Ten months may have passed, but the Bishop Ludden football team has not forgotten the way its 2016 season ended.
A push toward a possible championship got derailed in a wild, 48-42 defeat to Dolgeville in the opening round of the Section III Class D playoffs, a game where the Gaelic Knights scored at will, but so did the Blue Devils.
Were it not for a controversial measurement on a potential game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter, Ludden may have gone further, perhaps even snared the sectional title that Onondaga eventually claimed.
Going into 2017, Ludden remains as potent as ever in the passing game, thanks to the combination of quarterback Sh’ikem Lee and wide receivers Joe Connor and Se’Vaughn Williams. The question is whether the front line can remain a strong unit despite some important graduation losses.
“If we block a little bit (up front), scoring points won’t be a problem,” said head coach Mike Rogers.
Indeed, every opponent will try and figure out a way to contain Lee, who in 2016 threw for 1,515 yards and 24 touchdowns, while also running for 541 yards and nine scores. Rogers said that Lee, through his extensive off-season work (including a starring role on Ludden’s basketball team), is quicker and more athletic than before.
It helps to have two prime targets to throw to. Connor was a first-team All-State selection last fall, and is nearly impossible to contain, in part because Williams, himself an All-League returnee, can be just as effective if left alone. Adding to all that is having 6-foot-6 Terrence Blatche join the receiver corps.
Though Kevin Burkhardt graduated, Ludden is not concerned too much about its running game. Tamir Rowser leads a group that includes Andy Cervantes and Zevion Derby, with Connor and Williams always prone to line up in the backfield, too.
Those front-line concerns involve replacing three senior linemen – Joe Walsh, Alex Carbonaro and John Duffy. Dan Cacchione does return at center, with Kyle Bezner and 290-pound Sire Jones at guard. Jack Reale will take one of the guard spots.
With a 24-man roster, Ludden has a bit more depth than in seasons past. Still, every key player is likely to start both ways, which means having Jones and Bezner anchoring the defensive line and Connor and Williams a key part of the secondary.
As for Lee, Rogers said he is expecting much more defensive contributions from him at linebacker, where he joins Bezner and Cervantes. For all of them, the key will be to maintain stamina for four quarters, as defense suffers more than offense late in games when players are fatigued.
Even before the season got underway, a schedule change was made. The decision by Pulaski and Oriskany, due to low participation numbers, to move to eight-man football caused a chain reaction that, indirectly, caught up to Ludden, who was supposed to face Sauquoit Valley at home on Sept. 8.
But the switching in schedules elsewhere sent Sauquoit to General Brown on that date. Thus, the Gaelic Knights will instead take on Westmoreland, but do maintain its home field for that night.
More importantly, the D West division remained intact, and the Gaelic Knights get its two toughest possible league tests at home – against Weedsport in Friday night’s opener, and Oct. 13 against defending sectional champion Onondaga in the regular-season finale. In between, there’s road trips to Sandy Creek and Watertown IHC.
