Week 1: What to know for openers for Canandaigua, Victor and other local teams
A new season brings a new look to football at Canandaigua Academy.
The Braves have won three straight Section V championships and have enjoyed quite the run over the last three seasons, losing to just one Section V team since falling in the 2019 opener at Victor.
And while the high-scoring, pick-your-poison offense of the last couple of seasons may be gone, the Braves still have plenty of talent heading into 2022, which opens with Friday’s home game against Greece Arcadia at 7 p.m.
More: Canandaigua season previewClick here
Sophomore Drew Williamee is the new quarterback, stepping in for three-year starter Bryan Boldrin. Williamee took a few varsity snaps late in lopsided games last season but the bulk of his time was with the junior varsity.
Coaches are excited about the potential of Williamee, who has a strong and accurate arm. But the one thing he won’t have that Boldrin enjoyed the last two seasons is the multiple options for targets.
Senior receiver Tysheed Crockton should emerge as the primary threat and is the playmaker with the most varsity experience. Juniors Dom Gullace and Lucas Delforte got limited touches last fall as sophomores but will see their load increase this fall while junior Jude York will be split wide as a receiver to help take the focus off of Crockton.
The development of the offensive line is central to the progress, of course, but there is experience here with the 6-foot-5 Tyler DeRue next to Justus Simpson and Jack Lammers.
How well it’s all coming together will be answered in Friday’s opener against an Arcadia team that’s counting on continued improvement from last fall. The Titans have plenty of experience in the trenches and they’re excited to see what junior running back Deshawn McClemmon will bring.
The biggest question mark for Arcadia is at quarterback, where junior Deshaun Caesar steps in.
It’s Week 1, which means there are plenty of questions that won’t be answered until the whistle officially sounds. So let’s take a look at the other local teams in action this weekend.
Friday
Victor at UPrep, 7 p.m.
You could point out that Victor has its hands full with its opener, but the same can be said for UPrep. The Griffins are in their first Class AA season after winning the Class A1 championship last fall, their first in school history. Victor will have senior Brady Robinson at quarterback and he’ll have several options to move the ball but the Blue Devils will likely retain their run-first approach.
More: Victor season previewClick here
As for UPrep, this is a loaded team led by senior Chris Jean, perhaps one of the top RBs in Section V. He’ll have an experienced offensive line clearing his paths and the UPrep defense is a unit that has little fear and even more drive to get after it.
Midlakes at Lansing, 7 p.m.
Midlakes likes the direction the program is headed, even after a 2-6 season in 2021. The Screaming Eagles lost three games by a combined nine points, so they’re in the mix, which is a big improvement from the lopsided scores they endured regularly a few seasons ago.
More: Midlakes season previewClick here
Midlakes has quite a new faces to work into the rhythm for 2022 and it’ll be interesting to see how it does against a Lansing team from Section IV that is making its return to 11-man football after a couple of 8-man seasons. The Bobcats were 4-3 last fall.
Watkins Glen/Odessa Montour at Marcus Whitman/Bloomfield, 7 p.m.
The Schuyler Storm, as combined teams from Watkins Glen and Odessa-Montour are known, were 6-3 last season but were hit hard by graduation. That’s not a good thing coming into a game against Marcus Whitman/Bloomfield, which was not hit that hard.
More: Marcus Whitman season previewClick here
The Wildcats have a lot of returning experience and got an additional boost with some transfers, so the Wildcats are eager to put it all together. Coach Bruce Wagner has a couple of options for QB but still hasn’t made a final decision as of midweek but he did talk about how excited he is to see the Wildcats in action. He’s tremendously encouraged by the off-season work ethic and is hoping that dedication pays off.
Saturday
Bolivar-Richburg at Red Jacket, noon
Bolivar-Richburg is new to 8-man football. Red Jacket is not.
More: Red Jacket season previewClick here
RJ has not lost a game in the two seasons it has played 8-man while the Wolverines went 5-4 last fall before big graduation losses necessitated the switch. That means B-R has had about two weeks to adjust to the new format and all the extra space but even with that, it will be quite different to line up against players from another school instead of teammates in practice. Red Jacket’s challenge is different in that it’s working in a lot of new names into new positions, but at least the experience of 8-man pace and rhythm is nothing new to these players, so that part of the adjustment should be smooth.
This article originally appeared on MPNnow: HS football: Week 1 preview for Canandaigua, Victor and other local teams
