CANAJOHARIE – After starting last season with a roster of 24 players, Canajoharie-Fort Plain will head into this season with better numbers.
C-FP has a roster of 32 players, a better number than last year, but still not enough to also field a junior varsity squad.
“Our numbers are better than what we expected,” Hyney said.
The last few seasons have taken their toll on the Canajoharie-Fort Plain program as a construction project moved home games to Fonda-Fultonville and Amsterdam. After COVID wiped out the 2020 fall season, C-FP went without a game in Canajoharie from the end of the 2018 season to the start of the 2021 fall season.
“We’re still recovering from not having a home field for two years and COVID,” Hyney said. “We were able to play home games thanks to Fonda-Fultonville and Amsterdam, but it wasn’t the same as having them here and having the community together.”
The lack of hometown contests dropped C-FP’s numbers from around 60 in 2018 to last year’s low of 24.
Hyney said that he hopes the program is back on the upswing.
“I’m hoping that we’re headed back in the right direction as far as our numbers go,” he said.
Though Canajoharie-Fort Plain has better numbers this year, it still has a roster full of juniors and sophomores, tempering Hyney’s expectations for his team.
“We’re very young. We’re very sophomore and junior heavy this year,” Hyney said. “I think we’ll probably go 3-4 and maybe sneak in somewhere. We’re not big, but we’ve got a lot of speed.”
This year’s team includes Clayton Bailey, Tucker Bailey, Riley Battisti, Nathan Benson, Adrian Benson, Aiden Bowerman, Piper Consalvo, Riley Downs, Matt Gritzback, Jayden Hansen, Jordan Hayes, Zach Herget, Austin Horender, Cody Hyney, Kirsten Hyney, Jayden Johnson, Anthony Laubusch, Ian Lopez, Elijah Lopez, Jeremy Marsh, Ben Mead, Adrian O’Connor, Jaxon O’Neil, Anthony Paradiso, Jovonni Puchyr, Dillon Randle, Aiden Shulte, Maurice Soto, Robert Stemmele, Dawson Sweet, Gary Vertucci and Joseph Vertucci.
“We’re trying to push each other to get better,” Marsh said. “It’s tough for some of the younger players because there’s no junior varsity team. It’s a big gap between modified and varsity football. They are working hard and we’re doing what we can to make each other better.”
Paradiso, O’Neil and Marsh are among the senior leaders for this year’s squad.
“We’re working hard. The last two years have been hard with COVID and not having our home field,” O’Neil said. “I’m looking forward to this season.”
After going 3-6 overall last year, Canajoharie-Fort Plain is looking to improve on that mark.
“We’ve got a good group of kids. They’re working hard and we’ll see what happens,” Hyney said.
The C-FP coaching staff will include Brandon Smith, Jace Fox, Barry Yerdon, Derek Hyney, Robert Fairley, Joshua Herget, Jason Memrick and Jack Scaldaferri.
“We pretty much have a whole new staff,” Hyney said. “The younger guys bring a little bit different feel to it.”
Canajoharie-Fort Plain is scheduled to host a six-team scimmage with Dolgeville, Johnstown, Cobleskill-Richmondville, Adirondack and Helderberg Valley on Sept. 3.
C-FP is slated to travel to Helderberg Valley on Sept. 10 for its season opener at 1 p.m. before hosting Cambridge in its home opener on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m.
“This year we want to try to go as far as we can,” Paradiso said.
Categories: -Sports-, High School Football, High School Sports, Sports
