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12 Friday,September 2,2011 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011

H. S. FOOTBALL 2011H. S. FOOTBALL 2011

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Indian River senior Dalton is double trouble. Page 2

JUSTIN SORENSEN NWATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

A SEASON PREVIEW OF AREA NORTH COUNTRY TEAMSFriday,September 2,2011 www.watertowndailytimes.com

FULLSPEEDAHEAD

FULLSPEEDAHEAD

By JOHN DAYTIMES SPORTSWRITER

PHILADELPHIA — The first thing younotice when talking defensive footballwith Derrek Dalton is the glint in his eyes.

“Playing middle linebacker is what foot-ball is all about,” said the Indian River sen-ior with a smile. “You’re always in on theaction and everything is coming right atyou. I love the challenge of making a playwhen three or four guys are trying to stopyou.”

That will to succeed, along with tremen-dous physical ability and an unrivaledwork ethic are what sets the Warriors’ sen-ior co-captain apart. That and what IndianRiver coach Cory Marsell says “is a motorthat never stops running.”

Marsell told a story about a practice lastweek in which Dalton, going full-speed asusual, nearly ran over a young freshmanplayer on the Warriors’ practice field.

“Derrek would have really hurt that kid,”Marsell said. “But that’s the only way heknows how to play, always to the whistle.”

Dalton, also an outstanding offensivelineman for the Warriors, said he’s not real-ly a mean guy off the field. “But I love tohave that nasty streak on the field,” hesaid.” It helps you stay focused on whatyour job is and to have a little bit of an edgeagainst your opponent.”

Maintaining focus has never been aproblem for Dalton, who has put on some10 pounds of muscle in the offseason andnow weighs in at a svelte 240 pounds.Marsell said Dalton is easily “the hardestworker” on the team, and has become a

true leader. A true Warrior.Said Dalton: “I’ve been around awhile,

and I know what it takes to succeed. If youdon’t practice hard, you don’t play as well. Ipride myself on being as well-prepared as Ican be, and to make sure my teammatesare as well.”

Dalton’s production on the field last sea-son was immeasurable as he helped leadthe Warriors to a share of the Section 3Class A National crown and a spot in theClass A semifinals.

On defense, he finished with 75 tacklesand three sacks, earning Class A National

first-team honors.As an offensive guard, Dalton was one of

the key blockers for 1,000-yard plus run-ners Darrius Bryant and CorneliousDukes, and was the linchpin of the War-riors’ dynamic Wing-T offense.

He was chosen third-team all-state atthe end of the season.

Marsell cited Dalton’s “quick feet and in-stincts” for making him such a dynamiclinebacker. “And when he gets to the ball-carrier, he hardly ever misses a tackle,”Marsell said.

Dalton, who said he loves defense be-cause “it’s nonstop hitting,” credits hiswork on the wrestling mats for making hima better tackler. He captured a Section 3 ti-tle at 215 pounds last winter and made it tothe state tournament for the first time.

“You use a lot of the same techniques inwrestling as you do in football,” Dalton said.“You use your hands to keep your opponentaway from your body. You use your feet toavoid takedowns just like you do to avoidblocks. And the best way to tackle is also sim-ilar to taking an opponent down to the mat.”

Dalton also cited how wrestling hashelped him “be more aggresssive on thefootball field. And how to use that aggres-sion the best.”

Marsell added: “Good tackling is allabout leverage, and that’s also key to greatwrestlers. Derrek has learned through

wrestling how to stay lower than his oppo-nent, and to take the right angle when he’smoving in for a tackle.”

On offense, Dalton has refined hisblocking techniques, learning better an-gles of attack.

“My job is to help out our great backsand give them a seam to run through,”Dalton said. “It’s a pride thing when yourback runs for over 1,000 yards, so we takegreat satisfaction when that happens.”

As a junior, Marsell called Dalton “theheart and soul of our team.” Now that he’s asenior, Marsell expects even more of hisdynamic two-way star.

“Derrek can be as good as he wants tobe,” said Marsell, himself a former stand-out linebacker at Indian River and SUNYCortland. “Right now he could step into aDivision III program and be successful.But he also could play at a higher level.”

Dalton attended several camps this pastsummer, was a stalwart in the weight roomand made sure his teammates also attend-ed those sessions.

0Marsell said Dalton has also improvedimmensely in the classroom to the pointwhere he is now a good student.

“When he was a freshman, he strug-gled,” Marsell said. “But now that he seeshow far football can take him, he’s become

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2 Friday,September 2,2011 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011 Friday,September 2,2011 11

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Dalton’s determination makes Warriors goDOUBLE THREAT: Indian River linebacker/lineman never stops in quest to lead team to another championship

By STEVE HEATONJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

GOUVERNEUR — Gouverneur headcoach Sean Devlin is looking for someoneto fill the big vacancy left by graduatedZach Cummings, the team’s leading rusherand top defensive player last year.

Cummings gained 910 yards on 132 car-ries last fall and scored six touchdowns atrunning back for the Wildcats who finished3-5 overall, 3-4 in regular season play and2-3 against Class B schools. He also led theteam in tackles.

Also graduated from the program areDon Whiteford and Alex Wedlock, the sec-ond and third leading defenders last year,and Richard Jesmer, the top receiver.

“We lost some very good players,” Devlinsaid. “We’re going to be young. We only haveseven or eight starters back from last year’steam, including four starting linemen. We’renot big but we’ll have some quickness.”

Gouverneur does return its startingquarterback in Shane Gould, who passedfor 376 yards, going 30-for-66 with threetouchdowns.

“Shane played well last year at quarter-back and junior running back Levi Love hadsome nice plays as Zach’s backup last year,”said Devlin, whose team also returns seniorlinemen Kyle Bigwarfe, Lucas Bulsiewicz,Benjamin Mulvaney, and Jacob VanOrman;senior offensive lineman/linebacker Bren-den Ward; junior lineman Brandon Wash-burn; senior wide receiver/linebackerNathan Guesford and junior runningback/linebacker Dustin Earlywine.

“Our linemen might not be big. But theycan move well and they’re athletic. Ourgame this season will be based on speedand getting to the holes quick,” Devlin said.

Among the newcomers are: HunterAyen (Jr. DE/TE), Kacy Barley (Jr. WR/DB),Justin Cummings (Jr. FB/LB), Curtis Fuller(Jr. FB/LB), Troy Gates (Fr. TE/DE)º0 andMark Horne (Jr. QB/DB).

“This group has been fun to work with.They’re working hard and looking to im-prove every day,” Devlin said.

“We’re playing Class B this season andwe expect Beekmantown and SaranacCentral to be tough along with Peru, whichwas young last year,” Devlin said. “We’vegot some trips like Plattsburgh and Peru,but come playoff time, we avoid SaranacLake and OFA, two premier teams in theSection 7-10 setup. We still play OFA in acrossover which has become a big rivalryfor us.”

Wildcatslook toyoungstersQUICKNESS AN ASSET: Teamcopes with loss of Cummings

By JOHN GOKEYJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

MALONE — The Malone football teamseeks to improve upon its 2010 regular-season record of 5-4 overall, 4-3 league.

That’s tough to do with the loss of keyposition players such as quarterback (Jor-dan Cosgrove), running back (Darren Ful-lum, Brad Doe and Jason Stepnoski) andlinemen (Andrew Poupore, Sam Moore,Brandon Lavoie and Cody Gibson).

Malone will rely on junior Mitchell Gal-lagher to call the plays at quarterback. Hewill also direct the defense from the mid-dle linebacker position. Gallagher spent

the 2010 season with the varsity as a soph-omore. Gallagher completed 19 passes for263 yards with three touchdowns.

Junior John Picaro is expected to be thebackup quarterback, but will see more ac-tion as a wideout. Picaro will compete withsenior Ryan Jacques (1 rec-26-yards, TD)and juniors Cody Collins, J.P. King, DylanFleury, James Shattick and the speedy Har-vey Smith for the wideout spots.

Stepping into the backfield for coachGeorge Marshall was returning players TaylorHilyard (71 carries- 325 yards, 2 TDs), DarynJohnston (9-9), Zach Peck (17-161, TD) andKorey Prue (12-55, TD) as varsity newcomers

Shawn Mulverhill and Tryek Sneed attemptto break into the starting lineup. Hilyard is outwith an injury as is expected back by weektwo while Bruce Monette III is out for the sea-son after having shoulder surgery.

Defense was a problem for the Huskiesin 2010, as they surrendered 164 pointsduring the season.

Setting the tone up front is returning play-ers Doug Marshall, Dalton Patterson, Bran-don Picaro, Korey Prue and Kellan Wheeler.

Joining Gallagher in the battle for a line-backer spot are Kerr, Hilyard, Johnston,Charles Debyah, Dylan Fleury, CameronGuerin, Mulverhill, Shaw and Sneed.

Huskies look to Gallagher to fill QB position

By ALAIN ST. PIERREJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

BRASHER FALLS — Underclassmenonce again dominate the St. LawrenceCentral roster.

But that doesn’t mean the Larries headinto the season lacking experience.

“We’re going to be young again, but wehave quite a few kids back from last yearwho gained a lot of valuable playing expe-rience and that should help out,” saidcoach Bill Scharf, who enters his third sea-son.

“We’ve already noticed a difference inpractice this year. They’re picking things

up more quickly because it’s not new tothem anymore and we’ve been able towork more things in,” he added.

The Larries will compete in the Class ADivision along with Massena, Potsdamand Malone this season, as well as com-pete in the Section 10 Class A playoffs.

The Larries, who went 1-8 overall in2010, return only one senior but 12 juniorson the roster are back after making leadcontributions last fall.

The rest of the 2011 lineup consists offirst-year sophomores and a pair of seniorsmaking their varsity debuts. The SLC line-up will benefit from mergers with the

Brushton-Moira and Parishville-Hopkin-ton Central school districts. Each neigh-boring district is providing a pair of ath-letes this fall.

Josh Gonzalez is the only returningsenior and will be counted on to anchorwhat is expected to be a much improvedoffensive line as a tackle. The core of jun-ior veterans includes Devon Euto, whotook over as starting quarterback by themiddle of last season and is slated toreprise his role.

St. Lawrence has a bye this weekend asits opponent, Seton Catholic, announcedlast week that it would not field a team.

SLC takes on youth with optimismLARRIES DEAL WITH CHANGES: Team will compete as Class A squad this season

THE DALTON FILE

School: Indian River.

Year: Senior.

Height, weight: 6-foot-2, 245 pounds.

Position: Offense line/linebacker.

Other sports:Wrestling, Section 3 champion at215 lbs.

See DALTON page 6

JUSTIN SORENSEN WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

Indian River senior lineman/linebacker Derrek Dalton reserves his nasty streak for when he’s on the field.

ALAIN ST.PIERRE JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

St. Lawrence Central junior Jesse Greer runs between a pair of blockers during drills last week.

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WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011 Friday,September 2,2011 310 Friday,September 2,2011 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011

Section 3Class AA-1

W L Pf Pa O’all Pf PaCBA 6 0 166 81 9-1 288 126Baldwinsville 5 1 253 95 10-2 430 196Rome Free 4 2 136 76 4-4 195 142Liverpool 3 3 152 156 3-5 166 218C-N. Syracuse 2 4 111 141 2-6 163 225Nottingham 1 5 101 217 3-5 156 280Central Square 0 6 96 244 1-8 215 349

Class AA-2W L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

F’ville-Manlius 6 0 227 69 8-1 296 104Utica Proctor 5 1 212 158 7-2 291 234Corcoran 4 2 165 56 5-3 214 117West Genesee 3 3 173 175 3-5 179 254Auburn 2 4 73 187 3-5 133 241Henninger 1 5 142 162 2-6 195 220Fowler 0 6 58 1243 0-8 100 317

Class A NationalW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Indian River 4 1 180 135 7-2 354 221Whitesboro 4 1 152 76 10-2 480 169Watertown 2 3 184 165 6-4 403 304Camden 2 3 105 161 3-5 168 241Carthage 2 3 108 121 5-3 226 212New Hartford 1 4 109 160 4-4 238 206

Class A AmericanW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cortland 4 0 168 102 6-3 231 256E. Syr.-Minoa 3 1 157 122 6-3 341 306J’ville-DeWitt 2 2 130 119 3-5 214 259Mexico 1 3 118 129 2-6 236 280Fulton 0 4 74 174 1-7 161 363Oswego 0 0 0 0 0-8 74 380

Class B EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cazenovia 5 0 218 89 10-1 414 151VVS 3 2 175 122 5-4 335 229Oneida 2 3 107 99 6-4 264 173Chittenango 2 3 91 138 4-4 160 180Holland Patent 2 3 114 141 4-4 187 181South Jefferson 1 4 91 207 2-6 175 300

Class B WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Homer 5 1 168 99 6-2 209 140Westhill 5 1 188 71 6-2 234 123Marcellus 5 1 178 64 7-2 233 103Skaneateles 3 3 170 151 3-7 195 245Phoenix 2 4 73 164 2-6 108 283Solvay 1 5 81 198 1-7 86 240Hannibal 0 6 102 214 0-8 122 290

Class C NorthW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

General Brown 5 0 233 12 12-1 553 160IHC 4 1 93 48 7-2 192 119Pulaski 3 2 48 59 5-4 145 172Th. Islands 1 4 74 122 1-6 99 157Lowville 2 3 31 109 3-5 77 163Alexandria 0 5 0 129 0-7 0 226

Class C SouthW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Canastota 5 0 167 42 7-2 279 103Westmoreland 4 1 98 39 5-3 163 130SBurne-Eville 3 2 67 60 6-3 200 91Mt. Markham 1 4 28 91 1-7 47 209Sau. Valley 1 4 25 102 2-6 59 158Clinton 1 4 61 125 3-5 120 196

