Opening week in a new decade of high school football is in the books, and by now, we've got a couple of answers, at least in the short term. By the end of last week, several teams had already engaged in spirited, pseudo-scrimmages. The majority of players dressed out seeing action, with depth-chart competition resuming action today.
By early afternoon today, everyone will have ambled off the practice field, meander toward the back doorway of their locker rooms eager to take a load off.
With just two weeks before opening kickoff, the vociferous banter and encouragement of Section 5 coaches will echoe throughout the Greater Rochester area. Lunging shredded pounds of bulk into sleds, vigorous sprints, countless repetitions, and snap after snap will continue. Beads of sweat and perpetual motion, running from station to station, hundreds scratching and clawing for a starting role.
In total, 239 regular season games are on the docket this fall — seven more than last year — but the first 36 are easily the most anticipated. From the opening kick on the first weekend of September, the 71 teams that comprise our section — the largest of New York state’s 11 — will embark on a mission for supremacy within their respective league. In each corner of the ring teams in the hunt for the coveted block of lumber feature conversation-worthy athletes.
Dominating the majority of the off-season chatter in the Finger Lakes area is 225-pound senior tight end Colin Cooper, a 6-foot-2 pass-catcher from Geneva that currently ranked No. 69 on ESPN has the best in the nation. Cooper has four pretty sound collegiate options, such as Wagner, Army, Monmouth, and the University of Albany. The Panthers finished third in the Finger Lakes East last year, behind first-time-ever champion Palmyra-Macedon and Midlakes, who fell to the Red Raiders in the league decider during the regular-season finale.
Linebacker Dalton Donk has been mentioned as a serious threat on defense this season, but returning six first-team players, Pal-Mac appeared to have the upper-hand. The Red Raiders bring back a healthy Mike Benedict, who in his first game of the season last year, saw 80 yards of daylight, but a shoe-string tackle limited that scamper to 20 yards. Benedict could be Pal-Mac’s answer to multiple years of absence in the department of speed. In the same league, Torin Hudson (ER/Gananda) is a multi-threat, and both Zach Milliman and Parker Hatfield will be a strong pair for Wayne.
