you predicted,” said Lauzon, whose club was on the wrong side of my 26-13 score in Friday's Union Leader “Grid Picks.”

Five reasons why West scored 30 more points than predicted: left tackle Edgar Hernandez, left guard John Ware, center Michael Garcia, right guard Chres Barrett and right tackle Stefon Rajkovic.

West (1-0) amassed roughly 400 yards of offense, nearly 200 apiece on the ground and through the air.

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SEVERAL QBs went off in Week 1. Manchester Central's Riley Cote (239 passing yards, four TDs), Bedford's James Caparell (276 passing yards, four TDs) and Goffstown's Connor Benjamin (507 yards of offense, five total TDs) were unstoppable.

Add Lucas Luopa to the list.

Luopa led Keene (1-0) to a 62-27 win Friday against Salem. He completed 13 of 22 passes for 279 yards and four TDs. He also ran 12 times for 168 yards and two scores.

“This being his third year in the system, it's nice to know you can trust your quarterback with his reads,” said Keene head coach and father to the field general, John Luopa.

@Body copy tagline diamond:.

RATHER THAN hang his head after Friday's 48-7 loss at Bedford, senior fullback/linebacker Connor Borne addressed his Milford teammates with a single sentence.

“It's a great reality check,” he said.

Great attitude.

Even better leadership.

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Marc Thaler may be reached at mthaler@unionleader.com.