Class C EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Ilion 5 0 217 63 8-1 355 137Ut. Notre Dame 4 1 134 111 5-4 227 234Herkimer 3 2 146 132 4-4 212 214F-Schuyler 2 3 118 113 6-2 217 142Adirondack 1 4 102 153 2-6 146 240Little Falls 0 5 66 211 1-7 115 330

Class C WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cato-Meridian 6 0 167 30 9-1 301 152Bishop Ludden 5 1 159 86 5-4 186 221APW 4 2 148 111 6-3 234 141Jordan-Elbridge 2 4 93 133 3-5 127 181SIT 2 4 99 167 3-5 129 228LaFayette 2 4 113 153 3-6 145 219Tully 0 6 58 145 1-8 93 259

Class D EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Dolgeville 4 0 153 50 7-1 285 78Beaver River 3 1 67 71 6-3 167 142West Canada 2 2 94 77 4-4 209 157South Lewis 1 3 128 138 3-6 245 274Mohawk 0 4 79 185 0-8 157 338

Class D WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Onondaga 3 0 73 36 9-2 262 110Sandy Creek 2 1 57 38 7-3 248 128Weedsport 1 2 75 56 6-3 250 138Port Byron 0 3 28 103 3-4 114 147

Class D CentralW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

New York Mills 4 0 107 32 6-2 182 122Waterville 3 1 78 29 3-5 118 170Cooperstown 2 2 73 47 4-3 138 75Oriskany 1 3 68 94 1-7 87 230Mville-Eaton 0 4 24 148 0-8 56 303

Northern Football ConferenceClass A

W L Pf Pa O’all Pf PaPotsdam 4 0 140 32 9-2 320 160Malone 3 1 128 58 5-4 205 208Massena 2 3 51 102 2-7 80 259Canton 1 3 77 98 2-7 159 222St. Lawrence 0 4 8 154 1-8 90 310

Class BW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

OFA 5 0 206 14 10-1 434 70Beekmantown 4 1 118 84 5-4 168 205Saranac 3 2 107 115 6-4 195 261Gouverneur 2 3 62 102 3-5 95 98Peru 1 4 26 93 3-6 89 137Plattsburgh 0 5 12 124 1-6 64 150

Class DW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Moriah 2 0 49 12 8-1 198 81Ticonderoga 1 1 28 20 6-4 186 124Tupper Lake 0 2 18 63 4-5 180 239

2010 STANDINGS

By DAVE SHEAJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

OGDENSBURG – There are rebuildingprojects and then there is the wholesale re-construction that was going on as the OFAfootball team recently completed its sec-ond week of preseason practice.

Head coach Matt Tessmer is working toreplace the leadership provided by one ofthe most successful senior classes inschool history. The senior class led the2010 Blue Devils to 10 straight wins andregular season and postseason Class Bhonors.

Six of the graduated seniors combinedon a 27-5 record and four of those seniors:running back Eric Barr (19), quarterbackJared Morrow (13), slotback Joel King (11)and Kris Folsom (9) combined to score 51touchdowns last fall.

“We have to replace almost all of ourskill people and the strength of this year’steam will be in the line,” said Tessmerpointing toward a Sept. 2 Northern Foot-ball Conference interdivisional openinggame at home against Class A opponentMassena.

“Our line play should be very good andwe have a lot of very good athletes who areworking very hard. We are looking at a lotof people at different positions and this is avery good group.”

Junior Nate Angel is getting a very longlook as the leading candidate to followMorrow, who put up astounding total of-fensive numbers as a three-year startingquarterback and has moved on toHartwick College.

“Nate Angel is throwing the ball well andhas worked very hard,” said Tessmer wholooks for co-captain Christian Lesperance,a senior running back and record-settingsprinter in track-and-field, to lead theemergence of a new group of playmakers.

The team’s other captains are two-waylinemen Brad Seguin and Dave Dalton andsplit end-linebacker Zach Grenier. Otherseniors are: Nick Steenkamer (RB/DB),Andrew LeBeau (OL/DL), Marv Petell(SE/DB) and Nick Crawford (SE/DB). Sec-ond year juniors coming off fine rookiecampaigns are: Zach Sharpe (RB/LB),Christian Simmons (OL/DL) and Jake Gar-rison (OL/LB). Another junior in DaveTroiano (OL/DL) who missed all of lastseason undergoing successful treatmentsfor Hodgkins Lymphoma and he will be amajor addition.

OFA lays itall on linefor 2011WHOLESALE CHANGES:Linemen to anchor squad

By JOHN TURCOTTEJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

CANTON — Austin Weakfall, a formerplayer and assistant coach at St. LawrenceUniversity, begins his third year as headfootball coach at Canton Central.

Coming off a 2-7 finish last year, Cantonhas some of its best numbers in recentyears with 32 in camp. Weakfall welcomesback senior Zach Zeller, a first-team All-NAC pick, to anchor the tight end and line-backer corps, while junior veterans JayProulx and Jack Elberty are competing forthe starting job at quarterback.

Seniors Nash Bessette and Dan Holcombare linemen to watch on both sides of theball while classmate Eb Foote providesspeed at the running back slot as the num-ber of Canton seniors on hand this year hasgrown considerably since last season.

“Finally we have guys who have been in

the program a few years and understandour offensive and defensive philosophy.We’re getting some junior and senior lead-ership, some depth and continuity, and atall levels the numbers are growing,” saidWeakfall who likes what he’s seen of sever-al veterans.

Merger agreements have been discon-tinued with Heuvelton and Hermon-DeKalb, so Canton moves from Class A toClass C for sectionals, joining OFA, SaranacLake and Ausable Valley in that division.

“We have good team speed at the skillpositions and Jack Elberty and Jay Proulxwill both see time at quarterback.” Week-fall added. “Jay is a vocal leader and will al-so play other positions on offense. He’s ourguy on both sides of the ball. Defensively,Zach Zeller is battling back from injuryand should be with us by the third orfourth game.”

Canton program growing


It was a season of unprecedented suc-cess in 2010 for Frontier League footballteams.

Highlighted by General Brown’s fifthSection 3 Class C title and the Lions’ amaz-ing run to the state Class C championshipgame, area teams made noise in three dif-ferent classes.

Besides General Brown, Watertowncapped off its best season in years with aberth in the Class A championship game,while Indian River tied for first place inClass A National and lost in the sectionalsemifinals.

Immaculate Heart Central, kicked up toClass C, made a nice run and earned a spotin the sectional semifinals. Sandy Creekappeared in its first sectional final in twodecades, falling in the Class D title game.And Beaver River was a surprise Class Dsemifinalist.

Many of the top players from thoseteams, however, have now graduated. Butlook for those clubs to continue to achieve,and a few more to make a spirited playoffrun as well.

Watertown must replace record-break-ing tailback Tevion Cappe and talentedquarterback Tyler Augliano. But coachVince Williams has plenty of options, a vet-eran-laden offense and defense andenough skill people to pile up points again.

Indian River’s patented ground gamemay not be quite as strong, but dynamictailback Darrius Bryant gives the Warriorsan explosive breakaway threat. Two-waystandout Derrek Dalton leads a quick andmobile offensive and defensive front.

Carthage has missed the playoffs thelast few seasons, but may have a shot thistime around if coach Sam Millich can getsteady quarterback play from Dan Conlinand a big season from bruising runningback Josh Britton.

South Jefferson has a fine backfield duoof quarterback Tom Gordinier and backJoe De Franco. But first-year head coachPat Conners has his work cut out for him ina rugged Class B East.

General Brown will not be as powerfulas last season, but the Lions still have anabundance of talent. Second-year headcoach Tom Frears has depth at quarter-back and running back, several experi-enced linemen and that tough mentalitythat separates the Lions from other teams.

IHC, whose only league loss was to Gen-eral Brown last year, will have a differentlook with a new quarterback and plenty ofyoungsters looking to make a name. AndLowville, a major disappointment lastyear, looks to be on the rebound as sec-ond-year head man Josh Coffman wel-comes back most of his top players.

Alexandria has renewed enthusiasm as

Steve Fisher takes over. But the PurpleGhosts will still struggle to compete withthe better teams in Class C North andhopes to make just some positive strides.

In Class D, both Sandy Creek and BeaverRiver will have new looks offensively andwill rely on some veteran defenders tomake another sectional run.

Thousand Islands, back down fromClass C, is rebuilding yet again and may bea year away from contending.

South Lewis will not field a varsity teamthis year because of low numbers.

SECTION 3 MOVEMENTAs usual, several teams swapped divi-

sions, several others moved up or down aclass, and Class D consolidated into twodivisions.

Watertown, Indian River and Carthageremain in Class A National, where defend-ing league and sectional championWhitesboro appears to be the favorite.

South Jefferson is still the area’s onlyClass B team, in Class B East. Camden hasjoined that division, down from Class A, ashas Ilion, which moved up from Class C.Chittenango has moved to Class B West.

Class C North remains much the samewith General Brown, IHC, Lowville,Alexandria and Pulaski still on board.Thousand Islands dropped down a classand is now a part of Class D West. Altmar-Parish-Williamstown rejoins Class CNorth after playing in Class C West last sea-son.

Beaver River moves from Class D East toClass D West. Class D is now composed ofjust East and West Divisions.

Area squads have a lot of ground to cover2010 SEASON LIKE NO OTHER: Teams who achieved major success one year ago still have ability to produce

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GREEN MOUNTAIN K-CUPS

2011 SECTION 3 ALIGNMENTS

Here are the Section 3 alignments for 2011:

Class AA-1: Baldwinsville, CBA, Central Square, Ci-cero-N. Syracuse, Liverpool, Nottingham, RomeFree.

Class AA-2: Auburn, Corcoran, Fayetteville-Manlius,Oswego, Henninger, Utica Proctor,West Genesee.

Class A National: Carthage, Indian River, New Hart-ford,Watertown,Whitesboro,.

Class A American: Cortland, East Syracuse-Minoa,Fowler, Fulton, Jamesville-DeWitt.

Class B East: Camden, Cazenovia, Holland Patent, Il-ion, Oneida, South Jefferson ,Vernon-Verona-Sher-rill.

Class B West: Chittenango, Homer, Marcellus, Mexi-co, Phoenix, Solvay,Westhill.

ClassC North: Alexandria, General Brown, Immacu-late Heart Central, Lowville, Pulaski, APW.

Class C South: Canastota, Clinton, Mt. Markham,Sauquoit Valley, Sherburne-Earlville, Morrisville-Eaton/Hamilton.

Class C East: Adirondack, Frankfort-Schuyler,Herkimer, Little Falls, Utica Notre/Rome Catholic.

Class C West: Skaneateles, Bishop Ludden, Hanni-bal, Syracuse Institute of Technology, Jordan-El-bridge. LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey,Tully.

Class D West: Beaver River, Bishop Grimes, Cato-Meridian, Onondaga, Port Byron, Sandy Creek,Thousand Islands,Weedsport,.

Class D East: Cooperstown, Dolgeville, Mohawk,New York Mills, Oriskany,Waterville,West CanadaValley,Westmoreland.

By CAP CAREYTIMES SPORTSWRITER

TUPPER LAKE – If all goes as plannedfor the Tupper Lake football team it shouldlook at lot like it did last season.

The Lumberjacks were 4-5 last year, butwere 0-2 in the Class D division of theNorthern Football Conference.

“We look at a .500 season as being ourgoal,” Lumberjacks coach Dennis Klossnersaid. “We always want to beat the teams wefeel we can. Our two main games will beMoriah and Ticonderoga, because that’swho we’re playing for the Class D playoffs.”

Tupper Lake got off to a rough start lastyear, losing three of its first four games,capped by a 55-0 loss to Saranac Lake.

But the Lumberjacks rebounded andwon three of their last four, before losing27-7 to Ticonderoga in the Class D playoffs.

This season could look similar for Tup-per Lake, which seems to play most of thebigger schools early in the year.

One of the leaders of the offense thisyear will be senior running back JordanGarrow, who finished with 728 yards rush-ing last year and five touchdowns.

Tupper Lake also returns its startingquarterback, sophomore Morgan Stevens,who threw for 330 yards last year withthree touchdowns.

“We have some experience back on our(offensive) line, so we’re hoping to be ableto move the ball,” Klossner said.

Tupper Lake targets .500 season

JASON HUNTER WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

Canton running back Ed Foote looks for room during a scrimmage last weekend.

JASON HUNTER nWATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

IHC’s Joey Spooner tackles Malone’s Mitchell Gallagher during a scrimmage last week.

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MASSENA— Massena’s football coachhas no interest in looking back to last year.

After seeing the Raiders strugglethrough low numbers and serious injurieson the way to a 2-7 overall record, you can’tblame him.

“It was a rough one but we have a greatgroup of kids this year and we’re puttinglast year behind us,” said coach AnthonyDiagostino. “This is definitely a youngergroup. We like the way the guys are work-ing hard in practice and we’re pretty im-pressed with how they’ve performed dur-ing the different drills.

“And,” he added, “our numbers are upfrom last year, which is great.”

Diagostino enters his fourth season ashead coach with a team that features a sol-id core of 12 veterans and another 19 new-

comers hoping to make an impact at thevarsity level.

Returning seniors include; Josh Blan-chard (RB/LB), Thomas Boudreau(OL/DL), Cody Coggeshall (RB/LB), TrevorConvertini (SE/DB), Brayden Cunning-ham (OL/DL), James Delosh (RB/DB),Josh Miller (QB/LB), Troy Myers (QB/DB),Johnny Square (RB/DB) and Arrow Tig-glear (SE/DB). Veteran juniors Jordan Hartand Kioweren Rourke are also expected toanchor the Massena hopes on both sidesof the line.

The Raiders will compete as part of theClass A Division during the regular season,along with Potsdam, St. Lawrence Centraland Malone.

