By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — Two years ago, citing a low number of high school boys, the Allegany-Limestone football team made the decision to step away from the 11-man scene.
A decision that has been reversed ahead of the 2025 season.
On Sept. 5, the Gators will make their triumphant return to 11-man football, finding a home in Section 6 Class D amongst the likes of Randolph, Franklinville/Ellicottville, Cattaraugus-Little Valley, Gowanda/Pine Valley, Newfane, Silver Creek/Forestville and Wilson.
But a move such as this does not come without its challenges. With a solid core of its leaders from last season having graduated, head coach Marcus Grove is looking for those that are set to fill those shoes to step up in a big way.
Fortunately enough, the A-L program has had a reliable run of leaders that, he hopes, has paved the way for those set to take the reins of the team through the transition.
“In 2023 we had Michael Frederick, Kevin Edwards-Hardy, Devon Bish, those are three super talented players for us that left really big shoes to fill,” Grove said. “Going into last year, we knew that was going to be a challenge. … Out of eight kids that we started last year, five of them were in their first year playing varsity football. So we knew expectations last year weren’t as high as 2023 and I felt that, through the season, we exceeded those expectations. A lot of our guys got valuable playing time, and really learned how to play the game of football.”
Last season, the Gators were led by do-it-all quarterback Vincent LaBella, who accounted for over 1,700 combined yards on offense, Mat Burnett, who led the team with five receiving touchdowns and 383 receiving yards and Zane Gleason, who put together just shy of 600 all-purpose yards on offense. Also helping lead the charge were the capable leaders of Caleb Strade, Gavin Straub and Khyree Harmon.
Unfortunately for A-L, just one of those aforementioned players will be making a return to the gridiron. Burnett, as well as Dylan Shultz, who put together 194 receiving yards and three touchdowns last season, will be the main figures asked to carry the torch this year. But while the number of returners that made a significant statistical impact last season may be on the lower side, Grove is confident in their leadership qualities.
“Burnett and Schultz, they’ve been fortunate enough that, in all three of their years in this program, they have followed a good leadership crew,” Grove said. “So now it’s going to be interesting to see what those two guys will do with what they saw. What will they do with what they learned and what they observed, and how are they going to apply it? We never try to push leadership styles or leadership qualities onto them. … As long as our leaders and the guys at the front of the group are leading us in the direction that we want to achieve, I think we’re going to be successful.”
But leadership won’t just be a task for the veterans on the team. As Grove noted, 8-Man football is all some of his players know. But where the varsity team and modified team differ is that the latter never moved to 8-Man. Therefore, those that are set to take the step up to the varsity scene this year will be looked towards in terms of familiarity for the rules, dimensions and matchups.
“The positive is we do have a large sophomore class coming in, and while we’ve been at 8-Man at the varsity level, our modified program has been staying 11-Man,” Grove said. “So those guys that are coming to us as freshmen, or as sophomores, they played 11-Man football all of last year, so they’re still familiar with it.”
However, this does mean that Grove and his staff have been tasked this offseason with getting the veterans up to speed on the 11-man rules and regulations. The key to that, he noted, is to not muddy the waters.
“We’ve got to keep it simple, we’ve got to build from the ground back up. Not because our kids don’t understand football, but for right now, all they understand is 8-Man football,” Grove said. “There’s a lot of teaching to do, and that’s what a lot of this summer has been, and … these kids have been coming out week after week after week, learning the new stuff, learning stuff that they’ve already known and then applying it back to that 11-Man game.”
Keeping things simple is only one part of the adaptation process the Gators are going through. Grove also noted that they are looking to keep things as familiar as possible linguistically and tactically. But that, in and of itself, comes with a challenge as long-time A-L assistant coach Rick Owen retired after last season.
“It’s definitely about familiarity with the offense,” Grove said. “We’re changing a little bit. My long time assistant, Rick Owen, he’s retiring, so there’s a lot of change this year. … But one of the things we tried to do is, keep a lot of the terminology and tendencies that Rick ran consistent to this year so that those kids that have spent one or two years learning under Rick didn’t have another whole thing to learn.”
But do not interpret this educational phase of the transition as a weakness. Grove made it clear that the players he has at his disposal this season have shown an incredible level of desire to get up to speed as quickly and as effectively as possible.
“We’re going to be another young team this year. We’re going to be starting quite a bit of sophomores, a lot of juniors, and we have a smaller senior class,” Grove said. “But out of these kids that have moved up from the modified ranks, they’re hungry, they’re optimistic. They’re working hard through all of our offseason programs, all of our offseason workouts. They’re showing up and they’re putting in the work. It’s been really exciting to see just how hungry they are. … They’re chomping at the bit.”
All of this culminates into the Gators favoring a day-to-day mindset in terms of the goals they have set for the season. However, that is not to say they are without aspirations of winning and eventually making it all the way to a Section 6 Final, but first things must come first.
“Last year, we knew what our goal was, … we knew at the end of the year we were playing for a Section 6 Championship,” Grove said. “Now this year, I’m not going to say that’s not our goal, I think that’s the goal of every program in Western New York. … But right now, it’s day-to-day. We’re trying to make that adjustment back to 11-Man, trying to get the guys on the right page to be successful, and we just want to be competitive. We want to compete every Friday night. We’re young, we’re hopeful and we’re optimistic, and I think those three things together can be dangerous.”
Allegany-Limestone will travel to face Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. to open its season.
