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NY High School Football Preview 2024 Mohawk Valley

tabnews August 15, 2024
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Eight months have passed since Whitesboro took the field at the JMA Wireless Dome in December to compete for the state football championship. The Warriors and the rest of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association are back to square one, with practice for the 2024 varsity season beginning Monday.

Adirondack and Dolgeville in Classes C and D, the smallest schools with 11 players, and Frankfort-Schuyler in the growing division with eight players joined Class A Whitesboro as Section III champions in 2023, and New Hartford missed the Class B win by seconds in an impressive postseason performance by the eastern side of the section.

Indian River and Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse were the other sectional champions in Classes B and AA.

Sixty 11-player programs and 14 eight-player teams will start the season with a familiar classification lineup. The only new face will be Clinton, which is making a second attempt at fielding an eight-player team after canceling its 2023 season following two early losses; Clinton, now the Comets, last competed in Class C in 2022 as the Warriors. Clinton started with 16 players but did not have the required 12 to suit up for games against Bishop Grimes of Syracuse and Sauquoit Valley.

Whitesboro won 12 straight games last fall, sweeping through Section III with victories over two AA schools. An explosive offense topped the 40-point mark 11 times while the defense shut out one opponent and limited five others to single touchdowns. The Warriors advance without All-Stat selections Kyle Meier, Tony Dorozynski and Jordan Hughes, but have Memphis Ferguson, a second-team selection on defense, back.

Frankfort-Schuyler also made it as far as the schedule would allow, a regional playoff at Brothertown Stadium in Waterville. Playing the eight-player game for the second time after a year without a varsity team, the Maroon Knights posted a 9-1 record with a roster loaded with juniors that also returned all-state selections Martino Rocco and Lionell Coulthurst and honorable mention lineman Sebastian Veloz.

The Maroon Knights have a 16-4 record in two years with eight players. They were winless in the shortened Fall II season in spring 2021, but won the program's second sectional title in 2019 with an 11-player roster.

Dolgeville repeated its title as sectional champions while making a coaching change for the 2023 season, playing for the first time with a former Blue Devils player – Justin Daukontas – as coach on the sidelines. The team began the season with two road losses, followed by a two-week break that Clinton took. The Blue Devils then won their five remaining regular-season games and swept through the sectional playoffs en route to an 8-3 finish. Trevor Borst returns as an All-State honoree and 1,000-yard rusher; departed Brett Mosher was also named an All-State selection.

Adirondack battled through injuries to start the season and avenged its only regular season loss in two years when the Wildcats defeated General Brown in a thrilling 30-26 game in the sectional final. John Hennessey was named to the all-state first team on defense and returns as a senior to play one final season under his father and coach Rob Hennessey. The Wildcats finished the 2023 season 10-2 after an 8-1 season in 2022.

Interscholastic play begins with practice games and week zero games the weekend after Labor Day, September 5-8. District finals are scheduled for November 15 and 16, and state championships for 11-team teams will be held the first weekend in December.

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