Massena kicks off the season at 7 p.m.today at Ogdensburg Free Academy.

Massenalikes itsnumbersPUTTING LAST YEAR ASIDE:Youth, depth cheer Raiders


Massena’s Brayden Cunningham tries toprotect the ball as a teammate attempts tostrip it during practice last week.

BY JOHN TURCOTTEJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

POTSDAM — If Potsdam is to repeat asSection 10 Class A football champions, theSandstoners will have do it without Sec-tion 10 rushing leader Zac Linsky andquarterback John Coleman, who havegraduated.

Ninth-year head coach and formerSandstoner quarterback, Jim Kirka isworking with a 33-player roster, which in-cludes sophomores Will Coleman andShawn Clark.

The two youngsters are battling for thestarting position at quarterback while sen-iors Jesse Bradish and Dominic Centofantilook to fill the void left by Linsky at the tail-back position. Coleman is considered coolunder pressure and Clark is a very goodpasser with a good release.

“We lost a lot of skill players and some ofthe offensive line, but the kids worked veryhard in the off-season and it’s a chance forother guys to step up,” Kirka said. “(Senior)Josh Adams is a very good tight end and(junior) Preston Mason is a good tackle on

both sides of the ball.Defensively, we have several starters

back and we could be better on defensethan last year. The linemen are workinghard to continue our tradition at Potsdamof strong line play.”

Other Potsdam seniors include JacobMoose (RB/LB), Zack Williams (OL/DL),Sam Skufka (WR/DB), Cody Dominique(DB), Liam Rice (WR), Ifem Ononye(RB/LB), Jay Zenger (OL/DL), Hans Kuno(DB), AJ Landi (RB/LB), Jordan Sochia(RB/DL) and Brandon Sibley (LB).

Potsdam will again have a merger agree-ment with Norwood-Norfolk whileMadrid-Waddington was added late thissummer as a merger school, though no M-W students will compete this year.

The Sandstoners will play all their homegames this season on Saturday afternoons,rather than Friday night as in the past, dueto an electric usage problem regarding thelights at their home field.

The Sandstoners kick off their season onSaturday when they play host to Beek-mantown.

Potsdam gets to workon championship repeatCHALLENGES AHEAD: Sandstoners lost Linsky, Coleman


ALEXANDRIA BAY — In Steve Fisher’sfootball class, Football 101, the veterancoach insists on playing the game right.

That means huddling correctly, run-ning on and off the field no matter what,and always encouraging your teammates.

As he takes on the unenviable, and somewould say impossible, task of trying to re-build the Alexandria program, those are justsome of the tenants that Fisher has tried toinstill in his kids. If nothing else, the PurpleGhosts will have discipline, the correct atti-tude and an outstanding work ethic that theveteran coach demanded in his highly suc-cessful 43-year run at General Brown.

Fisher, who retired after the 2010 cam-paign with a 252-113-8 record, took overthe Alexandria program this spring withno illusions of grandeur. The PurpleGhosts have been among the dregs of Sec-tion 3 since 2005, going just 8-39, and hadonly one non-losing season during thatspan when they went 4-4 in 2008.

Despite the numbers, Fisher acceptedthe Alexandria task with the unwaveringenthusiasm that has helped him becomeone of the most respected high schoolcoaches in the state. But he knows it’s going

to be a difficult road, and that the schooland the players must show some patiencebefore the program can turn the corner.

“We’ve already come a long way sincethe first day of practice (on Aug. 15),” saidFisher during a break in last Saturday’sscrimmage with Thousand Islands at Li-ons Field in Clayton. “The kids haveworked hard and shown that they want toimprove. But to be honest there isn’t a lot oftalent, so we’re going to try to overcomethat with hard work and intensity.”

Among the Alexandria players, there is aunanimous respect for what Fisher has ac-complished, and what he is trying to dowith the Purple Ghosts.

“When I heard coach Fisher was comingto our school, I was so excited I could hard-ly contain myself,” said Zachary Walti, oneof 12 seniors. “The last couple of yearswere really rough. But we’ve got a new atti-tude and coach won’t let us feel sorry forourselves any more.”

Senior quarterback Ryan Foster, whowill run Fisher’s offense, echoed Walti’ssentiments.

“It’s like a new beginning for all of us,”Foster said. “We’ve basically started fromscratch working on the fundamentals,things like blocking and tackling and just

how to play the game right. Coach Fisherhas seen so much over the years he knowswhat it takes for us to become a better team.Now it’s up to us to show we can do it.”

Fisher admitted it’s been a “rough andchallenging road,” trying to install a newoffense, defense and kicking game.

Said Foster: “Coach has tried to simplifyeverything. We’ve got about seven differ-ent plays that we can run in different for-mations and that’s it. He feels that if we canwork on them and execute well, then it willmake it easier on the whole team.”

On defense, Fisher is teaching the Pur-ple Ghosts about correct pursuit angles,the right tackling techniques and how to

be aggressive when needed.“The kids have accepted what we want

them to do and are learning every day,”Fisher said. “Our goal is to be competitivethis season.”

That may be difficult with the PurpleGhosts playing in a tough Class C Northalong with defending sectional championGeneral Brown, sectional qualifier Im-maculate Heart , and improved teams likeLowville and Pulaski.

Fisher is working with a 22-man roster,including several players who have notplayed high school football. “That’s a verygood sign,’’ he said. “Hopefully, the interestwill be even better in the coming years.”

A welcome challengefor Fisher, AlexandriaREBUILDING TASK: Highly successful coach bringsreputation of discipline to long-suffering Purple Ghosts

ALEXANDRIA BAY – The arrival of vet-eran coach Steve Fisher to the Alexandriaprogram has breathed new life into a teamthat was on the brink of disaster after for-feiting much of its season a year ago.

Whether Fisher’s presence translates in-to more victories is still to be determined.But one thing you can count on is more de-termined performances and a reliance onfundamentals. You can also count on acontinued improvement throughout theseason.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,”Fisher said of success for the Purple

Ghosts. “But we’re trying to teach the kidshow to play the game right, and to play itwith more passion.”

Fisher doesn’t have a lot of veterans tohelp him out. So he’s trying out kids at al-most every position in hopes of findingsome production on both sides of the ball.

Among the players Fisher is counting onto provide some leadership are: seniorsRyan Foster, Ken Lusk, Dan Tebo, Josh Pe-terson, John Hanley and Chad Daley.

Fisher has installed a new offense, de-fense and kicking system, and has tried tosimplify everything to give the PurpleGhosts a better chance of succeeding.

ALEXANDRIA PURPLE GHOSTS2010 record: 0-7, 0-5 Class C North.

Coach: Steve Fisher (1st year).

Players to watch: Josh Peterson (Sr., OL/LB);Zach Walti (Jr., FB/LB); Ken Lusk (Sr., OL/LB);Ryan Foster (Sr., QB/DB); Dan Leek (Fr., QB/WR/DB); John Hanley (WR/DB); Eddie Roberts (Jr.,RB).

Ghosts take new approachwith Fisher at the controls

SANDY CREEK – After years of comingclose, but not making much noise in theSection 3 Class D playoffs, Sandy Creek fi-nally had the season veteran coach MikeStevens had been searching for in 2010.

The Comets finished second toOnondaga in Class D West, then advancedall the way to the sectional final as the No. 4seed before losing to Onondaga 14-7 in aheartbreaking final in the Carrier Dome.Sandy Creek came up just a few yards shortof tying that game as time ran out in thefourth quarter, but had to settle for a run-ner-up finish.

Seventeen players return from that club.Stevens welcomes back many top skillplayers and has good team speed, whichmeans the Comets will probably be able toscore some points.

Tailback Jared Soule, who had a solidjunior season, will get the bulk of the car-ries, while Adam Fox takes over at quar-

terback from the graduated CoreySprague.

Up front, All-North honorable mentionlineman Mason McNitt is a standout two-way performer. Stevens will miss All-Northlinebacker Caleb Ward’s leadership, but helikes the team’s chemistry so far and thepride that his players are now taking in asolid program.

Sandy Creek is now in the newly re-aligned Class D West conference with thelikes of perennial league powers Ononda-ga and Weedsport, plus local teams BeaverRiver and Thousand Islands.

SANDY CREEK COMETS2010 record: 7-3, 2-1 Class D West.Coach: Mike Stevens (13th year, 78-67).Players to watch: Jared Soule (Sr., RB/ DB, 128-734, 8 TD); Avery Barney (Sr., OL/DL); Josh Brad-berry (Sr., WR/DB); John Shirley (So., FB/LB); Ma-son McNitt (Jr., RB/DE); Cornell Newsome (Sr.,OL/LB); Wyatt Bush (Jr., RB/S); Adam Fox (Sr.,QB/DB); Troyt Swarthout (Sr., OL/DL); AndyCarter (Jr., TE/DE).

Sandy Creek still strongafter breakthrough season

Academic Research? Curiosity?Answers to tonight’s Double Jeopardy question?Find any news you need to know in The Times online archives.

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Alexandria coach Steve Fisher explains an offensive play to the team during a scrimmagelast week against Thousand Islands. Fisher is in his first year with the Purple Ghosts.


MASSENA – Massena senior quarter-back Troy Myers is going to find out in ahurry whether his team has improved.

The Red Raiders struggled to a disap-pointing 2-7 record last year as the squadcontended with low numbers and injuries,

including an ankle in-jury to Myers thatcaused him to miss two-and-a-half games.

Massena opens the2011 season at 7 tonightagainst OgdensburgFree Academy, a teamthat routed the RedRaiders 46-6 a year ago.After a home game with

Tupper Lake next Friday, Massena thenfaces a Potsdam team that defeated theRed Raiders 32-0 last season.

“It’s a tough schedule to start with,” My-ers said. “It’s tough coming out and playingthe Burg because they are always really tal-ented. We get excited for all of the games,

but Ogdensburg is always one of those biggames. It’s been for a while. Even beforemy time it was a big game. Our coaches getreally excited for it. It’s something we lookforward to playing.”

Massena’s rich football tradition issomething Myers knows well, and one ofthe aspects he enjoys of being a RedRaider.

“I think the best part is when you are intown somewhere and an old guy will comeup to you, you don’t know who he is, andhe asks how your season is going to be andstarts talking about how things were whenhe played,” Myers said. “All the generationsare still here. Even though, last year, wedidn’t have the ideal season, every home

game we had a student section that waspacked and the bleachers were packedand cars were lined up on the highway.”

Myers was a wide receiver as a sopho-more, which was his first varsity season,and became Massena’s starting quarter-back last year. He threw for 544 yards andnine touchdowns and averaged 77.7 yardsper game. He also gained 75 yards rushingon 23 carries.

But just before halftime in Massena’sfourth game against Canton he suffered anankle injury. He missed the next twogames and came back for the final two reg-ular-season games of the year.

“I really think last year we struggled withinjuries,” Massena coach Anthony Di-agostino said. “I feel if (Myers) wasn’t in-jured he would have turned a few moreheads. Even coaches around here, becausehe didn’t get to play against them, theydon’t know what he has to offer, really. Webrought him back against Beekmantown,and I didn’t want him having a lot of mobil-ity because the ankle wasn’t as strong as itshould have been.

“He’s a very smart football player. He’sgot the athleticism to go with that. He cansee things and he makes pretty good reads.I think with the type of athlete that he is, we

like to use him in a lot of different capaci-ties. He can throw the ball and we can lethim run a little bit.”

Said Myers, “I don’t think I was as mobileas I was at the beginning of the season.That was a factor in the playoffs and thelast game I played in against Ogdensburg.It feels a lot better this year.”

Although Massena went 2-7, it was 2-2in the Class A division of the NorthernFootball Conference. The team has moredepth this year, although a lot of the play-ers are new to the varsity level.

“They really don’t know what it waslike last year to go 2-7,” Myers said of thenewcomers. “They are excited to play.Hopefully they will come out and help uswin.”

Myers, who also plays boys basketballand baseball at Massena, is hoping to pur-sue a football career in college next year.He said he’s looked at St. Lawrence Univer-sity, St. John Fisher, SUNY Brockport andSUNY Cortland.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind he canplay at the next level,” Diagostino said. “It’shard to say what position. He’s an athlete.When coaches come and inquire abouthim, wherever they need him as a skillplayer, I think he can do it.”

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DEXTER – As the feel-good story of lastfootball season, General Brown’s magicalrun to another Section 3 Class C footballcrown and its advancement to the state ti-tle game for the first time created a buzzthroughout the north country.

The Lions, a perennial Section 3 con-tender, took their game to another leveland proved that teamwork and chemistrycan go a long way.

So how does second-year head coachTom Frears approach this season withmuch of the talent gone from that specialclub and only two returning seniors? Witha spectacular junior class, some good-

looking newcomers and the attitude thatall successful General Brown teams havehad: we won’t beat ourselves.

Senior captains Josh O’Hearn, a versa-tile quarterback/receiver/defensive back,and center/middle linebacker Chadd Callare two of the key holdovers and are theleaders on both sides of the ball.

In the backfield, Frears will look toRichard Lagano, Colin Lutz and Jake Hum-rickhouse for production to fill the gap leftby the graduation of All-North performersNick Fears, Mark Allen, Kyle Scordo andNick Klusacek.

Veteran linemen Kendall Vecchio, CoreyGaffney, Jordan Schofield and David Pitregive the Lions a strong and cohesive unitfrom which to build around.

“We will definitely be rebuilding,” Frearssaid. “That was an outstanding seniorclass from last year and it will be impossi-ble to replace what they gave us on and offthe field.”

The Lions also have even more teams tar-geting them, as if that isn’t usually the case.

GENERAL BROWN LIONS2010 record: 12-1, 5-0 Class C North.

Coach: Tom Frears (2nd year, 12-1).

