Is this the year it finally happens for the Baldwinsville football team?
Not the winning part, of course, for the Bees have proven reliable and consistent for most of the last three decades, so much so that, whenever it gets its first victory in 2017, it will mark the 200th of Carl Sanfilippo’s coaching career.
Instead, the question centers around whether a B’ville offense long dominated by the ground game balances things out, especially with an experienced, proven senior (Ben Dwyer) at quarterback and a big senior target (tight end Gabe Horan) on hand.
Answers start to arrive on Thursday night in the Carrier Dome, where the Bees meet Corning in the Kickoff Classic and where, two months from now, the Section III Class AA title will get decided.
That game could get Sanfilippo win no. 200, but it’s something he doesn’t think about it, saying the number is more a reflection of the program’s success during his long tenure rather than anything he has done.
Without a sectional title since 2010, B’ville has fallen in the sectional semifinals each of the last three years, including last year’s 6-3campaign that ended with a 35-7 defeat to eventual champion CBA. At least that much is expected this fall, with a majority of starters back on both sides of the ball.
Dwyer is a three-year starter at quarterback. He’s also a terrific three-sport athlete, having led B’ville’s sectional championship effort in boys lacrosse last spring while also standing out in ice hockey during the winter season.
This rare combination of experience, talent and leadership lends credence to the thought that Dwyer will make sure the Bees don’t lean as much on its long-vaunted ground game, and it’s something Sanfilippo does not rule out.
“We’d love to throw the ball,” he said. “But we’ll do what they (opponents) allow us to do.”
That could mean an aerial attack that features the Syracuse University-bound Horan. At 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, Horan is “going to get a lot of attention”, said Sanfilippo, and if he does, that could mean lots of open looks for receivers like Austin Lehman and Donovan Smith.
B’ville has no intention of making one running back carry most of the burden, as it has often in the past. The veteran tailback trio of E.J. Edmonds, Troy Anthony and Aquari Warner should split the carries working behind fullbacks John Hernandez and sophomore Mitch Latizia.
Cameron Majchrzak, a 270-pound tackle, and Tanner Judkins, a 240-pound guard, return to the Bees’ offensive line. They’re joined at tackle by senior Kylan Benoit (240 pounds) and tackle Billy Loadwick (250 pounds), with Jack Graham (240 pounds) taking over at center.
Defensive coordinator Bill Spicer has plenty of proven veterans in his unit. It starts up front with Horan and Judson Fletcher, two ends that can cause havoc in the pass rush. At defensive tackle, there’s an open battle to see who starts alongside Majchrzak.
At linebacker, B’ville can count on plenty of production from a returning unit that includes Anthony, Hernandez, Edmonds and Victor Lamar. A secondary that already had standouts Smith and Nate Jaquin at cornerback should improve with talented sophomore Pat May at safety.
B’ville isn’t the favorite in the AA-2 division. That distinction would go to Cicero-North Syracuse, who returns most of its 2016 lineup and hosts the Bees Oct. 6 at Bragman Stadium, two weeks after B’ville hosts its other big neighbor and rival, Liverpool, one of just three home games on the slate.
Sanfilippo said the two non-league games against Corning and Elmira (the home opener Sept. 8) give his team strong tests before the league slate, and an idea as to whether B’ville will again lean on its ground game or, for a change, air it out.
