For the seniors on the 2017 edition of the Liverpool football team, there’s no better education on the ups and downs of high school athletics than what has transpired the last two seasons.
In 2015, with an explosive running attack and dominant defense, the Warriors broke a 17-year Section III Class AA championship drought and came within a missed conversion of playing in the state finals.
One year later, bereft of experience and full of players seeking their own individual agendas, Liverpool fell back to the middle of the pack, only going 5-4. Turning that me-first mindset into a team-first mindset is the primary task for head coach Dave Mancuso and his staff this fall.
Fortunately, the Warriors’ players recognize this fact. “(Last year) we didn’t have senior leadership,” said wide receiver Nate Keyes, adding that he saw the difference that kind of leadership can have – since it was there in droves in 2015, not so much in 2016.
Mancuso agrees. “We have some really good leaders, quality kids that work hard and push each other,” he said. “It’s an enjoyable group.”
That group includes a player who already has multiple championships on his resume. Naz Johnson was a key part of the Liverpool basketball team’s run to the state Class AA final four last winter, and is just coming off a gold-medal performance with the Central region team in the Summer Hoops Festival.
Mancuso said that Johnson could literally play anywhere on the field other than the lines, meaning that he could line up at quarterback, running back and wide receiver, along with his key role as a defensive end on the other side of the ball.
For now, Johnson will start at wide receiver, where he’s bound to draw double teams that could leave plenty of room for the likes of Keyes, Ben Michalowski and Kaleb Ohlemacher, who with tight ends Mike Kline and Joe Valerino give the Warriors a lot of inviting targets.
Which quarterback throws to them remains an open question. Two juniors, Zach Neufang (who started games a year ago) and Alex Ruston, are in a position battle. Mancuso said that Neufang has the edge in experience, but that things would not drop off if Ruston were to take snaps.
Liverpool’s running attack will feature plenty of depth, and needs to. Since the trio of Bryce Mills, Jacob Vacco and Cade Clouthier all have key roles on the defense, the intention is to split the carries between them.
New faces are all over the offensive line, where left tackle Lochlainn Fegley (280 pounds) is the lone returning starter. Between Fegley, guard Arthur Bittel (280 pounds) and center Rick McCabe (265), the Warriors have plenty of size, augmented by 216-pound guard Jack Sturtz and 210-pound tackle Antwan Kelly.
Dan Wentworth is Liverpool’s new defensive coordinator, having flourished in that same role with the JV Warriors before getting promoted. He’ll work with a deep and talented front line anchored by Johnson and Kelly at the end spots, with Kelly and Sturtz joining Shamus Gallagher in a strong tackle rotation.
Each of the Warriors’ top running backs also start at linebacker, so Mills, Vacco and Clouthier might not leave the field as they join Jacob Barnes at the heart of Liverpool’s resistance. Michalowski and Ohlemacher are at cornerback, helped by Max Falkner, with Keyes lined up at safety.
It won’t be easy at the outset. Liverpool has to face two Section IV champions, Binghamton (Class AA) and Union-Endicott (Class A), in the opening weeks before challenging its two big local rivals, Cicero-North Syracuse (Sept. 15) and Baldwinsville (Sept. 22), the favorites in the AA-2 division.
“We’ve got to fight our way to the top,” said Mancuso. “We do a lot of little things well, but we’re not perfect anywhere yet.”
Michalowski said that he drew inspiration from watching, in the spring, Liverpool’s baseball team win its first-ever state championship.
“Now, it’s our turn to make something happen,” said Michalowski.