Players to watch: Josh O’Hearn (Sr.,QB/WR/DB); Chadd Call (Sr., C/LB); Colin Lutz(Jr., RB/DB); Richard Lagano (Jr., QB/WR/ LB);Jake Humrickhouse (Jr., FB/LB); Kendall Vecchio(Jr., OL/DE); Jordan Schofield (Jr., OL/DT); DavidPitre (Jr., TE/LB); Corey Gaffney (Jr., OL/DL.

Lions in replacement mode after big 2010GENERAL BROWN STILL HAS TALENT: State title runners-up count on some key players after major departures

“That was an outstanding

senior class from last year and

it will be impossible to replace

what they gave us on and off

the field.”Tom Frears

General Brown coach

Paul Alteri isn’t usually this enthusedabout any one position on his ImmaculateHeart Central squad.

But this season, he raves about a veteranline that will be the heart and soul of a Cav-alier squad that should again contend forSection 3 Class C North honors.

“We like what we have in those guys,” Al-teri said. “This year, it’s all on them. Andbecause they know our system so well, it’sbeen a lot easier for some of our inexperi-enced backs to learn our offense.”

All-North returnee Billy Koelmel, BradRowe, John Li, Jacob Sherman and GregAbbass form a formidable offensive frontthat should protect the new starting quar-terback, junior Matthew Moran.

Alteri said, “With that line, we’re going torun more than we throw this year. Matt hascome in with a great attitude and has reallylearned our playbook. All we want him todo is manage the game and rely on his lineto help him out.”

A healthy Santino Alteri will also benefitthe Cavaliers greatly. A standout at run-ning back and linebacker, he missed most

of last year because of a bad ankle.The return of flanker Lindsey Pound to

the team after sitting out last season, andthe move of Joe Spooner from the back-field to tight end should also make the of-fense more versatile. Alteri has a mainlyyoung backfield, but good depth.

On defense, Alteri welcomes back sevenstarters. He said this defensive unit re-minds him of the one that helped lead IHCto the Section 3 Class D finals three yearsago. “They are tough and really quick to theball,” Alteri said.

One key player who won’t be able to playis junior back Jaden Crill, who suffered alacerated spleen in practice and is out forthe season.

IMMACULATE HEART CAVALIERS2010 record: 7-2, 4-1 Class C North.Coach: Paul Alteri (6th year, 33-13).Players to watch: Santino Alteri (Sr., RB/LB);Chris Prior (Sr., WR/DB); Matt Moran (Jr., QB); Bil-ly Koelmel (Sr., OL/DL); John Li (Sr., OL); BradRowe (Sr., OL/DL); Greg Abbass (Jr., OL/DL);Joseph Spooner (Sr., TE/LB); Jacob Sherman(Sr., OL/DL); Austin Frechette (So., LB); MilesSexton (So., DE).

Powerful line to lift IHC

ADAMS – First-year South Jeffersonhead coach Pat Conners faces the samekinds of problems his predecessors did atthe area’s only Class B school.

South Jefferson has been fighting thenumbers problems for several years, in-cluding under longtime coach TomLaDuke and then John Arcaro for the pasttwo seasons.

This season the situation isn’t much bet-ter as Conners is faced with a 21-man ros-ter this season.

That’s tough enough, especially with in-juries a part of the game. But South Jeffer-son also plays in an incredibly tough andbalanced league.

Former Class A team (Camden) and avery good Class C team (Ilion) has joinedperennial Class B powers Cazenovia, Hol-land Patent and Oneida in the strongleague.

Conners does have some offensiveweapons if he can find a line to supportthem.

Tom Gordinier put up very good num-bers as a first-year starter at quarterbacklast year, and is expected to carry a biggerload this time around.

Backs Joe DeFranco and Mitchell Mod-lin will take over the load from graduatedA. J. Chartrand. Kyle Denny is the Spartans’best two-way lineman.

South Jefferson begins the season with ahome game against Cazenovia at 7 p.m. to-day.

SOUTH JEFFERSON SPARTANS2010 record: 2-6, 1-4 Class B East.Coach: Pat Conners (1st year).Players to watch: Tom Gordinier (Sr., QB/DB,42-92, 624 yds., 5 TD, 51-323); Joe DeFranco(Sr., RB/LB, 82-514, 4 TD); Mitch Modlin (Sr.,RB/DB); Kyle Denny (Sr., OL/DL); Jake Worden(Sr., OL/DL); Zach Zimmerman (Sr., TE/DB).

Spartans’ new coachinherits tough scenarioNUMBERS LOW: Conners, South Jefferson face Class B powers

Quarterback Myersknows what’s aheadBIG GAMES LOOM: Raiders senior has skill to succeed

THE MYERS FILE

Hometown: Massena.

Year: Senior.

Parents: James and Donna.

Siblings: Sisters, Alexa and Paige.

Other: Member of National Honor Society.

Myers


Massena quarterback Troy Myers works on a turnover drill with assistant coach DavidMock last week during practice at Massena High School.


Immaculate Heart Central’s Haden Baker hands the ball off during a scrimmage againstWatertown last week at Watertown High School.

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Section 3CLASS ACarthage

Sept. 2: at New Hartford, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: EastSyracuse-Minoa, 7 p.m.; Sept. 16: Whitesboro, 7p.m.; Sept. 23: at Watertown, 7 p.m.; Sept. 30: atJamesville-DeWitt, 6:30 p.m.; Oct. 7: Indian River, 7p.m.; Oct. 14: Fowler, 7 p.m.

Indian RiverSept. 2: at Whitesboro, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: Fulton, 7

p.m.; Sept. 16: at Cortland, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: NewHartford, 7 p.m.; Sept. 30: Fowler, 7 p.m.; Oct. 7: atCarthage, 7 p.m.; Oct. 14: at Watertown, 7 p.m.

WatertownSept.3: Ravena, Carrier Dome, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 11:

Fowler, Carrier Dome, 6:30 p.m.; Sept. 16: at NewHartford, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: Carthage, 7 p.m.; Sept. 30:Camden, 7 p.m.; Oct. 7: at Whitesboro, 7 p.m.; Oct.14: Indian River, 7 p.m.

CLASS BSouth Jefferson

Sept. 2: Cazenovia, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: Phoenix, 7p.m.; Sept. 16: VVS, 6 p.m.; Sept. 23: at Ilion, 7 p.m.;Oct. 1: at Holland Patent, 2 p.m.; Oct. 7: Oneida, 7p.m.; Oct. 14: at Camden, 7 p.m.

CLASS CAlexandria

Sept. 2: at IHC, 7 p.m.; Sept. 10: Lowville, 1 p.m.;Sept. 17: at St. Lawrence Central, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 24:APW, 1 p.m.; Oct. 1: TBA; Oct. 9: Pulaski, 1 p.m.;Oct. 14: at General Brown, 1 p.m.

APWSept. 3: Pulaski, 1 p.m.; Sept. 9: at IHC, 7 p.m.;

Sept. 16: at General Brown, 7 p.m.; Sept. 24: Alexan-dria, 1 p.m.; Sept. 30: at Jordan-Elbridge, 7 p.m.;Oct. 8: Hannibal, 1 p.m.; Oct. 14: at Lowville, 7 p.m.

General BrownSept. 2: Skaneateles, 7 p.m.; Sept. 10: at Pulaski, 1

p.m.; Sept. 16: APW, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: Lowville, 7p.m.; Sept. 30: at IHC, 7 p.m.; Oct. 8: at Potsdam,1:30 p.m.; Oct. 14: Alexandria, 7 p.m.

IHCSept. 2: Alexandria, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: APW, 7 p.m.;

Sept. 16: at Bishop Ludden, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: TupperLake, 7 p.m.; Sept. 30: General Brown, 7 p.m.; Oct.7: at Lowville, 7 p.m.; Oct. 14: at Pulaski, 7 p.m.

LowvilleSept. 2: Canton, 7 p.m.; Sept. 10: at Alexandria 1

p.m.; Sept. 16: Pulaski, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: at GeneralBrown, 7 p.m.; Oct. 1: at Adirondack, 1 p.m.; Oct. 7:IHC, 7 p.m.; Oct. 14: APW 7 p.m.

CLASS DBeaver River

Sept. 3: Bishop Grimes, 1 p.m.; Sept. 10: Port By-ron, 1 p.m.; Sept. 16: at Thousand Islands, 7 p.m.;Sept. 23; at Sandy Creek, 7 p.m.; Oct. 1: Weedsport, 2p.m.; Oct. 7: at Cato-Meridian, 7 p.m.; Oct. 15:Onondaga, 1 p.m.

Sandy CreekSept. 2: at Port Byron, 7 p.m; Sept. 10: at Bishop

Grimes, 1 p.m.; Sept. 16: Onondaga, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23;Beaver River, 7 p.m.; Sept. 30: at Cato-Meridian, 7p.m.; Oct. 7: at Thousand islands, 7 p.m.; Oct. 14:Weedsport, 7 p.m.

Thousand IslandsSept. 2: Weedsport, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: at Cato-Meridi-

an, 7 p.m.; Sept. 16: Beaver River, 7 p.m.; Sept. 23: atOnondaga, 7 p.m.; Oct. 1: at Bishop Grimes, 1 p.m.;Oct. 7: Sandy Creek, 7 p.m.; Oct. 15: Port Byron, 4p.m.

Section 10/7CLASS AMalone

Sept. 3: AuSable Valley, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 10: at St.Lawrence, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 16: at Ticonderoga, 7:30p.m.; Sept. 24: Potsdam , 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 1: at Masse-na, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 8: at Saranac, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 15:Beekmantown, 1:30 p.m.Oct. 22: OFA, 1:30 p.m.

MassenaSept. 2: at OFA, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: Tupper Lake, 7

p.m.; Sept. 17: at Potsdam, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 24: atCanton, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 1: Malone, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 8:at St. Lawrence, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 14: Plattsburgh, 7p.m.; Oct. 22: Gouverneur, 7 p.m.

PotsdamSept. 3: Beekmantown, 2 p.m.; Sept. 10: at Canton,

1:30 p.m.; Sept. 17: Massena, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 24: atMalone, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 1: St. Lawrence, 1:30 p.m.;Sept. 8: General Brown, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 15: at Gou-verneur, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 22: at Saranac Lake, 1:30p.m.

St. Lawrence CentralSept. 2: bye; Sept.10: Malone, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 17:

Alexandria, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 24: OFA, 1:30 p.m.; Oct.1: at Potsdam, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 8: Massena, 1:30p.m.; Oct. 14: at Tupper Lake, 7 p.m.; Oct. 22: atSaranac, 1:30 p.m.

CLASS BGouverneur

Sept. 3: Tupper Lake, 1:30 p.m.; Sept 9: at OFA, 7p.m.; Sept. 16: at Plattsburgh, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 24:Saranac, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 1: at Peru, 1:30 p.m.; Sept.8: Beekmantown, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 15: Potsdam, 1:30p.m.; Oct. 22: at Massena, 7 p.m.

CLASS CCanton

Sept. 2: at Lowville, 7 p.m.; Sept 10: Potsdam, 1:30p.m.; Sept. 16: at Frankfort-Schuyler, 7 p.m.; Sept.24: Massena, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 1: at Saranac Lake, 1:30p.m.; Sept. 8: OFA, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 15: AuSable Val-ley 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 21: at Tupper Lake, 7 p.m.

OFASept. 2: Massena, 7 p.m.; Sept. 9: Gouverneur, 7

p.m.; Sept. 16: at AuSable Valley, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 24:at St. Lawrence, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 30: TBA.; Sept. 8: atCanton, 1:30 p.m.; Oct. 15: Saranac Lake, 7 p.m.;Oct. 22: at Malone, 1:30 p.m.

CLASS DTupper Lake

Sept. 3: at Gouverneur, 1:30 p.m.; Sept. 9: atMassena, 7 p.m.; Sept. 16: Saranac Lake, 7 p.m.;Sept. 23: at IHC, 7 p.m.; Oct. 1: Moriah, 1:30 p.m.;Oct. 7: at Ticonderoga, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 14: St.Lawrence, 7 p.m.; Oct. 21: Canton, 7 p.m.

SEASON SCHEDULES

a much better student.”Dalton has his eye on the University at

Albany, a Football Championship Subdivi-sion team, to continue his academic andfootball career.

“But right now, all I’m concerned about

is helping us beat our big rivals (Water-town and Carthage), and winning a Sec-tion 3 title,” Dalton said.

His play on both sides of the ball, as wellas certain special teams, will certainly go along way in determining Indian River’s fu-ture this season.

From page 2

CLAYTON – Thousand Islands hasjumped from Class C back to Class D thisseason. But it doesn’t get any easier.

After competing in the rugged Class CNorth a year ago and winning but onegame, the Vikings are now in Class D West.That division not only includes defendingClass D champ Onondaga, but runner-upSandy Creek and perennial sectional con-tender Weedsport. Add in a solid BeaverRiver team and Cato-Meridian, and theVikings will have their hands full.

Coach Joe Gilfus has lower numbersthan he’d like. But the team had a solid off-season program and Gilfus said “our kidswill continue to be well prepared and playextremely hard. I feel we can be in the mixfor a postseason berth if we stay healthyand improve each week.”

Gilfus has a couple reliable backs in sen-iors Ethan Whitton and Storm Fulmer, anda pair of veteran returning linemen inCameron MacCallum and Eli Hall.

THOUSAND ISLANDS VIKINGS20010 record: 1-6 overall, 1-4 Class C North.Coach: Joe Gilfus (7th year, 24-27).Players to watch: Ethan Whitton (Sr., RB/LB); EliHall (Jr., OL/DL); Storm Fulmer (Sr., RB/DE); TylerShaylor (Sr., RB/LB); Cameron MacCallum (Sr.,OL/DL); Erick Lange (So., C/DE); Alex Cooley (So.,RB/LB).

