Fresh Meat

September 7, 2007

As we send one of the youngest groups of kids to the field that I may have ever seen, I thought I’d take a look back at some other freshmen and their performance on varsity.

The earliest freshman I can remember was Fran Pardee, who was in 9^th grade in 1984. I can’t remember if he started, but he played a lot at WR and DB, as well as special teams. He was definitely a good contributor on a very strong team (9-1 with a sectional championship). He went on to be a star, and he was probably the 3^rd best tailback (behind Brett Sohns and Rich Mokay) that I’ve seen at Delhi. Delhi was undefeated his soph and junior years, and was 7-2 his senior year. Incidently, he played all through Delhi’s at-the-time section 4 record 34 game winning streak.

Corey Ackerly may have been on varsity in ’92 as a frosh, but I can’t remember for certain. Other than him, there weren’t many through the early and mid-90’s.

The next guys I remember were Bill Shaw and Eric Kelso in ’98. Shaw started at center, and Kelso wasn’t a full time starter, but did get some playing time at guard. Both did a very good job as freshmen, as that offensive line was quite successful, especially early in the season. Both started as sophomores, but Kelso moved away before his junior year. Shaw went on to be a part of the dominant offensive line that helped us win the 2001 state championship.

Brian Neale played one varsity game as a 9^th grader, starting on defense against Tioga in 1998. He was on JV the rest of the season. Neale had some tackles in that game. He obviously went on to be a gamechanger for us, and he is probably one kid I’d nominate for single most impact to a game if you look at combined offense and defense.

Brenton Hood came up to varsity as a frosh in 2003, and had 55 yards and a TD on 11 carries in his first varsity game. He ended up running for 400 and change as the starting TB. He then went on to lead section 4 sophomores the next year with 1015, in addition to 1252 yards as a junior. He trailed off a bit as a senior as Nate Rockefeller took over the role of primary back, but still closed a very fine career with over 3000 yards.

Martin Cole made the jump to varsity last season, and was a starter on a very dominant offensive line.

As for sophomores on varsity, we’ve had some who’ve kind of fizzled, some who have been mediocre, and a majority who have been excellent. All in all, the future looks good with all the youth that is getting experience on the field.

Well, the Dogs had better hope for a rebound this week. Hancock did not look too tough in their first week matchup, but I’ve seen some Delhi teams where we performed very poor against poor teams, so we need a good showing so we don’t set us up to have one of those seasons where we could screw up a mid afternoon nap. I’m pretty understanding of last week. I think that Liberty’s offensive backfield is probably the best we’ll see outside of Walton (unfortunately Walton also has a huge and talented O-line to go with it). If Liberty doesn’t fizzle like it did to some extent in the 2^nd half against us, they could be decent.

For picks, the first week is always difficult, and I went a reasonable 19-8 (0.704). That’s pathetic when that is reasonable. Here are my week 2 prognostications….Unatego, Tioga (Sidney may turn it around though), Moravia, Groton, Candor, Norwich, Watertown, BG, Newfield, Elmira Notre Dame, Forks, Corning East, Johnson City, EFA, Chenango Valley, Maine-Endwell, Waverly, Trumansburg, Walton, Oxford, Fayetteville-Manlius, Henninger, Lansing, UE (though I wouldn’t be surprised to see them trip up as well), and St. Joseph (capricorn and other forum folks are confusing NYC public schools with NYC Catholic schools).