For much of the last nine months, the Skaneateles football team had ample opportunities to celebrate the program’s first-ever state championship.
Honors and accolades poured in from inside and outside the community, and some parts of the celebration stretched into the summer, when the Lakers’ players and coaches received commemorative rings.
Or at least that’s what the public saw.
Internally, the work to move on from the glory of 2017 began in earnest during the spring, and only accelerated when Skaneateles found out that it was moving back to Class B after winning it all last fall in Class C.
Many times, Lakers head coach Joe Sindoni has told his players that whatever was done in the past won’t mean much this season, and only will make his team a bigger target.
Thus, said Sindoni, “we’re just going to focus on playing the best football we can. Hopefully, we’ll be good enough to be competitive.”
Four players that were first-team All-State selections are gone – wide receiver Cross Bianchi, linebacker Jacob Nesbitt and two top linemen, T.J. Greenfield and Scott Oschner.
However, a relatively strong group of veterans are still in blue and gold, none more important than Patrick Hackler, who in 2017 broke the single-season state record Greg Paulus set at CBA 13 years earlier when he threw 53 touchdown passes.
Hackler said his biggest off-season work was spent gaining strength and muscle – he’s at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds. With all of his experience and game knowledge, it isn’t surprising that Hackler has gained the freedom to change some of the play calls at the line of scrimmage.
It also helps a lot that Hackler still has two tremendous receivers on either side to throw to in junior Nick Wamp (second-team All-State in ’17) and senior Nate Wellington (third-team All-State in ’17), not to mention senior tailback Areh Boni.
Add to them the presence of Cregg Scherrer, and the offense gets even more potent. Scherrer is best known as the pitching ace for the Skaneateles baseball team, but Sindoni said that, if defenders try to double-team Wamp or Wellington, that will leave Scherrer open.
Up front, the Lakers may find it difficult to replace the likes of Greenfield, Oschner and Jon Ricklefs, but while the guard spots remain unresolved, Skaneateles still has Nate Squires at center, plus tackles Jimmy Liberatore and Jack Carlile.
Liberatore and Carlile are the key returning players on the Lakers’ defensive line, with Boni anchoring the linebacker corps. Hackler might see more defensive game time in a secondary that already includes standouts like Wellington and Luke Viggiano, while Wamp is a proven kicker.
Returning to the Class B West division means Skaneateles resumes many old rivalries, none more potent than the one with Marcellus – who just happens to open the season against the visiting Lakers on Aug. 31.
Four straight home games follow, with Homer (who won the sectional Class B title last fall after beating Skaneateles in the regular season) coming to Hyatt Stadium on Sept. 7.
Those battles with Marcellus and Homer will give a quick indication as to whether this Skaneateles season has a chance to get close to what it accomplished in 2017. For their part, the Lakers’ players are quite eager to get going.
“We’re going to be real competitive, no matter what,” said Liberatore.
Boni put it another way. “We want to live up to our potential, whatever it is, and leave it all in the field,” he said.