Vikings’ roadisn’t any easier

BEAVER FALLS – Coming off one of itsmost successful seasons in years, in whichBeaver River won six games and made it tothe Section 3 Class D semifinals, the teamhas more realistic expectations this year.

“If we can win a couple of games thatwe're not supposed to our goal is to makethe playoffs,” said coach Steve Pudding-ton. “And if we do that I think we can ac-complish that goal. From there anythingcan happen. Our line is young, but hope-fully, we can pull it together and be com-petitive in every game.”

The Beavers’ strengths are their back-field, where three of the four starters re-turn, and a veteran defense.

Running back Evan Lyndaker and full-back Paul Puddington combined for near-ly a thousand yards rushing and 14 touch-downs a year ago and may have to do evenmore this season with starting quarter-back Dallas Pate and prime target EvanBuckingham having graduated. Sopho-more Derek Houppert and senior NicholasKilionski will try to replace Pate.

Beaver River will be honoring its first-

ever football coach, Bob Snow, and honor-ing the 65th anniversary of its football pro-gram, at its opener Saturday. Snow, now inhis mid-90s, coached from 1946-48.

BEAVER RIVER BEAVERS2010 record: 6-3, 3-1 Class D East.

Coach: Steve Puddington (5th year, 11-25).

Players to watch: Evan Lyndaker (Sr., RB/DB,85-497, 6 TD); Paul Puddington (Sr., FB/LB, 126-471, 8 TD); Matt Lee (Sr., C/DT); Nick Sundberg(Sr., OL/DL); Justin Bush (Sr., TE/LB); Caleb Zehr(Ar., RB/DB); Isiah Riccio (Jr., RB/LB); DavenBrigham (Sr., OL/DL); Brandon Widrick (Sr.,RB/DB).

Beaver River realistic in face of 2011MORE MODEST PLANS: Beavers hope to make postseason after trip to semifinals

LOWVILLE – Josh Coffman’s first year ashead coach at Lowville was frustrating.

The Red Raiders had trouble moving theball consistently on offense, allowed toomany big plays on defense, and couldn’tfind the secret to consistent football.

This year, Coffman expects more fromhis club. But every week is a battle in ClassC North and the Red Raiders will be in thethick of it.

Senior Jeremy Kingsley is starting histhird year at quarterback, and Coffman

said he has all the tools to have a great sea-son if he is more consistent. He completedjust 36 percent of his passes a year ago.

Matt Giver took over as starting run-ning back around the fourth game andran for more than 100 yards in three offour games. Fullback Joe Birchenough, al-so a key linebacker on defense, is alsoback to provide some inside power andblocking.

Up front, sectional wrestling heavyweightchampion Brandon Fayle and Logan Rohr

anchor the lines, which Coffman deems akey component to his club’s success.

Junior Matt Bush, one of the team’s bestathletes, moves from fullback to tightend.

LOWVILLE RED RAIDERS2010 record: 3-5, 2-3 Class C North.Coach: Josh Coffman (2nd year, 3-5).Players to watch: Joe Birchenough (Sr., FB/LB);Jeremy Kingsley (Sr., QB/DB, 43-124, 699 yds., 6TD); Matt Bush (Jr., TE/LB); Matthew Giver (Sr.,RB/LB/DB); Logan Rohr (Sr., C/DT); BrandonFayle (Jr., OL/DL).

Lowville’s Coffman expects better year

Dalton central to IR’s success

CARTHAGE – With six starters returningon offense and seven on defense, Carthagecoach Sam Millich is guardedly optimisticthat his club can contend for a Class A Na-tional and even a Section 3 title.

But several things need to happen forthe Comets to move back into the top ech-elon of Class A.

Senior quarterback Dan Conlin, in hisfirst year starting, must have a solid andmistake-free year directing the offense asdid his predecessor, Nick Piroli, last sea-son. He is an outstanding athlete, but Mil-lich isn’t quite sure how Conlin will re-spond under fire.

Running back Josh Britton, a tough in-side runner at 6-foot-2, 218 pounds, musthave a big season carrying the ball and isalso one of the Comets’ top receivers out ofthe backfield. Britton ran for 13 touch-downs a year ago.

Veteran Will Hammond will anchorboth lines, and Carthage also has anotherhuge weapon in consistent kicker Ian Ates.

Millich said the Comets’ defense “needsto get better in a hurry” and he’s also look-ing for some of his experienced players totake more of a leadership role for a bunchof inexperienced hands.

A huge end-of-the-season win over rivalIndian River last season showed theComets’ potential. Millich is hoping thegood vibes from that victory will carry overto the early part of this season.

CARTHAGE COMETS2010 record: 5-3 overall, 2-3 Class A National

Coach: Sam Millich (12th year, 59-38).

Players to watch: Josh Britton (Sr. , RB/LB, 112-569, 13 TD); Ian Ates (Sr., K, DB); Will Hammond(Sr., OL/DL); Adam Yates (Sr., RB/LB); Dan Conlin(Sr., QB/DB); Jerome Peterson (Sr., DE); AustinHalbleib (Sr., RB/LB); Matt Rogers (Sr., FL/LB);Trevor Gibbons (So., OL/DL); Shawn Madison(Sr/, C/LB).

Carthage needs piecesto fall into right spotsPLENTY OF PROMISE: Comets like potential of this year’s team

Indian River’s second season back in Sec-tion 3 produced another excellent team,but one that fell just a bit short of its statedgoal of winning a Section 3 Class A title.

Tying with eventual sectional championWhitesboro for the Class A National regu-lar-season title was a bit overshadowed bya loss to rival Watertown in the sectionalsemifinals after the Warriors beat the Cy-clones during the regular season.

This team may look a bit different, and isquite a bit thinner in the depth depart-ment. But Indian River will still pound theball with a plethora of fine backs, includingspeedy 1,000-yard rusher Darrius Bryant,and will rely on a hard-hitting defense toslow down their opponents.

Bryant was part of a backfield thatgained over 3,000 yards a year ago. Cor-nelius Dukes and Shawn Mitchell havegraduated, with Rayshan Shakur-Clark and

Michael Hance taking their places and theproduction will probably not drop off a lot.

Junior quarterback Kody Smith has al-ready impressed coach Cory Marsell withhis knowledge of the offense and how hehas run the offense in practice.

Derrek Dalton also anchors the Indian Riv-er defense at middle linebacker. Clark is astandout defensive back and Marsell likes theway the rest of his defense is shaping up as well.

Indian River opens on the road atWhitesboro, so the Warriors will find out ina hurry just what kind of team they have.

INDIAN RIVER WARRIORS2010 record: 7-2 overall, 4-1 Class A National.

Coach: Cory Marsell (6th year, 42-6).

Players to watch: Derrek Dalton (Sr., OL/LB);Dalton Boyd (Sr., OL/DL); Darrius Bryant (Jr., RB-DB, 82-1116, 16 TD); Rayshan-Shakur Clark (Sr.,WB-DB); Will Moran (Sr., WR/DB); Michael Hance(Sr., FB-LB); Kody Smith (Jr., QB/S); Garrick Cook(Sr., WR/LB).

Indian River owns toolsfor another big season

Unprecedented success for WatertownHigh School last season, including makingtheir first ever Section 3 Class A champi-onship appearance, has meant severalthings to the Cyclones.

First of all, the numbers are way up with 41players on the varsity, some 50 in the JV pro-gram and over 80 signed up for modified. En-thusiasm is at an all-time high, and expecta-tions are higher than ever for this year’s club.

Start with a big, veteran offensive lineanchored by 300-pounder Jon Kunz, a re-turning All-North first-teamer, and MattNetto, enough skill people that any coachwould covet, and the fact that the talent isso good that coach Vince Williams expectsto play only two or three players both ways.

Replacing the production of TevionCappe (2,278 rushing yards, 37 TD) and TylerAugliano (1,339 passing yards, 16 TD) willnot be easy. But junior Diamond Williamssteps into Cappe’s shoes with a world ofspeed and explosiveness. And junior MasonPhillips is a budding star at quarterback al-though he is fairly new to the position.

Phillips has plenty of targets, led by 6-foot-5 Dustin Pond and nimble All-North

wideout Caleb Bettis.Defense was the Cyclones’ undoing last

season, especially stopping the run andthe big play. Williams knows that unit mustsignificantly improve in all areas, especial-ly in alignment and assignments, and thedefense must tackle a whole lot better than2010 when it yielded 304 points.

Defensive lineman Ryan Loomis (40tackles, 5 sacks) and linebacker Kyle West-lake are the keys to an improved defense.

“Our summer work has us way ahead ofwhere we normally would be,” Williams said.“We were able to install pretty much all ouroffense, so now we’re just refining things.”

WHS plays its first two games in the Car-rier Dome during the Kickoff Classic.

WATERTOWN CYCLONES2010 record: 6-4 overall, 2-3 Class A National,Sectional finalist.

Coach: Vince Williams (4th year, 10-16).

Players to watch: Caleb Bettis (Sr., WR/DB, 31-653, 10 TD ); Dustin Pond (Sr., WR/DE, 21-235, 4TD); Jon Kunz (Sr., OL/DL); Tyler Collette (Jr.,OL/DL); Matt Netto (Sr., OL/DL); Kyle Westlake(Sr, FB/LB); Diamond Williams (Jr., RB/LB); An-drew Russell (Sr., OL/DE); Mason Phillips (Jr.,QB); Ryan Loomis (Sr., DL).

Cyclones to feed offof last year’s success


MASSENA – Massena senior quarter-back Troy Myers is going to find out in ahurry whether his team has improved.

The Red Raiders struggled to a disap-pointing 2-7 record last year as the squadcontended with low numbers and injuries,

including an ankle in-jury to Myers thatcaused him to miss two-and-a-half games.

Massena opens the2011 season at 7 tonightagainst OgdensburgFree Academy, a teamthat routed the RedRaiders 46-6 a year ago.After a home game with

Tupper Lake next Friday, Massena thenfaces a Potsdam team that defeated theRed Raiders 32-0 last season.

“It’s a tough schedule to start with,” My-ers said. “It’s tough coming out and playingthe Burg because they are always really tal-ented. We get excited for all of the games,

but Ogdensburg is always one of those biggames. It’s been for a while. Even beforemy time it was a big game. Our coaches getreally excited for it. It’s something we lookforward to playing.”

Massena’s rich football tradition issomething Myers knows well, and one ofthe aspects he enjoys of being a RedRaider.

“I think the best part is when you are intown somewhere and an old guy will comeup to you, you don’t know who he is, andhe asks how your season is going to be andstarts talking about how things were whenhe played,” Myers said. “All the generationsare still here. Even though, last year, wedidn’t have the ideal season, every home

game we had a student section that waspacked and the bleachers were packedand cars were lined up on the highway.”

Myers was a wide receiver as a sopho-more, which was his first varsity season,and became Massena’s starting quarter-back last year. He threw for 544 yards andnine touchdowns and averaged 77.7 yardsper game. He also gained 75 yards rushingon 23 carries.

But just before halftime in Massena’sfourth game against Canton he suffered anankle injury. He missed the next twogames and came back for the final two reg-ular-season games of the year.

“I really think last year we struggled withinjuries,” Massena coach Anthony Di-agostino said. “I feel if (Myers) wasn’t in-jured he would have turned a few moreheads. Even coaches around here, becausehe didn’t get to play against them, theydon’t know what he has to offer, really. Webrought him back against Beekmantown,and I didn’t want him having a lot of mobil-ity because the ankle wasn’t as strong as itshould have been.

“He’s a very smart football player. He’sgot the athleticism to go with that. He cansee things and he makes pretty good reads.I think with the type of athlete that he is, we

like to use him in a lot of different capaci-ties. He can throw the ball and we can lethim run a little bit.”

Said Myers, “I don’t think I was as mobileas I was at the beginning of the season.That was a factor in the playoffs and thelast game I played in against Ogdensburg.It feels a lot better this year.”

Although Massena went 2-7, it was 2-2in the Class A division of the NorthernFootball Conference. The team has moredepth this year, although a lot of the play-ers are new to the varsity level.

“They really don’t know what it waslike last year to go 2-7,” Myers said of thenewcomers. “They are excited to play.Hopefully they will come out and help uswin.”

Myers, who also plays boys basketballand baseball at Massena, is hoping to pur-sue a football career in college next year.He said he’s looked at St. Lawrence Univer-sity, St. John Fisher, SUNY Brockport andSUNY Cortland.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind he canplay at the next level,” Diagostino said. “It’shard to say what position. He’s an athlete.When coaches come and inquire abouthim, wherever they need him as a skillplayer, I think he can do it.”

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DEXTER – As the feel-good story of lastfootball season, General Brown’s magicalrun to another Section 3 Class C footballcrown and its advancement to the state ti-tle game for the first time created a buzzthroughout the north country.

The Lions, a perennial Section 3 con-tender, took their game to another leveland proved that teamwork and chemistrycan go a long way.

So how does second-year head coachTom Frears approach this season withmuch of the talent gone from that specialclub and only two returning seniors? Witha spectacular junior class, some good-

looking newcomers and the attitude thatall successful General Brown teams havehad: we won’t beat ourselves.

Senior captains Josh O’Hearn, a versa-tile quarterback/receiver/defensive back,and center/middle linebacker Chadd Callare two of the key holdovers and are theleaders on both sides of the ball.

In the backfield, Frears will look toRichard Lagano, Colin Lutz and Jake Hum-rickhouse for production to fill the gap leftby the graduation of All-North performersNick Fears, Mark Allen, Kyle Scordo andNick Klusacek.

Veteran linemen Kendall Vecchio, CoreyGaffney, Jordan Schofield and David Pitregive the Lions a strong and cohesive unitfrom which to build around.

“We will definitely be rebuilding,” Frearssaid. “That was an outstanding seniorclass from last year and it will be impossi-ble to replace what they gave us on and offthe field.”

