Should the Liverpool football team find itself playing into November and gathering championship hardware, it will trace that effort back to what took place a year earlier.
Late in the 2017 regular season, the Warriors were 1-4 and going nowhere. But it beat Nottingham and Auburn, squeaked into the playoffs as a fourth-place finisher in the AA-2 division and then, in the first round, went on the road to shock Central Square 26-22.
True, Liverpool went on to lose the semifinal to Baldwinsville, but what led up to that game alerted a young, developing Warriors squad of just what it could accomplish if it put things together.
So now, as it prepares for a tough season-opening stretch that includes a trip to Fayetteville-Manlius next Friday and the “Star Wars Cup” showdown with defending sectional champion Cicero-North Syracuse Sept. 7, Liverpool is sensing something special again.
Head coach Dave Mancuso characterized his team’s entire off-season as “great”, meaning that, in winter, spring and summer, players got down to work, in the weight room and elsewhere, with intensity and focus that carried over into August practices.
Leading the show is quarterback Alex Ruston, who proved a steady, reliable presence throughout Liverpool’s late 2017 surge. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior is equally dangerous throwing or running the ball.
Yet Ruston doesn’t need to run too much since the Warriors’ top two backs return. Between senior Cade Clouthier and junior Jacob Vacco, Liverpool has two proven options whenever it wants to pound the ball.
Though Nas Johnson has departed, Liverpool’s group of receivers is quite potent, too, from seniors Kaleb Ohlemacher and Taz Pringle to junior Christian Matthew, with tight end Noah Silfer another viable option.
One of the area’s top returning linemen, senior captain Lochlainn Fegley, at left tackle, anchors Liverpool’s front five, coached one more by long-time assistant Nick Spataro, who is retiring at season’s end.
Another strong senior, Antwan Kelly, is at the other tackle spot, with senior R.J. Cyr at center and senior Jack Sturtz at guard. They’ll prove as mentors to two promising freshmen, Nate Graser and J.J. Guindy.
As last season wore on, Liverpool’s defense got stronger, too, and it brings back a deep group of linebackers. Bryce Mills joins a rotation that includes Clouthier and Vacco, but also Darreon Nixon and talented sophomore Malachi Upshur.
Fegley, Sturtz and Justin Haynes rotate at defensive tackle on the Warriors’ four-man front, with Kelly and Josh Krug at end.
With so many strong passing attacks in Class AA, Liverpool needs a first-rate secondary, and could have it with Ohlemacher and Max Michalak at cornerback, joined by safeties Joe Valerino and Dominick Scro.
Changes in the Class AA divisions mean that Liverpool moves to AA-1, away from C-NS in AA-2, so their meeting is a non-league game, and the Warriors do not face Baldwinsville, either. But it does get four home games, including a key Sept. 28 battle with CBA.
The loss of Auburn and Central Square means there’s just 11 teams in AA, so getting into the eight-team playoffs is no big feat.
However, the glut of strong teams throughout the area means that, in order to push for a result similar to the 2015 sectional championship run, Liverpool will need its veterans and youngsters to mesh well.
“It comes down to how the younger kids mature,” said Mancuso. “That’s the real test, week to week.”
