Twelve months ago, with a new coach just hired, a new offense installed and new players coming into the program, the Westhill football team didn’t know where it was going.
But as the 2015 season begins with a televised game at Cortland Thursday night, the question marks are gone, replaced by a collective feeling that a trip to the Carrier Dome, and a Section III Class B championship, is well within reach.
Cody Badman, a returning All-Central New York senior linebacker, said there’s increased pressure this season, but it’s best not to get caught up in it.
“We don’t think about it,” he said. “You know it’s out there, but don’t let it get to you.”
Jamie Casullo’s first year at the helm was an unqualified success. Westhill went 7-2, only lost in the regular season to eventual sectional champion Homer, and made it to the sectional semifinals before dropping an exciting 42-28 game to Cazenovia.
Several stars from that team are gone, including quarterback Jamie Easterly, kicker/defensive back Mike Burton, running back Ja’Shai Jamison and wide receiver Donovan Whipple, but plenty of stars return, too, everywhere on the starting grid.
They do have to stay healthy, though. As the season opener at Cortland approached on Thursday, the Warriors had just 24 varsity players. Casullo said that avoiding injuries is a must if his team wants to repeat last year’s success, or go further.
Westhill is most fired up about its defense, for good reason. Up front, the line might be as good as any in Central New York, with tall (they’re both 6-foot-4), fast ends Chase Gedney and Casey Rogers rushing from the end spots.
Aside from their speed and power, said Casullo, Gedney and Rogers are tough because “they’re good with their hands and drive players off the ball.”
That allows for returning All-Central New York linebacker Cody Badman to run wild. Though just 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, Badman seems to find the ballcarrier on every single play and doesn’t miss on his tackles.
“He’ll run through the fence if you ask him,” said Casullo.
With the front seven so strong, Westhill can take time developing defensive backs, a must with the likes of Burton and Whipple gone. Burton also was one of the best placekickers in Central New York and will be tough to replace there, though Gedney is back to handle the punting duties.
Meanwhile, the offense is a spicy mix of returning skill players and new faces, none of them newer, or more important, than sophomore quarterback Zavion Barrott.
At 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, Barrott has a strong arm and plenty of speed, but Casullo said he still needs to work on reading defenses and coverages. And while most of the other Westhill players will go both ways, Barrott will not, since there are few other quarterback options.
Barrott could make it big if he can find his timing with a strong group of receivers led by Galen Hayes and Jesse Chester, with Rogers and Gedney creating more matchup nightmares at tight end.
With Jamison gone, Westhill is counting on junior Shaleek Giles, a Nottingham transfer. He, along with Badman, Anthony Puleo and Tom Howard, run behind a senior-dominated offensive line anchored by Swartwood, Ramy Guindy and Jimmy Kernan.
Swartwood, due to lots of exercise and a change in diet, has lost 80 pounds in the last two years and is down to 285, a much better playing weight. Guindy, at 5-foot-11 and 275 pounds, moves over from guard to center.
Guindy said that there isn’t a rush to learn everything, unlike a year ago.
“This time, it’s a lot easier,” he said. “Most of the guys came into camp knowing all of the plays.”
That knowledge will be needed. Westhill plunges into a full (eight-team) B West division fortified by the addition of Cortland and Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central. Key games late in the season against Marcellus (Oct. 2) and at Homer (Oct. 16) could determine the Warriors’ fate.