The Lions also have even more teams tar-geting them, as if that isn’t usually the case.

GENERAL BROWN LIONS2010 record: 12-1, 5-0 Class C North.

Coach: Tom Frears (2nd year, 12-1).

Players to watch: Josh O’Hearn (Sr.,QB/WR/DB); Chadd Call (Sr., C/LB); Colin Lutz(Jr., RB/DB); Richard Lagano (Jr., QB/WR/ LB);Jake Humrickhouse (Jr., FB/LB); Kendall Vecchio(Jr., OL/DE); Jordan Schofield (Jr., OL/DT); DavidPitre (Jr., TE/LB); Corey Gaffney (Jr., OL/DL.

Lions in replacement mode after big 2010GENERAL BROWN STILL HAS TALENT: State title runners-up count on some key players after major departures

“That was an outstanding

senior class from last year and

it will be impossible to replace

what they gave us on and off

the field.”Tom Frears

General Brown coach

Paul Alteri isn’t usually this enthusedabout any one position on his ImmaculateHeart Central squad.

But this season, he raves about a veteranline that will be the heart and soul of a Cav-alier squad that should again contend forSection 3 Class C North honors.

“We like what we have in those guys,” Al-teri said. “This year, it’s all on them. Andbecause they know our system so well, it’sbeen a lot easier for some of our inexperi-enced backs to learn our offense.”

All-North returnee Billy Koelmel, BradRowe, John Li, Jacob Sherman and GregAbbass form a formidable offensive frontthat should protect the new starting quar-terback, junior Matthew Moran.

Alteri said, “With that line, we’re going torun more than we throw this year. Matt hascome in with a great attitude and has reallylearned our playbook. All we want him todo is manage the game and rely on his lineto help him out.”

A healthy Santino Alteri will also benefitthe Cavaliers greatly. A standout at run-ning back and linebacker, he missed most

of last year because of a bad ankle.The return of flanker Lindsey Pound to

the team after sitting out last season, andthe move of Joe Spooner from the back-field to tight end should also make the of-fense more versatile. Alteri has a mainlyyoung backfield, but good depth.

On defense, Alteri welcomes back sevenstarters. He said this defensive unit re-minds him of the one that helped lead IHCto the Section 3 Class D finals three yearsago. “They are tough and really quick to theball,” Alteri said.

One key player who won’t be able to playis junior back Jaden Crill, who suffered alacerated spleen in practice and is out forthe season.

IMMACULATE HEART CAVALIERS2010 record: 7-2, 4-1 Class C North.Coach: Paul Alteri (6th year, 33-13).Players to watch: Santino Alteri (Sr., RB/LB);Chris Prior (Sr., WR/DB); Matt Moran (Jr., QB); Bil-ly Koelmel (Sr., OL/DL); John Li (Sr., OL); BradRowe (Sr., OL/DL); Greg Abbass (Jr., OL/DL);Joseph Spooner (Sr., TE/LB); Jacob Sherman(Sr., OL/DL); Austin Frechette (So., LB); MilesSexton (So., DE).

Powerful line to lift IHC

ADAMS – First-year South Jeffersonhead coach Pat Conners faces the samekinds of problems his predecessors did atthe area’s only Class B school.

South Jefferson has been fighting thenumbers problems for several years, in-cluding under longtime coach TomLaDuke and then John Arcaro for the pasttwo seasons.

This season the situation isn’t much bet-ter as Conners is faced with a 21-man ros-ter this season.

That’s tough enough, especially with in-juries a part of the game. But South Jeffer-son also plays in an incredibly tough andbalanced league.

Former Class A team (Camden) and avery good Class C team (Ilion) has joinedperennial Class B powers Cazenovia, Hol-land Patent and Oneida in the strongleague.

Conners does have some offensiveweapons if he can find a line to supportthem.

Tom Gordinier put up very good num-bers as a first-year starter at quarterbacklast year, and is expected to carry a biggerload this time around.

Backs Joe DeFranco and Mitchell Mod-lin will take over the load from graduatedA. J. Chartrand. Kyle Denny is the Spartans’best two-way lineman.

South Jefferson begins the season with ahome game against Cazenovia at 7 p.m. to-day.

SOUTH JEFFERSON SPARTANS2010 record: 2-6, 1-4 Class B East.Coach: Pat Conners (1st year).Players to watch: Tom Gordinier (Sr., QB/DB,42-92, 624 yds., 5 TD, 51-323); Joe DeFranco(Sr., RB/LB, 82-514, 4 TD); Mitch Modlin (Sr.,RB/DB); Kyle Denny (Sr., OL/DL); Jake Worden(Sr., OL/DL); Zach Zimmerman (Sr., TE/DB).

Spartans’ new coachinherits tough scenarioNUMBERS LOW: Conners, South Jefferson face Class B powers

Quarterback Myersknows what’s aheadBIG GAMES LOOM: Raiders senior has skill to succeed

THE MYERS FILE

Hometown: Massena.

Year: Senior.

Parents: James and Donna.

Siblings: Sisters, Alexa and Paige.

Other: Member of National Honor Society.

Myers


Massena quarterback Troy Myers works on a turnover drill with assistant coach DavidMock last week during practice at Massena High School.


Immaculate Heart Central’s Haden Baker hands the ball off during a scrimmage againstWatertown last week at Watertown High School.

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MASSENA— Massena’s football coachhas no interest in looking back to last year.

After seeing the Raiders strugglethrough low numbers and serious injurieson the way to a 2-7 overall record, you can’tblame him.

“It was a rough one but we have a greatgroup of kids this year and we’re puttinglast year behind us,” said coach AnthonyDiagostino. “This is definitely a youngergroup. We like the way the guys are work-ing hard in practice and we’re pretty im-pressed with how they’ve performed dur-ing the different drills.

“And,” he added, “our numbers are upfrom last year, which is great.”

Diagostino enters his fourth season ashead coach with a team that features a sol-id core of 12 veterans and another 19 new-

comers hoping to make an impact at thevarsity level.

Returning seniors include; Josh Blan-chard (RB/LB), Thomas Boudreau(OL/DL), Cody Coggeshall (RB/LB), TrevorConvertini (SE/DB), Brayden Cunning-ham (OL/DL), James Delosh (RB/DB),Josh Miller (QB/LB), Troy Myers (QB/DB),Johnny Square (RB/DB) and Arrow Tig-glear (SE/DB). Veteran juniors Jordan Hartand Kioweren Rourke are also expected toanchor the Massena hopes on both sidesof the line.

The Raiders will compete as part of theClass A Division during the regular season,along with Potsdam, St. Lawrence Centraland Malone.

Massena kicks off the season at 7 p.m.today at Ogdensburg Free Academy.

Massenalikes itsnumbersPUTTING LAST YEAR ASIDE:Youth, depth cheer Raiders


Massena’s Brayden Cunningham tries toprotect the ball as a teammate attempts tostrip it during practice last week.

BY JOHN TURCOTTEJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

POTSDAM — If Potsdam is to repeat asSection 10 Class A football champions, theSandstoners will have do it without Sec-tion 10 rushing leader Zac Linsky andquarterback John Coleman, who havegraduated.

Ninth-year head coach and formerSandstoner quarterback, Jim Kirka isworking with a 33-player roster, which in-cludes sophomores Will Coleman andShawn Clark.

The two youngsters are battling for thestarting position at quarterback while sen-iors Jesse Bradish and Dominic Centofantilook to fill the void left by Linsky at the tail-back position. Coleman is considered coolunder pressure and Clark is a very goodpasser with a good release.

“We lost a lot of skill players and some ofthe offensive line, but the kids worked veryhard in the off-season and it’s a chance forother guys to step up,” Kirka said. “(Senior)Josh Adams is a very good tight end and(junior) Preston Mason is a good tackle on

both sides of the ball.Defensively, we have several starters

back and we could be better on defensethan last year. The linemen are workinghard to continue our tradition at Potsdamof strong line play.”

Other Potsdam seniors include JacobMoose (RB/LB), Zack Williams (OL/DL),Sam Skufka (WR/DB), Cody Dominique(DB), Liam Rice (WR), Ifem Ononye(RB/LB), Jay Zenger (OL/DL), Hans Kuno(DB), AJ Landi (RB/LB), Jordan Sochia(RB/DL) and Brandon Sibley (LB).

Potsdam will again have a merger agree-ment with Norwood-Norfolk whileMadrid-Waddington was added late thissummer as a merger school, though no M-W students will compete this year.

The Sandstoners will play all their homegames this season on Saturday afternoons,rather than Friday night as in the past, dueto an electric usage problem regarding thelights at their home field.

The Sandstoners kick off their season onSaturday when they play host to Beek-mantown.

Potsdam gets to workon championship repeatCHALLENGES AHEAD: Sandstoners lost Linsky, Coleman


ALEXANDRIA BAY — In Steve Fisher’sfootball class, Football 101, the veterancoach insists on playing the game right.

That means huddling correctly, run-ning on and off the field no matter what,and always encouraging your teammates.

As he takes on the unenviable, and somewould say impossible, task of trying to re-build the Alexandria program, those are justsome of the tenants that Fisher has tried toinstill in his kids. If nothing else, the PurpleGhosts will have discipline, the correct atti-tude and an outstanding work ethic that theveteran coach demanded in his highly suc-cessful 43-year run at General Brown.

Fisher, who retired after the 2010 cam-paign with a 252-113-8 record, took overthe Alexandria program this spring withno illusions of grandeur. The PurpleGhosts have been among the dregs of Sec-tion 3 since 2005, going just 8-39, and hadonly one non-losing season during thatspan when they went 4-4 in 2008.

Despite the numbers, Fisher acceptedthe Alexandria task with the unwaveringenthusiasm that has helped him becomeone of the most respected high schoolcoaches in the state. But he knows it’s going

to be a difficult road, and that the schooland the players must show some patiencebefore the program can turn the corner.

“We’ve already come a long way sincethe first day of practice (on Aug. 15),” saidFisher during a break in last Saturday’sscrimmage with Thousand Islands at Li-ons Field in Clayton. “The kids haveworked hard and shown that they want toimprove. But to be honest there isn’t a lot oftalent, so we’re going to try to overcomethat with hard work and intensity.”

Among the Alexandria players, there is aunanimous respect for what Fisher has ac-complished, and what he is trying to dowith the Purple Ghosts.

“When I heard coach Fisher was comingto our school, I was so excited I could hard-ly contain myself,” said Zachary Walti, oneof 12 seniors. “The last couple of yearswere really rough. But we’ve got a new atti-tude and coach won’t let us feel sorry forourselves any more.”

Senior quarterback Ryan Foster, whowill run Fisher’s offense, echoed Walti’ssentiments.

“It’s like a new beginning for all of us,”Foster said. “We’ve basically started fromscratch working on the fundamentals,things like blocking and tackling and just

how to play the game right. Coach Fisherhas seen so much over the years he knowswhat it takes for us to become a better team.Now it’s up to us to show we can do it.”

Fisher admitted it’s been a “rough andchallenging road,” trying to install a newoffense, defense and kicking game.

Said Foster: “Coach has tried to simplifyeverything. We’ve got about seven differ-ent plays that we can run in different for-mations and that’s it. He feels that if we canwork on them and execute well, then it willmake it easier on the whole team.”

On defense, Fisher is teaching the Pur-ple Ghosts about correct pursuit angles,the right tackling techniques and how to

be aggressive when needed.“The kids have accepted what we want

them to do and are learning every day,”Fisher said. “Our goal is to be competitivethis season.”

That may be difficult with the PurpleGhosts playing in a tough Class C Northalong with defending sectional championGeneral Brown, sectional qualifier Im-maculate Heart , and improved teams likeLowville and Pulaski.

Fisher is working with a 22-man roster,including several players who have notplayed high school football. “That’s a verygood sign,’’ he said. “Hopefully, the interestwill be even better in the coming years.”

A welcome challengefor Fisher, AlexandriaREBUILDING TASK: Highly successful coach bringsreputation of discipline to long-suffering Purple Ghosts

ALEXANDRIA BAY – The arrival of vet-eran coach Steve Fisher to the Alexandriaprogram has breathed new life into a teamthat was on the brink of disaster after for-feiting much of its season a year ago.

Whether Fisher’s presence translates in-to more victories is still to be determined.But one thing you can count on is more de-termined performances and a reliance onfundamentals. You can also count on acontinued improvement throughout theseason.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,”Fisher said of success for the Purple

Ghosts. “But we’re trying to teach the kidshow to play the game right, and to play itwith more passion.”

Fisher doesn’t have a lot of veterans tohelp him out. So he’s trying out kids at al-most every position in hopes of findingsome production on both sides of the ball.

Among the players Fisher is counting onto provide some leadership are: seniorsRyan Foster, Ken Lusk, Dan Tebo, Josh Pe-terson, John Hanley and Chad Daley.

Fisher has installed a new offense, de-fense and kicking system, and has tried tosimplify everything to give the PurpleGhosts a better chance of succeeding.

ALEXANDRIA PURPLE GHOSTS2010 record: 0-7, 0-5 Class C North.

Coach: Steve Fisher (1st year).

Players to watch: Josh Peterson (Sr., OL/LB);Zach Walti (Jr., FB/LB); Ken Lusk (Sr., OL/LB);Ryan Foster (Sr., QB/DB); Dan Leek (Fr., QB/WR/DB); John Hanley (WR/DB); Eddie Roberts (Jr.,RB).

Ghosts take new approachwith Fisher at the controls

SANDY CREEK – After years of comingclose, but not making much noise in theSection 3 Class D playoffs, Sandy Creek fi-nally had the season veteran coach MikeStevens had been searching for in 2010.

