LEBANON — Things are better these days around the Lebanon High football program. There are smiles and laughter and a sense of progress.

Sure, the Raiders have dropped down to the junior varsity level for this season and perhaps beyond, but just about anything would be better than last season’s varsity disaster. Lebanon has begun the season with shutouts of Mount Anthony and Brattleboro and fell, 27-7, to Hartford last week.

Saturday, the school’s homecoming contests will be capped by a 6 p.m. Lebanon-Hanover football game, something principal Ian Smith sees as having value outside the gridiron.

“It’s a sport that, more than most, gathers the community together,” Smith said. “We enjoy seeing people come out, and we made a commitment that we would keep intact a Lebanon football tradition that’s been going on a very long time.”

Lebanon was built into a regular playoff contender by 15-year head coach Chris Childs, who took the team to the 2010 NHIAA Division IV state championship, the 2019 Division III title game and the 2021 Division II semifinals.

Childs, a onetime Raider gridiron star, resigned with his entire staff during the winter of 2022. He gave the stated goal of watching his son begin play at Castleton University in the fall. Childs’ career record was 77-55, and his alma mater didn’t hire replacement Herb Hatch for three months.

Hatch, who hadn’t been a head coach in 23 years, abandoned the robust summer conditioning and passing-league work the Raiders had previously undertaken.

The offseason approach, combined with the loss of all but two starters and numerous talented players to graduation and attrition, led to Lebanon going winless last fall with a small, undersized and inexperienced roster. The Raiders forfeited a game because of a lack of healthy athletes.

“The coaches and team didn’t work well together,” said 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior Matt Eylander, who purposely plays with reduced intensity so as not to hurt younger opponents. “It was a lot of stress because we couldn’t really look up to them.

“I thought about quitting, but that would mean never getting to play football again. I didn’t want to end on that, and I didn’t want to leave my team as it was. I wanted to leave it better.”

Johnson, a three-sport star at Lebanon during the 1970s who played at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was part of last year’s three-man coaching staff and was content to maintain that position. When no other qualified head coach candidates emerged, however, he threw himself into the role.

Johnson has been a daily presence at his alma mater the past seven months, helping with event security, overseeing weight-room sessions and, as he puts it, “standing on the corner” so as to become known to the student body. He oversees a roster of roughly 25 players, all but five of whom are freshmen and sophomores.

“We’re finally having fun,” said junior quarterback Alex Aldrich, noting that the season-opening victory was the first his class had experienced in six seasons of football.

“When I first heard we were going to be a JV team, I was kind of bummed. Once the season actually started, I realized JV was better move for us. If we had gone with varsity, it would have been something along the lines of last year. Coach Johnson’s doing a great job. He’s a good role model, and he knows what he’s doing.”

Johnson, who has to frequently remind himself of his players’ age and attention spans, said they’ve grasped basic offensive and defensive concepts well but need to fully commit to the off-field discipline required by the sport.

Proper sleep, nutrition and weight-lifting don’t come naturally to ninth and 10th graders, but without their full embrace, playing varsity football is folly.

“We need to get stronger so we have the confidence to tackle,” Johnson said. “We haven’t truly tackled here the last two years.”

Smith said the plan formulated last winter was for a return to varsity status in 2024, and “that’s the plan right now.” However, he stressed the decision will be made with players’ safety foremost in mind and with Johnson’s input strongly considered.

The coach doesn’t see a varsity return as viable until 2025 at the earliest. Hurrying the move could finish the program off for good, he said.

“We started from such a spot that I think it’s a two-year journey to get back to varsity, especially if they think we’re going to play Division II and line up against teams like Plymouth and Souhegan,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure we’ll have the tools we need to play at a higher level next year.”

Aldrich wants to go varsity next fall but said he wouldn’t expect more than one or two victories if the Raiders did so. What if they stayed at the JV level for another campaign?

“It would be a little disappointing, but I’d hear out the argument and probably understand,” he said.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.