Will experience lead to wisdom?
That’s the question at Voorheesville, where 18 seniors return to the varsity football team this season.
“It’s very rare in a small school situation to have 18 seniors, and the bulk of that group have been contributing in some way to the varsity level since ninth or 10th grade,” said Voorheesville coach Joe Sapienza.
The Blackbirds had issues with mental mistakes last year, as penalties and turnovers cropped up during a 4-4 season. It was most noticeable in Voorheesville’s 39-19 loss to Corinth in the Section 2 Class C quarterfinals, as a series of turnovers helped Corinth jump out to a 24-7 halftime lead.
“Right now, we’re working on playing mistake-free, patient offense — taking what other defenses give us,” said Sapienza.
Voorheesville’s offense has several key skill position players back, including quarterback Robert Denman, tailbacks Matt Feller and Scott Roney and wide receiver Mickey Knight.
“Our offense is going to be unbelievably balanced. We’re very strong in all aspects,” said Sapienza. “We have two powerful runners in Roney and Feller. Our quarterback can read defenses, so we’re going to give him read checks. We have excellent slot receivers.
“We’ll be able to do some things that we haven’t been able to do (on offense) because they have been in our system for three or four years,” he added.
Voorheesville’s defense should also be strong with most of last year’s starters returning. The issue will be keeping those players healthy, since many of them are two-way starters.
“Last year when we were healthy, we were very good. We had a couple of games where we had key guys out, and that’s where we had problems,” said Sapienza. “So, we’re making certain we have some depth this year. That’s where some of our younger guys (six underclassmen) come in.”
Voorheesville’s schedule won’t give the Blackbirds many breathers this season. Playing in the Central Division — one of three divisions in Class C — they face the likes of Watervliet, Mechanicville, Tamarac and Stillwater. Class C moved to three divisions with the additions of Holy Trinity — a combination of Bishop Gibbons, Saratoga Central Catholic and Catholic Central — Schoburg/Berne-Knox-Westerlo and Lake George/Hadley Luzerne from Class D.
“Really, the impact on Voorheesville for having three divisions is we’re now in a division with a mix of old South Division rivals plus a three-way merged program (Holy Trinity) and a couple of North Division teams that we haven’t faced much,” said Sapienza.
Voorheesville plays two historic road games to begin the season. The Blackbirds are Holy Trinity’s first opponent when they meet Friday, Sept. 5, at Catholic Central in Troy. Then, they are the first team to play Watervliet on its refurbished home field Sept. 12 — the first night game in Watervliet’s history.
“We’ll have the privilege of being the first team to play Holy Trinity, and then we have the privilege of playing Watervliet on its new field,” said Sapienza.
Voorheesville’s first home game is Saturday, Sept. 20, against Mechanicville.
2014 schedule
Sept. 5 — at Holy Trinity, 7 p.m.
Sept. 12 — at Watervliet, 7 p.m.
Sept. 20 — Mechanicville, 1 p.m.
Sept. 27 — Taconic Hills, 1 p.m.
Oct. 5 — at Tamarac, 7 p.m.
Oct. 11 — Ichabod Crane, 1 p.m.
Oct. 18 — Stillwater, 1 p.m.