The Comets finished second toOnondaga in Class D West, then advancedall the way to the sectional final as the No. 4seed before losing to Onondaga 14-7 in aheartbreaking final in the Carrier Dome.Sandy Creek came up just a few yards shortof tying that game as time ran out in thefourth quarter, but had to settle for a run-ner-up finish.

Seventeen players return from that club.Stevens welcomes back many top skillplayers and has good team speed, whichmeans the Comets will probably be able toscore some points.

Tailback Jared Soule, who had a solidjunior season, will get the bulk of the car-ries, while Adam Fox takes over at quar-

terback from the graduated CoreySprague.

Up front, All-North honorable mentionlineman Mason McNitt is a standout two-way performer. Stevens will miss All-Northlinebacker Caleb Ward’s leadership, but helikes the team’s chemistry so far and thepride that his players are now taking in asolid program.

Sandy Creek is now in the newly re-aligned Class D West conference with thelikes of perennial league powers Ononda-ga and Weedsport, plus local teams BeaverRiver and Thousand Islands.

SANDY CREEK COMETS2010 record: 7-3, 2-1 Class D West.Coach: Mike Stevens (13th year, 78-67).Players to watch: Jared Soule (Sr., RB/ DB, 128-734, 8 TD); Avery Barney (Sr., OL/DL); Josh Brad-berry (Sr., WR/DB); John Shirley (So., FB/LB); Ma-son McNitt (Jr., RB/DE); Cornell Newsome (Sr.,OL/LB); Wyatt Bush (Jr., RB/S); Adam Fox (Sr.,QB/DB); Troyt Swarthout (Sr., OL/DL); AndyCarter (Jr., TE/DE).

Sandy Creek still strongafter breakthrough season

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AMANDA MORRISON WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

Alexandria coach Steve Fisher explains an offensive play to the team during a scrimmagelast week against Thousand Islands. Fisher is in his first year with the Purple Ghosts.

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Section 3Class AA-1

W L Pf Pa O’all Pf PaCBA 6 0 166 81 9-1 288 126Baldwinsville 5 1 253 95 10-2 430 196Rome Free 4 2 136 76 4-4 195 142Liverpool 3 3 152 156 3-5 166 218C-N. Syracuse 2 4 111 141 2-6 163 225Nottingham 1 5 101 217 3-5 156 280Central Square 0 6 96 244 1-8 215 349

Class AA-2W L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

F’ville-Manlius 6 0 227 69 8-1 296 104Utica Proctor 5 1 212 158 7-2 291 234Corcoran 4 2 165 56 5-3 214 117West Genesee 3 3 173 175 3-5 179 254Auburn 2 4 73 187 3-5 133 241Henninger 1 5 142 162 2-6 195 220Fowler 0 6 58 1243 0-8 100 317

Class A NationalW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Indian River 4 1 180 135 7-2 354 221Whitesboro 4 1 152 76 10-2 480 169Watertown 2 3 184 165 6-4 403 304Camden 2 3 105 161 3-5 168 241Carthage 2 3 108 121 5-3 226 212New Hartford 1 4 109 160 4-4 238 206

Class A AmericanW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cortland 4 0 168 102 6-3 231 256E. Syr.-Minoa 3 1 157 122 6-3 341 306J’ville-DeWitt 2 2 130 119 3-5 214 259Mexico 1 3 118 129 2-6 236 280Fulton 0 4 74 174 1-7 161 363Oswego 0 0 0 0 0-8 74 380

Class B EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cazenovia 5 0 218 89 10-1 414 151VVS 3 2 175 122 5-4 335 229Oneida 2 3 107 99 6-4 264 173Chittenango 2 3 91 138 4-4 160 180Holland Patent 2 3 114 141 4-4 187 181South Jefferson 1 4 91 207 2-6 175 300

Class B WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Homer 5 1 168 99 6-2 209 140Westhill 5 1 188 71 6-2 234 123Marcellus 5 1 178 64 7-2 233 103Skaneateles 3 3 170 151 3-7 195 245Phoenix 2 4 73 164 2-6 108 283Solvay 1 5 81 198 1-7 86 240Hannibal 0 6 102 214 0-8 122 290

Class C NorthW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

General Brown 5 0 233 12 12-1 553 160IHC 4 1 93 48 7-2 192 119Pulaski 3 2 48 59 5-4 145 172Th. Islands 1 4 74 122 1-6 99 157Lowville 2 3 31 109 3-5 77 163Alexandria 0 5 0 129 0-7 0 226

Class C SouthW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Canastota 5 0 167 42 7-2 279 103Westmoreland 4 1 98 39 5-3 163 130SBurne-Eville 3 2 67 60 6-3 200 91Mt. Markham 1 4 28 91 1-7 47 209Sau. Valley 1 4 25 102 2-6 59 158Clinton 1 4 61 125 3-5 120 196

Class C EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Ilion 5 0 217 63 8-1 355 137Ut. Notre Dame 4 1 134 111 5-4 227 234Herkimer 3 2 146 132 4-4 212 214F-Schuyler 2 3 118 113 6-2 217 142Adirondack 1 4 102 153 2-6 146 240Little Falls 0 5 66 211 1-7 115 330

Class C WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Cato-Meridian 6 0 167 30 9-1 301 152Bishop Ludden 5 1 159 86 5-4 186 221APW 4 2 148 111 6-3 234 141Jordan-Elbridge 2 4 93 133 3-5 127 181SIT 2 4 99 167 3-5 129 228LaFayette 2 4 113 153 3-6 145 219Tully 0 6 58 145 1-8 93 259

Class D EastW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Dolgeville 4 0 153 50 7-1 285 78Beaver River 3 1 67 71 6-3 167 142West Canada 2 2 94 77 4-4 209 157South Lewis 1 3 128 138 3-6 245 274Mohawk 0 4 79 185 0-8 157 338

Class D WestW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Onondaga 3 0 73 36 9-2 262 110Sandy Creek 2 1 57 38 7-3 248 128Weedsport 1 2 75 56 6-3 250 138Port Byron 0 3 28 103 3-4 114 147

Class D CentralW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

New York Mills 4 0 107 32 6-2 182 122Waterville 3 1 78 29 3-5 118 170Cooperstown 2 2 73 47 4-3 138 75Oriskany 1 3 68 94 1-7 87 230Mville-Eaton 0 4 24 148 0-8 56 303

Northern Football ConferenceClass A

W L Pf Pa O’all Pf PaPotsdam 4 0 140 32 9-2 320 160Malone 3 1 128 58 5-4 205 208Massena 2 3 51 102 2-7 80 259Canton 1 3 77 98 2-7 159 222St. Lawrence 0 4 8 154 1-8 90 310

Class BW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

OFA 5 0 206 14 10-1 434 70Beekmantown 4 1 118 84 5-4 168 205Saranac 3 2 107 115 6-4 195 261Gouverneur 2 3 62 102 3-5 95 98Peru 1 4 26 93 3-6 89 137Plattsburgh 0 5 12 124 1-6 64 150

Class DW L Pf Pa O’all Pf Pa

Moriah 2 0 49 12 8-1 198 81Ticonderoga 1 1 28 20 6-4 186 124Tupper Lake 0 2 18 63 4-5 180 239

2010 STANDINGS

By DAVE SHEAJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

OGDENSBURG – There are rebuildingprojects and then there is the wholesale re-construction that was going on as the OFAfootball team recently completed its sec-ond week of preseason practice.

Head coach Matt Tessmer is working toreplace the leadership provided by one ofthe most successful senior classes inschool history. The senior class led the2010 Blue Devils to 10 straight wins andregular season and postseason Class Bhonors.

Six of the graduated seniors combinedon a 27-5 record and four of those seniors:running back Eric Barr (19), quarterbackJared Morrow (13), slotback Joel King (11)and Kris Folsom (9) combined to score 51touchdowns last fall.

“We have to replace almost all of ourskill people and the strength of this year’steam will be in the line,” said Tessmerpointing toward a Sept. 2 Northern Foot-ball Conference interdivisional openinggame at home against Class A opponentMassena.

“Our line play should be very good andwe have a lot of very good athletes who areworking very hard. We are looking at a lotof people at different positions and this is avery good group.”

Junior Nate Angel is getting a very longlook as the leading candidate to followMorrow, who put up astounding total of-fensive numbers as a three-year startingquarterback and has moved on toHartwick College.

“Nate Angel is throwing the ball well andhas worked very hard,” said Tessmer wholooks for co-captain Christian Lesperance,a senior running back and record-settingsprinter in track-and-field, to lead theemergence of a new group of playmakers.

The team’s other captains are two-waylinemen Brad Seguin and Dave Dalton andsplit end-linebacker Zach Grenier. Otherseniors are: Nick Steenkamer (RB/DB),Andrew LeBeau (OL/DL), Marv Petell(SE/DB) and Nick Crawford (SE/DB). Sec-ond year juniors coming off fine rookiecampaigns are: Zach Sharpe (RB/LB),Christian Simmons (OL/DL) and Jake Gar-rison (OL/LB). Another junior in DaveTroiano (OL/DL) who missed all of lastseason undergoing successful treatmentsfor Hodgkins Lymphoma and he will be amajor addition.

OFA lays itall on linefor 2011WHOLESALE CHANGES:Linemen to anchor squad

By JOHN TURCOTTEJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

CANTON — Austin Weakfall, a formerplayer and assistant coach at St. LawrenceUniversity, begins his third year as headfootball coach at Canton Central.

Coming off a 2-7 finish last year, Cantonhas some of its best numbers in recentyears with 32 in camp. Weakfall welcomesback senior Zach Zeller, a first-team All-NAC pick, to anchor the tight end and line-backer corps, while junior veterans JayProulx and Jack Elberty are competing forthe starting job at quarterback.

Seniors Nash Bessette and Dan Holcombare linemen to watch on both sides of theball while classmate Eb Foote providesspeed at the running back slot as the num-ber of Canton seniors on hand this year hasgrown considerably since last season.

“Finally we have guys who have been in

the program a few years and understandour offensive and defensive philosophy.We’re getting some junior and senior lead-ership, some depth and continuity, and atall levels the numbers are growing,” saidWeakfall who likes what he’s seen of sever-al veterans.

Merger agreements have been discon-tinued with Heuvelton and Hermon-DeKalb, so Canton moves from Class A toClass C for sectionals, joining OFA, SaranacLake and Ausable Valley in that division.

“We have good team speed at the skillpositions and Jack Elberty and Jay Proulxwill both see time at quarterback.” Week-fall added. “Jay is a vocal leader and will al-so play other positions on offense. He’s ourguy on both sides of the ball. Defensively,Zach Zeller is battling back from injuryand should be with us by the third orfourth game.”

Canton program growing


It was a season of unprecedented suc-cess in 2010 for Frontier League footballteams.

Highlighted by General Brown’s fifthSection 3 Class C title and the Lions’ amaz-ing run to the state Class C championshipgame, area teams made noise in three dif-ferent classes.

Besides General Brown, Watertowncapped off its best season in years with aberth in the Class A championship game,while Indian River tied for first place inClass A National and lost in the sectionalsemifinals.

Immaculate Heart Central, kicked up toClass C, made a nice run and earned a spotin the sectional semifinals. Sandy Creekappeared in its first sectional final in twodecades, falling in the Class D title game.And Beaver River was a surprise Class Dsemifinalist.

Many of the top players from thoseteams, however, have now graduated. Butlook for those clubs to continue to achieve,and a few more to make a spirited playoffrun as well.

Watertown must replace record-break-ing tailback Tevion Cappe and talentedquarterback Tyler Augliano. But coachVince Williams has plenty of options, a vet-eran-laden offense and defense andenough skill people to pile up points again.

Indian River’s patented ground gamemay not be quite as strong, but dynamictailback Darrius Bryant gives the Warriorsan explosive breakaway threat. Two-waystandout Derrek Dalton leads a quick andmobile offensive and defensive front.

Carthage has missed the playoffs thelast few seasons, but may have a shot thistime around if coach Sam Millich can getsteady quarterback play from Dan Conlinand a big season from bruising runningback Josh Britton.

South Jefferson has a fine backfield duoof quarterback Tom Gordinier and backJoe De Franco. But first-year head coachPat Conners has his work cut out for him ina rugged Class B East.

General Brown will not be as powerfulas last season, but the Lions still have anabundance of talent. Second-year headcoach Tom Frears has depth at quarter-back and running back, several experi-enced linemen and that tough mentalitythat separates the Lions from other teams.

IHC, whose only league loss was to Gen-eral Brown last year, will have a differentlook with a new quarterback and plenty ofyoungsters looking to make a name. AndLowville, a major disappointment lastyear, looks to be on the rebound as sec-ond-year head man Josh Coffman wel-comes back most of his top players.

Alexandria has renewed enthusiasm as

Steve Fisher takes over. But the PurpleGhosts will still struggle to compete withthe better teams in Class C North andhopes to make just some positive strides.

In Class D, both Sandy Creek and BeaverRiver will have new looks offensively andwill rely on some veteran defenders tomake another sectional run.

Thousand Islands, back down fromClass C, is rebuilding yet again and may bea year away from contending.

South Lewis will not field a varsity teamthis year because of low numbers.

SECTION 3 MOVEMENTAs usual, several teams swapped divi-

sions, several others moved up or down aclass, and Class D consolidated into twodivisions.

Watertown, Indian River and Carthageremain in Class A National, where defend-ing league and sectional championWhitesboro appears to be the favorite.

South Jefferson is still the area’s onlyClass B team, in Class B East. Camden hasjoined that division, down from Class A, ashas Ilion, which moved up from Class C.Chittenango has moved to Class B West.

Class C North remains much the samewith General Brown, IHC, Lowville,Alexandria and Pulaski still on board.Thousand Islands dropped down a classand is now a part of Class D West. Altmar-Parish-Williamstown rejoins Class CNorth after playing in Class C West last sea-son.

