By SPENCER BATES
PORTVILLE — With a new campaign on the near horizon, the Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg football team is looking to maintain its standard for success in the wake of large-scale roster alterations.
Last season, P/CR surpassed what head coach Josh Brooks noted were the expectations for his team, finishing with an 8-3 overall record and reaching the Section 6 Class C Final at Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills. They were powered behind the experienced arm of quarterback Eli Sleggs, who threw for over 1,300 yards, the legs of star running back Maxx DeYoe, who gained over 1,500 yards on the ground, and the reliable hands of wide receiver Aidan DeFazio, who led the team with seven receiving touchdowns and over 600 yards through the air.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, only one of those three is making a return to the field this upcoming season. In fact, P/CR lost a total of 17 seniors according to Brooks. Luckily, helping alleviate the damage those losses were set to cause is a new merger with Bolivar-Richburg.
But significant losses or not, the message and goals of the program remain the same.
“It was a special season and I really think it set the precedent moving forward with our merger,” Brooks said of the 2024 season. “No one picked us to go to the sectional title (game) … We started off 1-2 last year. But those kids came together, didn’t quit. We found our identity. … But that’s now the expectation, to be able to come together as a team, with three districts, and work hard. Our goal is to get back to that (title) game.”
The good news is, the merger has been smooth sailing thus far.
While a number of the Panthers’ standout players from last season have graduated, there are a handful of returners that saw the field in some capacity. Brooks noted that it is “next-kid-up” in his program and the mergers with Cuba-Rushford and Bolivar-Richburg have been key in making sure they have a foundation to build upon as they move forward.
“We don’t just focus just on our varsity team. We make sure we have the developmental level with JV, which was a huge part of why we decided to merge with both Cuba-Rushford and Bolivar-Richburg. (We wanted) to have all three levels: to have our modified playing seventh and eighth-graders only, to have a whole JV staff to coach those kids. We have some kids that got valuable JV experience and valuable reps at the varsity level at the end of the year. … Again, we did graduate some really good players. But it’s a next-man-up mentality.”
Now, as the only returner of that aforementioned three-headed-monster that P/CR had last season, DeFazio is set to headline the Panthers’ roster this year. Granted, that will be in a different position. DeFazio will be making the move from receiver to quarterback, a position swap for him that is not entirely unfamiliar as it was his primary place on the field in eighth grade, before being pulled up to varsity.
“(Aidan’s) been a starter since ninth grade defensively, and he’s just been waiting his turn,” Brooks said. “He could have certainly stepped in at quarterback, but Eli Sleggs did a great job last year, super efficient, ran the offense, and DeFazio is such a good athlete, we could put him anywhere on the field. But we’re excited to get him back behind center. He’s a student of the game, he knows what I’m seeing, and I think playing receiver can really help him be a better quarterback.”
But it won’t be up to DeFazio alone to carry the baton. Alongside him in the prominent leadership positions on the team will be Adam Roe, who finished with the second-most yards from the running back position last season, Jake Ziegler, a three-year starter, as well as a core group of linemen that includes Ian Chamberlin and Ty Kosinski.
Those key pieces will be critical to continuing to uphold the traditions and morals that the Portville football program was built upon, which, according to Brooks, are to run the ball, play defense and be physical while doing so.
“That’s always been a Portville philosophy, long before I was even here,” Brooks said. “You got to be able to run the ball and play defense, and I don’t think that’s changed. We’ve talked about Eli, he was so efficient, and I don’t see that changing a whole lot with Aidan, he’s going to be in a very similar role.
“We have to be physical, we always get multiple compliments from other coaches and even other players (about our physicality). … It’s just different, we practice a little bit different. We want to be physical, we want to stay healthy. But being physical doesn’t just carry over, we have to make sure we’re ready to be physical. We have to be physical in practice to make sure we’re ready for Friday nights.”
And just as there are expectations to maintain the same level of hard-nosed football the Portville faithful are used to seeing, the program’s goals are to remain at the same high bar as well. Brooks believes his side has the capability to reach the Section 6 Class C Final once again this season, but just like the level of physicality he expects from his players, that is a goal that will require time and effort to accomplish.
“We want to make sure that our guys know that they have the potential to get there, but we also need to make sure they understand it’s not just going to happen,” Brooks said. “It’s going to take every single day, every single practice, every single rep. Having the three schools is just a huge advantage for us. We’re super competitive in practice, it’s dog-eat-dog out there. … Our goal is to take one day at a time, get ready for that next opponent. But in the big scheme of things, we have the potential to get back to where we were last year, for sure.”
The Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg football team will kick off their season with a non-league affair at home on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. against Allegany-Limestone.