Beaver River moves from Class D East toClass D West. Class D is now composed ofjust East and West Divisions.

Area squads have a lot of ground to cover2010 SEASON LIKE NO OTHER: Teams who achieved major success one year ago still have ability to produce

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GREEN MOUNTAIN K-CUPS

2011 SECTION 3 ALIGNMENTS

Here are the Section 3 alignments for 2011:

Class AA-1: Baldwinsville, CBA, Central Square, Ci-cero-N. Syracuse, Liverpool, Nottingham, RomeFree.

Class AA-2: Auburn, Corcoran, Fayetteville-Manlius,Oswego, Henninger, Utica Proctor,West Genesee.

Class A National: Carthage, Indian River, New Hart-ford,Watertown,Whitesboro,.

Class A American: Cortland, East Syracuse-Minoa,Fowler, Fulton, Jamesville-DeWitt.

Class B East: Camden, Cazenovia, Holland Patent, Il-ion, Oneida, South Jefferson ,Vernon-Verona-Sher-rill.

Class B West: Chittenango, Homer, Marcellus, Mexi-co, Phoenix, Solvay,Westhill.

ClassC North: Alexandria, General Brown, Immacu-late Heart Central, Lowville, Pulaski, APW.

Class C South: Canastota, Clinton, Mt. Markham,Sauquoit Valley, Sherburne-Earlville, Morrisville-Eaton/Hamilton.

Class C East: Adirondack, Frankfort-Schuyler,Herkimer, Little Falls, Utica Notre/Rome Catholic.

Class C West: Skaneateles, Bishop Ludden, Hanni-bal, Syracuse Institute of Technology, Jordan-El-bridge. LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey,Tully.

Class D West: Beaver River, Bishop Grimes, Cato-Meridian, Onondaga, Port Byron, Sandy Creek,Thousand Islands,Weedsport,.

Class D East: Cooperstown, Dolgeville, Mohawk,New York Mills, Oriskany,Waterville,West CanadaValley,Westmoreland.


TUPPER LAKE – If all goes as plannedfor the Tupper Lake football team it shouldlook at lot like it did last season.

The Lumberjacks were 4-5 last year, butwere 0-2 in the Class D division of theNorthern Football Conference.

“We look at a .500 season as being ourgoal,” Lumberjacks coach Dennis Klossnersaid. “We always want to beat the teams wefeel we can. Our two main games will beMoriah and Ticonderoga, because that’swho we’re playing for the Class D playoffs.”

Tupper Lake got off to a rough start lastyear, losing three of its first four games,capped by a 55-0 loss to Saranac Lake.

But the Lumberjacks rebounded andwon three of their last four, before losing27-7 to Ticonderoga in the Class D playoffs.

This season could look similar for Tup-per Lake, which seems to play most of thebigger schools early in the year.

One of the leaders of the offense thisyear will be senior running back JordanGarrow, who finished with 728 yards rush-ing last year and five touchdowns.

Tupper Lake also returns its startingquarterback, sophomore Morgan Stevens,who threw for 330 yards last year withthree touchdowns.

“We have some experience back on our(offensive) line, so we’re hoping to be ableto move the ball,” Klossner said.

Tupper Lake targets .500 season


Canton running back Ed Foote looks for room during a scrimmage last weekend.

JASON HUNTER nWATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

IHC’s Joey Spooner tackles Malone’s Mitchell Gallagher during a scrimmage last week.


PHILADELPHIA — The first thing younotice when talking defensive footballwith Derrek Dalton is the glint in his eyes.

“Playing middle linebacker is what foot-ball is all about,” said the Indian River sen-ior with a smile. “You’re always in on theaction and everything is coming right atyou. I love the challenge of making a playwhen three or four guys are trying to stopyou.”

That will to succeed, along with tremen-dous physical ability and an unrivaledwork ethic are what sets the Warriors’ sen-ior co-captain apart. That and what IndianRiver coach Cory Marsell says “is a motorthat never stops running.”

Marsell told a story about a practice lastweek in which Dalton, going full-speed asusual, nearly ran over a young freshmanplayer on the Warriors’ practice field.

“Derrek would have really hurt that kid,”Marsell said. “But that’s the only way heknows how to play, always to the whistle.”

Dalton, also an outstanding offensivelineman for the Warriors, said he’s not real-ly a mean guy off the field. “But I love tohave that nasty streak on the field,” hesaid.” It helps you stay focused on whatyour job is and to have a little bit of an edgeagainst your opponent.”

Maintaining focus has never been aproblem for Dalton, who has put on some10 pounds of muscle in the offseason andnow weighs in at a svelte 240 pounds.Marsell said Dalton is easily “the hardestworker” on the team, and has become a

true leader. A true Warrior.Said Dalton: “I’ve been around awhile,

and I know what it takes to succeed. If youdon’t practice hard, you don’t play as well. Ipride myself on being as well-prepared as Ican be, and to make sure my teammatesare as well.”

Dalton’s production on the field last sea-son was immeasurable as he helped leadthe Warriors to a share of the Section 3Class A National crown and a spot in theClass A semifinals.

On defense, he finished with 75 tacklesand three sacks, earning Class A National

first-team honors.As an offensive guard, Dalton was one of

the key blockers for 1,000-yard plus run-ners Darrius Bryant and CorneliousDukes, and was the linchpin of the War-riors’ dynamic Wing-T offense.

He was chosen third-team all-state atthe end of the season.

Marsell cited Dalton’s “quick feet and in-stincts” for making him such a dynamiclinebacker. “And when he gets to the ball-carrier, he hardly ever misses a tackle,”Marsell said.

Dalton, who said he loves defense be-cause “it’s nonstop hitting,” credits hiswork on the wrestling mats for making hima better tackler. He captured a Section 3 ti-tle at 215 pounds last winter and made it tothe state tournament for the first time.

“You use a lot of the same techniques inwrestling as you do in football,” Dalton said.“You use your hands to keep your opponentaway from your body. You use your feet toavoid takedowns just like you do to avoidblocks. And the best way to tackle is also sim-ilar to taking an opponent down to the mat.”

Dalton also cited how wrestling hashelped him “be more aggresssive on thefootball field. And how to use that aggres-sion the best.”

Marsell added: “Good tackling is allabout leverage, and that’s also key to greatwrestlers. Derrek has learned through

wrestling how to stay lower than his oppo-nent, and to take the right angle when he’smoving in for a tackle.”

On offense, Dalton has refined hisblocking techniques, learning better an-gles of attack.

“My job is to help out our great backsand give them a seam to run through,”Dalton said. “It’s a pride thing when yourback runs for over 1,000 yards, so we takegreat satisfaction when that happens.”

As a junior, Marsell called Dalton “theheart and soul of our team.” Now that he’s asenior, Marsell expects even more of hisdynamic two-way star.

“Derrek can be as good as he wants tobe,” said Marsell, himself a former stand-out linebacker at Indian River and SUNYCortland. “Right now he could step into aDivision III program and be successful.But he also could play at a higher level.”

Dalton attended several camps this pastsummer, was a stalwart in the weight roomand made sure his teammates also attend-ed those sessions.

0Marsell said Dalton has also improvedimmensely in the classroom to the pointwhere he is now a good student.

“When he was a freshman, he strug-gled,” Marsell said. “But now that he seeshow far football can take him, he’s become

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Dalton’s determination makes Warriors goDOUBLE THREAT: Indian River linebacker/lineman never stops in quest to lead team to another championship

By STEVE HEATONJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

GOUVERNEUR — Gouverneur headcoach Sean Devlin is looking for someoneto fill the big vacancy left by graduatedZach Cummings, the team’s leading rusherand top defensive player last year.

Cummings gained 910 yards on 132 car-ries last fall and scored six touchdowns atrunning back for the Wildcats who finished3-5 overall, 3-4 in regular season play and2-3 against Class B schools. He also led theteam in tackles.

Also graduated from the program areDon Whiteford and Alex Wedlock, the sec-ond and third leading defenders last year,and Richard Jesmer, the top receiver.

“We lost some very good players,” Devlinsaid. “We’re going to be young. We only haveseven or eight starters back from last year’steam, including four starting linemen. We’renot big but we’ll have some quickness.”

Gouverneur does return its startingquarterback in Shane Gould, who passedfor 376 yards, going 30-for-66 with threetouchdowns.

“Shane played well last year at quarter-back and junior running back Levi Love hadsome nice plays as Zach’s backup last year,”said Devlin, whose team also returns seniorlinemen Kyle Bigwarfe, Lucas Bulsiewicz,Benjamin Mulvaney, and Jacob VanOrman;senior offensive lineman/linebacker Bren-den Ward; junior lineman Brandon Wash-burn; senior wide receiver/linebackerNathan Guesford and junior runningback/linebacker Dustin Earlywine.

“Our linemen might not be big. But theycan move well and they’re athletic. Ourgame this season will be based on speedand getting to the holes quick,” Devlin said.

Among the newcomers are: HunterAyen (Jr. DE/TE), Kacy Barley (Jr. WR/DB),Justin Cummings (Jr. FB/LB), Curtis Fuller(Jr. FB/LB), Troy Gates (Fr. TE/DE)º0 andMark Horne (Jr. QB/DB).

“This group has been fun to work with.They’re working hard and looking to im-prove every day,” Devlin said.

“We’re playing Class B this season andwe expect Beekmantown and SaranacCentral to be tough along with Peru, whichwas young last year,” Devlin said. “We’vegot some trips like Plattsburgh and Peru,but come playoff time, we avoid SaranacLake and OFA, two premier teams in theSection 7-10 setup. We still play OFA in acrossover which has become a big rivalryfor us.”

Wildcatslook toyoungstersQUICKNESS AN ASSET: Teamcopes with loss of Cummings

By JOHN GOKEYJOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

MALONE — The Malone football teamseeks to improve upon its 2010 regular-season record of 5-4 overall, 4-3 league.

That’s tough to do with the loss of keyposition players such as quarterback (Jor-dan Cosgrove), running back (Darren Ful-lum, Brad Doe and Jason Stepnoski) andlinemen (Andrew Poupore, Sam Moore,Brandon Lavoie and Cody Gibson).

Malone will rely on junior Mitchell Gal-lagher to call the plays at quarterback. Hewill also direct the defense from the mid-dle linebacker position. Gallagher spent

the 2010 season with the varsity as a soph-omore. Gallagher completed 19 passes for263 yards with three touchdowns.

Junior John Picaro is expected to be thebackup quarterback, but will see more ac-tion as a wideout. Picaro will compete withsenior Ryan Jacques (1 rec-26-yards, TD)and juniors Cody Collins, J.P. King, DylanFleury, James Shattick and the speedy Har-vey Smith for the wideout spots.

Stepping into the backfield for coachGeorge Marshall was returning players TaylorHilyard (71 carries- 325 yards, 2 TDs), DarynJohnston (9-9), Zach Peck (17-161, TD) andKorey Prue (12-55, TD) as varsity newcomers

Shawn Mulverhill and Tryek Sneed attemptto break into the starting lineup. Hilyard is outwith an injury as is expected back by weektwo while Bruce Monette III is out for the sea-son after having shoulder surgery.

Defense was a problem for the Huskiesin 2010, as they surrendered 164 pointsduring the season.

Setting the tone up front is returning play-ers Doug Marshall, Dalton Patterson, Bran-don Picaro, Korey Prue and Kellan Wheeler.

Joining Gallagher in the battle for a line-backer spot are Kerr, Hilyard, Johnston,Charles Debyah, Dylan Fleury, CameronGuerin, Mulverhill, Shaw and Sneed.

Huskies look to Gallagher to fill QB position


BRASHER FALLS — Underclassmenonce again dominate the St. LawrenceCentral roster.

But that doesn’t mean the Larries headinto the season lacking experience.

“We’re going to be young again, but wehave quite a few kids back from last yearwho gained a lot of valuable playing expe-rience and that should help out,” saidcoach Bill Scharf, who enters his third sea-son.

“We’ve already noticed a difference inpractice this year. They’re picking things

up more quickly because it’s not new tothem anymore and we’ve been able towork more things in,” he added.

The Larries will compete in the Class ADivision along with Massena, Potsdamand Malone this season, as well as com-pete in the Section 10 Class A playoffs.

The Larries, who went 1-8 overall in2010, return only one senior but 12 juniorson the roster are back after making leadcontributions last fall.

The rest of the 2011 lineup consists offirst-year sophomores and a pair of seniorsmaking their varsity debuts. The SLC line-up will benefit from mergers with the

Brushton-Moira and Parishville-Hopkin-ton Central school districts. Each neigh-boring district is providing a pair of ath-letes this fall.

Josh Gonzalez is the only returningsenior and will be counted on to anchorwhat is expected to be a much improvedoffensive line as a tackle. The core of jun-ior veterans includes Devon Euto, whotook over as starting quarterback by themiddle of last season and is slated toreprise his role.

St. Lawrence has a bye this weekend asits opponent, Seton Catholic, announcedlast week that it would not field a team.

SLC takes on youth with optimismLARRIES DEAL WITH CHANGES: Team will compete as Class A squad this season

THE DALTON FILE

School: Indian River.

Year: Senior.

Height, weight: 6-foot-2, 245 pounds.

Position: Offense line/linebacker.

Other sports:Wrestling, Section 3 champion at215 lbs.

See DALTON page 6


Indian River senior lineman/linebacker Derrek Dalton reserves his nasty streak for when he’s on the field.

ALAIN ST.PIERRE JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS

St. Lawrence Central junior Jesse Greer runs between a pair of blockers during drills last week.

12 Friday,September 2,2011 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES N HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2011

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Indian River senior Dalton is double trouble. Page 2

JUSTIN SORENSEN NWATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

A SEASON PREVIEW OF AREA NORTH COUNTRY TEAMSFriday,September 2,2011 www.watertowndailytimes.com

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